Someone Needs to Take This Game Away From Me

and, no, I do not mean Scrabble.

It seems, Mr. Anonymous (who commented on my entry entitled G.K. Chesterton), that your motion that I should read Orthodoxy first has been seconded. Furthermore, the friend of mine who seconded that idea at bible study tonight, has a copy, and is willing to lend it to me. (People say, "Don't lend books", but I, for the most part have never had a problem about lending books out or returning books myself...hmmm...) Of course, it would figure that he's never read "The Man Who Was Thursday" either. Wikipedia calls it his best known novel. (yes, there are 2 links there)

I find it interesting how Chesterton's name keeps popping up. I admittedly brought it up tonight, but, in skimming those two links above before linking them, I noticed that:

• "Chesterton's The Everlasting Man contributed to C. S. Lewis' conversion to Christianity."
• the Mercury Theatre on the Air staged a somewhat abridged radio-play adaptation written by Orson Welles who was a great admirer of Chesterton.
• Chesterton's writings have been praised by such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Frederick Buechner, Evelyn Waugh, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Karel Čapek, Paul Claudel, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Sigrid Undset, Ronald Knox, C. S. Lewis, Kingsley Amis, W. H. Auden, Anthony Burgess, E. F. Schumacher, Neil Gaiman, Orson Welles, Dorothy Day and others.

(yes, I stole all of those from the two wikipedia links above. Go! Read them yourself! You can finish reading this first though if you'd like. :) I would like to point out, the wikipedia one actually has other links in the parts I quoted above. I'm just too lazy to copy those links as well.)

I've played way too much "Star Wars: Empire at War" it would seem. I played it into the wee hours last night, and tonight as well. It's going to be tough winding down from that and going to sleep in time to get up early tomorrow. (That is the game that inspired my title tonight) I haven't even taken the time to watch the DVD I recorded the other night of the most recent Stargate SG-1 episode. doh! By the way, Stargate is much higher quality sci-fi than Star Trek, and it's not even a top three on my list of best science fiction shows. (although, it probably takes slots 4 and 5 (for SG-1 and Atlantis)) It should be noted that Star Trek is not, in my opinion, the worst sci-fi show that I watch/have watched. That honor would go to the horribleness that is Kevin Sorbo in Andromeda. Andromeda would also be above Star Trek except that season 5 just totally blew.

The best sci-fi shows, in my opinion, probably are: (*drumroll please*)

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Babