My Reading List

I have picked up some controversial readings. The first one is a book by Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist, called The Ancestor's Tale and it is a backwards history of evolution starting with the current state of humanity and working back to the first cytoplasm in the primordial ooze that supposedly started all life. I have only started reading it, but throughout Dawkins openly mocks Christians and anyone who would be ludicrous enough to believe in a supernatural being that created the universe. The other book that I am reading is by Sam Harris, who has been called a militant atheist by some (Frank Pastore), called The End of Faith. In this book, Harris calls for the destruction of all organized religion and any formal belief in a supreme being. He argues that most (maybe all) violence in this world throughout history can be attributed to some religious belief. His arguments are weak, and he overgeneralizes and oversimplifies Christianity and focuses on obscure Old Testament passages that make Christianity and Judaism look bad (such as Deuteronomy 13:7-11), but it is still an interesting read. I am reading these books for two reasons. First, I think it is interesting and important to understand what non-Christians are saying about Christianity. But also, and for me more importantly, I think it is important to understand why we believe what we believe as Christians. If these kinds of authors have good arguments, and these authors both have some good arguments, why are arguments for Christianity better? Why are they wrong, and can we defend ourselves if asked to give a reasoned defense? Christianity is not an entirely reasoned faith. God has made some key tenets of Christianity acceptable on faith alone so that we do not start to think of ourselves as too wise (I Cor. 1:27). But He also wants us to be ready to tell people why we believe what we believe (I Pet. 3:15)

Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield!!!

This is the first 5 minutes of Cloverfield and its freakin' aweseome. Cloverfield comes out 1-18-08

Miracles

I am listening to an interesting lecture series on the Life and Teachings of Jesus, by Dr. Daniel Doriani from Covenant Theological Seminary, and in one of the lectures he asks the question "Do miracles take place today?" I thought it was an interesting question. Dr. Doriani's answer was no, at least not in the biblical sense. He defines biblical miracles as "a direct, unmediated act of God in the external world in which He works outside the common course of events to reveal Himself, to authenticate His servants, and to manifest His nature and redemptive purposes" and he says that using this definition, miracles no longer occur today. I think this is interesting to think about. Is this an appropriate definition of miracles? Is there some form of miracle that is not included under this definition? Doriani makes sure to distinguish between acts of God and miracles. Birth and "miraculous" healings from disease are acts of God. The biblical forms of miracles are used by individuals (miracle-workers) to establish the fact that they are agents of God. Since God no longer has any agents in Earth in the biblical sense (i.e., prophets, His Son, etc.) then he no longer peroforms miracles. Is this just semantics, or is there a substantive difference? Thoughts?

Golf

I have recently discovered that I love to golf. I golfed for the first time this weekend on a trip to visit Michelle's family for Thanksgiving. I golfed once about 7 years ago on a 9-hole course that was designed for 14 year olds, so I dont really count that one. I've been to a driving range about half a dozen times, but never to an actual golf course. The guys in Michelle's family went to the driving range in Simi Thursday morning to warm up for the 18-hole golf course in Westlake on Friday. It was a nice way for me to truly understand my limitations in golf. I went in expecting to be laughed off the golf course, but still knowing that I was going to have a good time. Michelle's family was very gracious and they gave me lots of tips and didnt laugh at me...that is until it happened. We had carts, so we didnt have to carry the bags, and I was in the cart with Michelle's brother Eric. On about the 14th hole, we were having particular difficulty finding my ball and as we were traveling full-speed in the golf cart, Eric and I noticed my ball as we were passing it and Eric turned hard to the left. I was not prepared for the turn and I tried to grab on to something, but I could not find anything in time and I fell out of the golf cart. It all happened very fast, and I dont remember much but I've been told that I bounced a couple of times like a stone across a pond. That's ok...I have embraced it. I now know that I will be the butt of everyone's jokes in Michelle's family for another 2 years or so. And I still dont care because I loved golfing!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today we celebrate what we are most thankful for. Today we get to spend some great, quality time with family and friends. Today we get to gorge ourselves on turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. Today we get to watch football. And, for some at least, today we get to prepare ourselves for black friday. In un-history geek-like fashion, I am not going to discuss the historical Thanksgiving because this holiday is not so much about the history of the Wampanoags and the Puritans anymore. This holiday is about spending time with family, reconnecting with loved ones who you see once every other month, at most. So today, I scorn those who call today Thankstaking and I proclaim from the mountain tops...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

End of the semester

I have not posted for a while mostly because it is coming to the end of the semester and I have some projects that I need to finish. I need to create a major power point presentation on an adolescent featured somewhere in literature for my Adolescence class. I chose Catcher in the Rye. I also have to write a 10-page informal research paper on the suburbanization of America and how white Europeans forced minorities into the inner cities while they took control of the suburbs. And the most exciting project is a 20 page research paper on the shift from white indentured servitude to race slavery in seventeenth century Virginia. How exciting is that?!?! If you want to know more about this topic, you can just ask me. My thesis is that this change was facilitated by the shift from family farms to cash crops, specifically tobacco, in the Chesapeake which created a labor need that could not be filled by England’s indenture system and needed to be filled by a new labor system where the master owned not only the labor of the servant, but the person of the slave.
I am starting to take my research papers more seriously than I have in the past. One of my goals is to be published by the time I’m thirty and the good news about CSUF is that 90% of the professors who assign research papers will recommend them to historical journals if they are good enough. So, I am working on heavy research on these papers so I can hopefully get published sometime soon.

Change

Every now and then, people need a change. Most people don't like major changes, they like small changes that they can control that help to spice up their lives and bring some excitement. Take me and Michelle. Michelle recently died her hair red (or as she has corrected me 100 times, Auburn.)




I, not being someone to be one-upped, also needed a change. So, I shaved my mustache. This is a drastic change for me because my upper lip has not seen the light of day in over 10 years. I have had a full gotee and mustache since just before my 17 birthday. But I gotta say, it feels good...kind of cold, though.

Police and Fire Fighters

These fires that have been ravaging southern california have got me thinking. These firemen who have been fighting these fires are true heroes in every sense of the word. Firemen are generally thought of as heroes. When you think of the LAFD through the past couple weeks, or of the NYFD on 9/11, you think of heroes. But do you think the same way when you think of police? When you think of the LAPD do you think of the brutality during the imigration rallies? When you think of police, do you think of donut-eating, stake-out-sitting, ticket-writing burdens? Maybe you don't, but I'm sure you know someone who will call a cop a pig whenever they see one. I think that police get a bad rap. My theory is there are two major things influencing this negative stereotype. The first is that police deal with people. When you deal with people, at times there are going to be a majosity of those people who do not like your actions. Fireman deal with nature and so dont have to deal with confrontations with people. The other, and more important, aspect is the effects of the media. The media is so quick to jump on a police scandal, but how often do you hear a positive report. When was the last time that the news reported about how police protect us on a daily basis. I think that firemen are true heroes, but I think that policemen should be considered heroes just as much as fireman

Happy Birthday Protestant Reformation!

Today is the 490th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. 490 years ago today, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to that infamous door of the church in Wittenburg. So enough with all this "Halloween" stuff! I say Happy Birthday Protestants! I think we should sing...Happy Birthday day to you!...Happy Birth, oh nevermind!

A Very Exciting Day

Today is a very exciting day for me. I just registered for my last semester before I graduate. I know you're all dying to hear which classes I'm taking. Well, I am taking "The rise of cities in Europe between 1000-1915", "Ancient and Medieval Britain", "The Roman Empire", and a research seminar class on "European Identities." I know you're jealous. Its ok to be, they're cool classes.

Wisdom Teeth

I just got two wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. That was quite the experience. If there is anyone reading this who has not had teeth pulled, here is the procedure: the dentist numbed me with about a dozen shots of novicaine. After that kicked in he used some chisel-like tool to loosen my tooth. He then used a set of teeth plyers to yank the tooth out using a circuar motion to continue loosening the roots. The roots on one of the teeth were hooked, as you can tell by the picture. On this one he had to cutit in half and yank out each root individually. In the end it was not a bad experience, but I am taking the day off of work today to kind of recuperate.

The Dumbest Thing Ever Done or The Indestructable Apple

Do you ever do anything that is so dumb that it makes you wonder how you dress yourself every morning?? I have done one of those things recently. I recently misplaced my ipod. About a month and a half ago I misplaced it at work and I started to think that someone at work had stolen it because I could not find it anywhere at home. I feel like I have to explain myself before I tell you where my beautiful wife found it. At my work, people steal things from the community fridge, so I bought something that you freeze overnight and it keeps things at 25 degrees for 8 hours. On the front of this thing is a little pocket that, from time to time, I have been known to put my cell phone or ipod in. Well, I evidently put this drink caddy in the freezer to freeze it for the next day and unwittingly carried my ipod into the freezer as well. I guess when I pulled it out the next morning, the ipod stayed in the freezer. That's right...my ipod had been frozen for A MONTH AND A HALF!!!! So yesterday I am out in the garage and I hear Michelle laughing hysterically and her say, "Ummm...honey??? I just found your ipod!" And the best part is, it still works. Thanks Apple!

SHE'S HERE, SHE'S HERE!!!!

It feels like Christmas morning and getting everything I asked for!!!!

Day 3

Work – school – empty house. Nothing much to report about day 3. I met with one of my professors today to discuss a topic for my research paper. That’s about it. It was nice to be distracted by school today. I’m sure I sound really dramatic about being alone for almost a week, but it’s the first time and as a very wise person once said, “It sucks being the one who’s left at home.” Only a few more hours...I feel like its Christmas Eve!

Day 2

Day 2 is now over. My second class (Historical Thinking) last night that usually meets from 7-9:45 was cancelled because our assignment was to go to the Museum of Jurassic Technology (I went last Sunday and will give my review soon). I was going to go to the High School group meeting at church, which I have recently been volunteering at, but by the time I got home and changed out of my work clothes, it was between 7:30-7:45 and so I just stayed in. I wound up making another fire last night (I love that we have a fireplace now) and working on some more school work so I am not smashed with work this weekend. 36 more hours to go. I miss you Michelle.

Day 1

So day 1 of my solitary journey is over. For those who read this and don't know, Michelle and I have been married for a little over a year and have never spent a single night apart...until now! This week Michelle is at an executive staff retreat up in Big Bear with her company until late Friday night. So, I have the whole week to be by myself, and some people might love this kind of oppurtunity but I, so far, am very lonely. (Awwwwwwwww...) Last night I worked on some school work and lit a fire for myself because it is finally cold enough to make a fire. I slept in our bed alone, and being alone in a Cal King bed makes it seem 5 times as big as it really is. I think I slept sideways for half of the night. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself tonight. Probably watch some Star Trek and drown my sorrows in alcohol. And by drown my sorrows in alcohol I mean drink one Appletini Smirnoff.

I Love Being Married!

Just to give an update on a previous post, a couple weeks ago I said that I now have something to say when people ask me how it is to be married. Michelle and I went to a dinner/auction on Friday night and we saw some friends that we haven't seen in a while and they asked how it was being married, and I said emphatically, "I love being married, my wife watches Star Trek with me!!"

Top 10 most important events in history - #9

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Martin Luther’s Exegetical Discovery –
The western world was changed when Martin Luther reinterpreted Romans 1:17. Luther began his spiritual journey as a Catholic Augustinian monk and understood this verse, like all good Catholics, to say “For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God (righteous requirements of God) is revealed…” Luther saw the Gospel as being equivalent to the Law. He became aware of his own sinfulness, measured against the Gospel/Law, and was never able to do enough penance to aleve his conscience and feel like he had gained God’s favor. He once told a friend that this verse caused him to hate God, which of course made him go back to his confessor and add blasphemy to his list of sins. One biographer has said that he “beat importunately against Paul in that place (Rom. 1:17) trying to discern what Paul (or what God) wanted.” Later, he had what historians have called his “tower experience” where he determined that the righteousness of God is not what was required by God, but what was given by God, and that salvation was not an achievement, but a gift. Luther said, “Thereupon, I felt that I had been born again and entered Paradise through wide open doors.” (Historical side note: this is the first time the phrase “born again” appears in the historical record) Luther started the Protestant Reformation on October 31, 1517 with his 95 theses because of this exegetical discovery. You might be wondering why I chose this to put on my top 10 list of historical events. Sure its important, but is it worthy of a historical top 10 list for all of time? The Protestant Reformation opened the vice grip that the Catholic Church held over Europe throughout the Middle Ages. It changed the patterns of settlement in the New World. It influenced the founding of the American nation and the ideas that surrounded it. It gave rise to ideas of individuality with Luther’s theology of the priesthood of the believer and gave rise to nationalism when he wrote A Letter to the Christian Princes of the German Nation. He changed the western world with a belief in a universal calling which would later be called the Protestant work ethic. Luther said that God specifically called everyone to whatever job they did. This was much different than the ideas that existed before. Previously people thought that work was a sign of sin, as tilling the earth was one of Adams punishments after the fall. Now people found pleasure in work because God called them to it. The Protestant Reformation lit the European continent on fire for centuries and grew to something bigger than any one man, even Luther himself, could control. The Reformation was a result of what historians call a zeitgeist, basically meaning that it was a consequence of the atmosphere of the historical period and not the effects of one person or event, but Luther’s exegetical discovery was the spark that lit Europe on fire.

I hate going to the dentist!

In fact, I hate it so much that I had not gone to the dentist for years, until recently. Once I was old enough to take care of my teeth myself and it was no longer my parents' responsibility, I stopped going. About 3 months ago I decided that it had been too long and so I sucked it up and made an appointment with the dentist. I figured I had been paying for dental insurance for 6 years, why not start to use it? It turns out that if you don't go to the dentist for 6 years, you have a high likelihood of having a lot of cavities. So, I had lots of cavities, 2 wisdom teeth that needed to be pulled and a deep cleaning. I started with the deep cleaning and some of the cavities, but that was a couple months ago and I have been putting off getting the rest of the work done because I HATE THE DENTIST!!! I tried to go yesterday but the dentist gave me the oppurtunity to put it off longer, and so of course I took it. I have an appointment on Monday. Hopefully I'll be done with it after that!

Why Scrubs is the Greatest Thing on Television

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Scrubs is my favorite show on t.v. right now and I'll tell you why. It is the show that can make me consistently laugh every single episode. It deals with serious issues, too, like the problem with seriously sick people who have no insurance and the issue of faith in doctors who see trauma on a dialy basis. But the reason why I like it so much is that it makes me cry. I dont really cry over much, but there are two episodes of Scrubs that make me cry every single time I see them: the episode when Ben Sullivan (Brendan Fraser's character)dies and everyone goes to his funeral and Dr. Cox thinks he's still talking to Ben. And the second one is when Laverne dies. No other comedy can make cry and that is why Scrubs is the best thing on television.

Why I Love My Wife.

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People still ask me how I am enjoying married life and I love when they do. My problem is that I say "I love it, it's great." But people always stare at me waiting for me to continue and give a clever anecdote. I always panic because I can feel their eyes boring a hole into my soul as they rest their entire judgment of the quality of my marriage on the next words that come out of my mouth. I always default to something like "It's so much better than I thought it could ever be" or if it is someone that I can joke with I'll say something like "Its just weird that there is a girl in my bedroom." But recently I have noticed that my wife has done two things that has made me fall more in love with her and things that I can now use when people ask me how I'm enjoying married life. The first is that my wife quotes Family Guy. My favorite line that she quotes is "That's 'R' as in Robert Loggia...'O' as in oh my god, that's Robert Loggia...'B' as in by god, that's Robert Loggia..." Second, and more importantly, my wife has come to tolerate, and dare I say enjoy, Star Trek. If you asked her, she could tell you who Seven and Chakotay, or Riker and Troy are. So now when people ask me how I am enjoying married life, I am going to say, "Great! I love being married! My wife watches Star Trek with me!"

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love Christmas. It is always the highlight of my year. I actually start preparing for Christmas in September. If Michelle would let me I would decorate in the middle of November and leave the decorations up until February. I love the whole season. I love the long, dark nights. I love the cool, crisp air. I love all the stores when they're decorated. I love the Santas in the malls. I love the caroling. I love the full month of Christmas music on KOST. I love seeing my whole family. I love all the emotions involved in the whole season. During the Christmas season, I turn into a kid again and I still get that same sense of wonder and innocence that I had when I was a kid. For me it is the most joyous time of the year. Its hard to explain, but I get this sense of awe, wonder, amazement, overwhelming joy. It is because I get to celebrate the birth of my Savior, but for me it is something a little deeper, too. I feel like that this emotion that I feel during the Christmas season is a little taste of what Heaven is going to be like. That sense of childish awe and wonder and unadulterated joy.

The Long Now

I am such a nerd. My job requirements are all involved with computers. In order to do my job all I need is a computer. All work is done on the computer, all communication is done through email, I am rarely on the phones. In order to help the day go by a little faster, I get to listen to headphones. My company took away headphone privileges a little while ago because there were a couple people who abused the privilege, but they brought them back about a month ago. I got so excited because I like to listen to lectures on my ipod. Isn’t that one of the nerdiest things you’ve ever heard?? I listen to lectures from professors at Berkeley and Yale. I listen to seminars on how to teach history. I listen to podcasts on the latest discoveries in Astronomy. Lately, I’ve been listening to a seminar series from a group called the Long Now Foundation. This is a secular organization that promotes, what they call, long term thinking. They think about the future as far as 10,000 years and try to promote responsible planning and use of resources. They have a completely atheist outlook (they feature speakers like Sam Harris) but they have a lot of interesting things to think about. You can check them out here.

Back To Blogging

I have been wanting to get back into blogging, but have been overwhelmed with busy schedule. But there is a new blogger in my blogosphere, my sister-in-law Becky, and she has spurred me into finally getting back into my blog.
So, I am going to come back with a confession: I covet stuff. I have come to the realization recently that I constantly want new stuff. I keep telling Michelle about all the things that I want to save for. I want to save for a new truck (2007 Toyota Tundra is what I want), a new telescope, a new computer, a new stand-up toolchest, a new LCD tv. I have the longest list of things that I want to save for. This is one of the things that bothers me the most about myself. I want to stop coveting. Its not like I am unhappy without this stuff; I don't go around all day thinking "If only I had a new tv I would finally be happy." But I do want it all. And I will always want something new. I got a new computer a while ago and about a month after I had it I wanted a new one. About 3 years ago, I bought my first car from an actual dealership, instead of a friend, and soon after that all I could think about was a new truck (which I am still thinking about). I am not blaming it on this culture (its mostly just my selfishness) but I think to some extent it is growing up in the Nintendo generation. I have grown up in the generation that has seen Beta, VHS, Laserdisk, DVD, and now HD-DVD and Blu Ray, and 5 generations of Nintendo. We are always being told that our things our out of date and that we have to replace them. So here I am always wanting something new. I hate it!

Table for 7

Alright, so my brother-in-law Eric did this on his blog and I was so intrigued that I had to come out of hiding and resurrect my blog. Here are the rules: you have to choose 6 people who you would like to have dinner with (living or dead). They cannot be fictional characters and they cannot be people who you would normally be able to have dinner with. So if it is someone alive, then it has to be someone famous, not your brother or something like that. This is one dinner, not six, so you have to choose people who would be able to hold a conversation together. Oh, and it cant be Jesus because everyone would say that. So here are mine in no particular order:

1. Erasmus – He is one of the most intelligent people ever to have lived and he lived in one of the most interesting time. He had his hand around Marin Luther’s neck while throwing punches at the pope with his other hand and I would love to talk to the man who could get away with that.

2. Socrates – If there was any lull in the conversation, he would be able to get it going again. I learn the same way that he did, by asking questions and finding answers in other people’s responses, and I want to see him in action.

3. Noah – I want to know what the earth looked like as one giant ocean. I want to talk to him about what it was like to hear the voice of God tell you that He was going to flood the Earth wiping out all of humanity and has chosen you to live and re-propagate the Earth.

4. JJ Abrams – Anyone who knows me might have seen this coming. I would want to talk to him about Lost and some of his other projects that are in the works right now.

5. Adam – I would want to talk to him for some of the same reasons as Noah. I would want to hear what it was like to walk with God without knowing any sin. I would want to know what the Earth was like in God’s original intention. And I would want to ask if it got boring living for 900 years.

6. Martin Luther – I had trouble with this last one thinking of someone I would like to talk to instead of someone I just like to study about. I would love to talk religion with him. With him on my right and Erasmus on my left, I think it would make for a very interesting discussion! Plus, I would love to hear a discussion between him and Adam on the nature of man.

Chuck Norris

Some out there might have heard of Chuck Norris facts. They have been around for a few years now and are just funny statements about Chuck Norris written by fans. For instance, one of my personal favorites is, "Crop circles are Chuck Norris' way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie down." If you want to check out more you can go here. Well, Chuck Norris has become well aware of these facts and thinks they are funny and has gone on some talk shows with some of his own. Well here is the penultimate Chuck Norris facts column. It is written by Chuck Norris in one of his columns for World Net Daily and it is about what would happen if he became president. Check it out here.

Funny Story....

This here is a very funny story. I read this and started thinking to myself "How emberassing is it to be knocked unconscious by a silly fish!" What a lightweight! Then I looked up what a sturgeon was. How would you like to be hit in the face with one of these???

To Any Out There Who Still Might Be Checking This Blog...

So...I haven't posted in a while, for a month and a half now, and here is why. The following is my confessional to anyone out there who still might be listening: I constantly have all these thoughts and questions (not doubts, just questions!) about God and the meaning of life, the universe and everything. When I hear myself ask some of these questions, I feel like I am being heretical and so I usually do not ask. I know that this is common and that it happens to a lot of Christians when they reach adulthood and try to make their religion their own instead of that of their parents. At this point in peoples lives as they progress out of the immaturity of "youth group mentality" and through the early twenties where they think they know everything into their mid-twenties and thinking that nobody knows anything it gets pretty tough. It feels like the same growing pains that you felt when you were a kid, except now the brain is what is hurting instead of the body. I look forward to my thirties after this "questioning" period is over and I can settle on some answers (I hope!) But since this is my place where I am expressing all of these questions, even if I do feel like a heretic or a doubter, I am going to try to work through these things. If I am asking some pretty easy questions, please let me know. Tell me that I'm a dork and the answer is right here looking me in the face. And I will pledge to go to the Bible more and seek my answers from the source of all knowledge.

Is this not the most beautiful woman in the world???

Hogzilla

In case anyone missed this story a few months ago, this is the world's largest known pig. It was found and killed in southern Georgia a few months ago after rumors that a "hogzilla" was terrorizing the locals. They are now making a horror movie about it. When, exactly, did we run out of good ideas for movies?

Answers in Genesis

There is a new Creation Museum opening up in Cincinnati next month. It is done by a group called Answers in Genesis. It cost them $27 million and is done very well. It features animatronic scenes of humans co-existing with dinosaurs and Noah building the ark. It has received a lot of buzz in the media (it was even secretly crashed by Bill Maher) The media's rection has generally been bad, most articles poking fun of the Christian community in general for the beliefs of the Answers in Genesis organization. What do you think? Do you think that this is a good idea in promoting the Gospel? Do you even agree with the assumptions of AiG?

Thoughts on Virginia Tech

I think the thing that bothers me the most about this whole incident is the media saturation. All you could hear about on Tuesday was about the murders, and all you could hear about yesterday were the tapes that he made about it. The media bombarded us with the same handful of images of Virginia Tech, the same interviews with students who survived saying they didn't really know what was going on at the time, and they same misinformation about the murderer. Some said he was South-east Asian, Chinese, Korean, and some said he was a student others not a student. It is the responsibility of the media to report facts, not speculation and hearsay. And then playing his videos to the world legitimized this guy. He was a disturbed young man who felt that he was a victim of some horrible wrong. He was not a victim, though! Once you take the life of another, you forfeit any right to the title "victim." I has a roommate at college who had all the same signs as Cho: he was socially awkward and constantly teased. He was manic-depressive and would skip class and spend entire days laying on his bed in the dark. Should I have notified school counseling and had them hold him because he fit the profile of a potential suicidal school shooter?? Sure, it was sad that he was teased, but that does not give him the right to kill 32 people and then himself.

They are so unlike your Christ

This is why people like our Christ but not our Christians.

Revelation

I want to revisit something that I started posting on this blog at the beginning. This concerns God's revelation. And I am asking this to spark a dialogue, so please respond if you have an opinion.


Does God continue to reveal Himself (outside of the general revelation in nature) after the closing of the canon of scripture? In other words, does God continue to directly speak to individuals about His will like He did with Adam, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, Jesus, etc.? Do you think that He spoke to Martin Luther and Aimee Semple McPherson the same way he spoke to David and Elijah?

Witnessing

I ask these questions to discuss the issues and to try to spark thought into why we do the things we do.
Why do we witness? As Christians, what is our motive for witnessing? Are we called to convince or coerce people to believe in Jesus, or are we called to just tell people about Jesus and let them make their own decisions? How do we witness? Do we go to the malls and main streets and popular places on the weekends and walk up to complete strangers and tell them that Jesus loves them and died for their sins with having no intention of ever seeing that person again? Do we go door to door and hand out Bible tracks that gives the Bible message in 2-3 paragraphs? Do we take a missions trip to another country and build houses or help with VBS or help AIDS victims? Do we sit down with our closest friends and really listen to what is bothering them and give them a shoulder to cry on if they need it? Is our purpose as Christians to convert as many people as possible to Christianity?

Salvation for Native Americans

For those of you who I have already talked to about this, you can ignore this post. For those of you who have not, I hope you will find this as interesting to think about as I do.

Were the post-Christ-pre-Columbian Native Americans saved? The Bible tells us that there is no salvation outside of the knowledge and belief in Christ as the only saving God. But what of the Native Americans who lived between the years of 0 AD and 1492? Did God abandon two entire continents worth of people for 15 centuries, or did someone come to the western hemisphere and tell the Native Americans about Jesus? And if someone did, that means that the western hemisphere was known long before Columbus, because it would have been common knowledge in order for the apostles and first Christian missionaries to cross the Atlantic. The knowledge that there is another half of the world would not have just died. So does that mean that Columbus knew about the New World and all of the people living there before he left Spain? Or was the knowledge of this world purposefully buried in history? And if so, why? Or the third option is that God left these people to their own devices for 1500 years? Any thoughts?

Top 10 most important events in history

I am going to start posting what I think are the top ten most important events in history and why I think they are the most important. I am starting today with number 10.



The Plague:
The plague was the greatest thing to happen to Europe, at least for those who survived. Before the plague, 95% of Europe was landless, wageless peasents who worked the land in order to stay alive. Right before the plague, Europe began a series of enclosure acts that closed the previously public land that serfs used to plant crops and raise their livestock and sold it off to the highest bidders. This was devestating to everyone in Europe who did not have enouigh money to buy land. The plague killed up to 75% of the people in some places (about 33-66% total in all Europe). Suddenly, the same amount of work needed to be done with half the people. Now the peasentry had a huge bargaining chip. They could now start to demand wages instead of a percentage of the crop. They were no longer tied to the lands, and many moved into these new cities that were popping up wverywhere. Not only did the peasentry now fight back against the nobility, but they started to innovate. A noble who would have paid 50 peasants to cut the grass around his estate with scissors could now pay the 1 peasant who invented a lawn mower. This opened Europe to advances in technology that might not have occured before the plague. The plague jumpstarted the Industrial Revolution which probably would not have occured when it did if the plague never happened as pre-plague, feudal Europe did not have any reason to innovate.

You know what grinds my gears??

When some commercial says something like, "This product is only for those who want to be millionaires, or real estate gurus, and have fun doing it!" Do the advertisers think we are stupid?? Do they expect us to say, "Well, I want to be a millionaire and I want to have fun. Maybe I should buy this 45 page $75 book written by Donald Trump on the secrets of how to be a fun millioniare-real-estate-guru!" Is there anyone that actually does not want all that? Is there anyone that actually thinks they can get all that by reading a book written by Donald Trump??

Stats for this semester

I am right aroung the half way point for this semester and the end is looking so sweet. I am going to take 2 summer classes, but they are going to be in the second summer session, so I get 7 weeks off between the end of spring semester and beginning of summer semester. Here is where I stand so far this semester:

History of the Atlantic World - solid B
Historical Writing - low A
Development of American Law - high B with potential for A
History of Modern Christian Thought - low A
Books read - 20
Books left to read - 15
papers written - 12
papers left to write - 9

Flying Time

Why does time fly by so fast when you want it to the least? This past week was spring break and I feel like I blinked and the week was over. That was literally the fastest week of my life and now I have to start class again tonight. The week before last was possibly the longest week of my life because I couldnt wait for spring break to start. Einstein was trying to describe his theory of relativity one day and when describing the relative-ness (?) of time said (and I paraphrase) "When you are taking a math test, time will go by slowly. But when you are talking to a girl, time will fly by."

"Studies have shown"

How much authority do we give a statement when it is prefaced by the phrase "studies have shown?" Anyone can say "studies have shown" something and no one really doubts what they say. Usually when someone says that, there are no actual studies that are referred to. If there was a study, who conducted the study? What control group did they use? What were their methods for conducting the study? What presuppositions might they have personally that would taint their results? What was the purpose of the study? Very importantly, who funded the study? Where was the study done, and did it have enough variables to achieve accurate results? I no longer lend much credit to someone who says "studies have shown" (I am referring mostly to people in the media) because when someone refers to a "study" they are usually using that study to enforce something that they already believe. Next time you hear someone say "studies have shown," think about what their reason is for quoting the study and see if they mention anything about the actual study, or just mention the results.

Nature Shows

So Michelle and I are watching this nature show miniseries on the Discovery Channel and I recommend that everyone watch it. Its called Planet Earth and its on Sunday nights for the next couple weeks or so and it is literally breathtaking. There are some awesome shots that you might not ever see anywhere else. For instance, there was a scene in one of the episodes where a snow leopard (one of the most rarely seen animals on Earth by the way) snuggling its kids and then hunting a mountain goat. It was pretty amazing to see. Each episode has a theme and we watched the "under-water" themed one last night. It seriously blew my mind!! I was sitting there for 45 minutes in some hypnotic trance not being able to turn my eyes from all of the stuff that I was seeing. For those of you who know me, you would know that it took me a little bit ot get over some whale shots, but once they were done with that they went deeper in the ocean and showed some of the most bizarre looking, bioluminescent, blobs of goo that somehow had the intelligence to look for food. Then they showed a time-lapse shot (I think it was over a few days) of a sperm whale that had died and sunk two miles to the ocean floor and all of the scavengers coming to eat the carcass. Anyways, if you like to see all of the most beautiful things about this planet that we live on, then you should definitely check this show out.

Conservativism vs Liberalism

I am really curious to hear everyone's response to this. I know what these words mean to me, but what does it mean to you to be conservative? Liberal? What does it mean to be a Republican? Democrat? And what do you consider yourself?

Chuck Norris wears Jack Bauer pajamas

How freakin cool is 24 right now???? Thats all I really need to say I think!

Lost Spoiler

This may or may not be accurate, but here is a lot of spoilerish info about the next episode:

Not In Portland Exclusive Summary - - The episode opens with Juliet visiting her sister. She is injecting her with an experimental drug that they hope will allow her sister to become pregnant. Juliet is visited by Ethan and someone we haven't met before (he played a terrorist on 24 though) who want her to come work 'in Portland'. Unfortunately, she is bound to a contract with her nasty Ex-Husband. She makes the offhand comment that he would need to be hit by a bus before she could come work for them. Next day, as she is strolling to work... he gets hit by a bus. Juliet is having a bittersweet sending off at the morgue when Ethan and his cronies show up again. She decides to take the job. But the job is "Not in Portland" which reveals the purpose of the title. She only agrees to six months. - - They want her because she is some world-famous fertility researcher. This lends a lot of support to the theory that the Others can't reproduce. - - The situation with Jack gets hairy when Ben wakes up and over-hears Jack telling Mr. Friendly that Juliet asked him to kill Ben. So much for Jack having any loyalty to Juliet! Ben converses with Juliet in private for a while. It is almost as if he sends her out to help Sawyer and Kate escape because immediately after the conversation, that is exactly what she does. - - Speaking of Kate and Sawyer, yes they run through the jungle and exchange gunfire with Pickett and his cronies. Just when the chips seem down, Alex shows up and starts taking out guys with her sling shot. At this point, they have realized they can't get off the island without a boat and Alex promises to alleviate that situation, with a catch: they must help her rescue her boyfriend Karl who is being held in a building on the island. Sawyer beats the snot out of the guard at the building (played by Rob McElhenry from "Always Sunny in Philadelphia"). - - The scene with Karl is definitely one for the freeze framers. He is tied up and drugged and being forced to watch a movie with a lot of fast moving images and words. Very 60's style brainwashing stuff. - - When they finally get to the beach, Pickett is way ahead of them. He knew exactly where they would turn up and is waiting for them. Just as he is about to execute sawyer, Juliet comes in and kills him. She tells Alex that Karl can go with Sawyer and Kate, but she will have to stay. She refers to Ben as "your father". - - Jack finishes the surgery and Ben survives. He talks to Kate via Pickett's radio and tells her to never come back to try to rescue him. It is kind of an emotionally intense moment. You can see that Sawyer is uncomfortable with the amount of pain Kate is exhibiting over this. - - There is an uncomfortable respect between Juliet and Jack now, but Juliet still seems to be open to him... as if the request to kill Ben was a gag maybe? Jack asks Juliet what Ben said to her and she replies that he is finally going to let her go home. She reveals that she has been on the island for 3 years, 2 months, and 23 days. According to the various LOST time-lines out there, this means she arrived on 9/11/2001.

New Semester

So, the new semester started this week and is already well under way and I have not even been to all of my classes yet. I have finished all of my GE classes and all of my lower division major requirements and now have nothing left but upper division and I have to say, it's kind of overwhelming. The classes are hard, half of the students in all of my classes so far are grad students, and I just found out how well I need to do in the classes to continue with my education. I met with a counselor in the history department on Monday (ironically she is also one of my teachers this semester) and I am meeting with a credential advisor next Friday. I was told by the history department counselor that I need to get a C in all of my classes from now on (since they are all upper division) in order to graduate, which is no big deal. But I also found out that in order to get into the credential program I need to get straight B's (not just a 3.0) and I need to get a 3.5 in order to get into the graduate program. I was going to take 6 classes this semester so I can graduate in December, but I do not think that I can get a 3.5 GPA while taking 6 classes. So I dropped to 4, and am graduating in May of '08 instead. Not only is this going to be the hardest semester so far, but it is also the most expensive. I have the same teacher for 2 classes and between the 2, he has assigned 26 books. So, this is going to be an interesting 15 weeks. More to come.....

Lost Fans Unite...Form of....a 6th season

For all of you lost fans out there, one of the writers of the show has announced that they do not plan to do more than 100 episodes which at the current rate would finish the story in mid-5th season. It is not official yet, but in a recent interview he answered direct questions about the length of the series 4 different times with the 100 episode answer. Bummer!

Beware the Rant

You know what one of my most favorite things is: when you are sitting at a red light and the guy in front of you starts to inch forward just as the cross traffic light turns yellow and keeps inching foward so that he is in the middle of the intersection by the time the light turns green for us. You start to think that he is trying to beat some personal record for getting somewhere, but then after the light turns green and we have crossed the intersection he goes 20 freaking miles an hour!!! What the heck?!?!?! Did he try to fool me into thinking that he was going to drive at a reasonable speed? Was he distracted by something on the side of the road? Or maybe he was watching his in-dash entertainment system while talking on his cell phone, eating a big mac and consulting his PDA for directions?
Rant over.

"They are so unlike your Christ"

I have seen a bumper sticker several times over the past month. It says "I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." Its convicting and really sad because even if we try as hard as we can to be a good witness, we are still lumped into the same group as Ted Haggard and Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker.

"The fully enlightened Earth radiates disaster triumphant."

Is technology a good thing? We have progressed in the past two hundred years beyond the wildest dreams of most people living in the early 19th century. And there have been many wonderful advances in several fields, including science and medicine, but is it a good thing? We have developed medicine to cure almost anything, but have we become so dependant on medicine that we have made our bodies loose their natural ability to fight off disease? If we get the slightest headache, do we immediately pop 4 advil? We have caused the "death of distance," as Francis Cairncross has said, with the advent of the internet and the move towards globalization. But is that a good thing? Is globalization a good thing; with a centralization of government (and I admit that a world government is far down the line of globalization) comes some negative things like the end of competition (and maybe the end of progress?) And there was a reason why God destroyed the Tower of Babel. And the point that I have saved for last, technology has made the most efficient ways of killing people. German machine gunners from WWI went into shock because of they were killing people so many people so fast. There were 62 million casualties in the 6 years of WWII. Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno said that "The Enlightenment has always aimed at liberating men from fear and establishing their sovereignty. Yet the fully enlightened earth radiates disaster triumphant." So, is technology itself a good thing? Are we truly better now than we were 500 years ago?

Sola Scriptura

How much faith do we put in science? If we have interpreted a passage of scipture in one way, but then we hear something from science that contradicts that scripture, do we reinterpret that passage or do we reinterpret our scientific findings? For example, Genesis says that God created the Earth on day one, but He did not create the sun until day four. But science tells us that the sun ignited billions of years before the earth formed. So, what do we believe? Do we put so much faith in science that we will say that the Bible must not really mean that the sun was created after the Earth? Or do we put enough faith in scripture to say that science is not Truth?

Young Earth

I believe that the Earth is young, in fact I think that the earth is no more than 10,000 years old and here is why:
The Creation week was exactly that: a week. The original Hebrew word for day that was used in Genesis 1 (yowm) is used 2301 times throughout the Old Testament with verying meanings. It is used to mean (among other things) an epoch in time, a 24-hour period, and the daylight portion of a day. However, when used with a qualifying number (such as the first day of creation, second day of creation, etc) it is seen 410 times in the OT and always meaning a 24-hour period; when used with the qualifier "evening and morning", it is seen 38 times always meaning a 24-hour period; and when used with the qualifiers "evening" and "morning" seperately, 23 times each always meaining a 24-hour period. I think that the Hebrew writers and God Himself was trying to say something with the words of Genesis.
The myriad of available dating methods are not reliable, and they become less reliable the older the object that you are trying to date. Carbon dating (calibrated or non-calibrated) can give different dates when dating two objects from the same time period. And carbon dating can only date objects a few thousand years old. In order to get dates of 4.5 billion years (the supposed age of the earth) you need to use a compound with a longer half-life, the most common being potasium-argon and it has been shown that you can use potasium-argon dating to date a recent lava flow as happening millions of years ago. And there are hundreds of other dating methods that are equally un-reliable. Consider this: if one were to look at Adam the day after his creation, he would appear by all signs to be 35 years old (or whatever age God created Adam to be) when in fact he would be only one day old. The point is, if God created Adam to be fully mature the day after creation, wouldn't it follow that the rest of creation would also start out mature? That would explain how dating methods (however unreliable they may be) can show a 4.5 billion year old Earth and how we can see light from stars billions of light years away.
Now here is why I think that this is important. If when we witness to people and explain to them that we are all sinners needing forgiveness, we need to start at the beginning of the story: we cannot tell people the good news of the gospel without first understanding the bad news ourselves. In Romans, Paul tells us that sin entered the world through one man (Adam) and that death is the punishment for sin. If someone thinks that the earth is millions or billions of years old, then they would have to add those years before Adam and Eve because they will not fit in the geneologies spoken of in the Bible. If there were millions of years before Adam, then there were millions of years of death (represented in the fossil record) before Adam's first sin. I do not in any way think that this is an essential of the Christian faith (i.e. an issue that effects salvation) but I do think that it is a very important issue that involves the inerrancy of Scripture. What do you think?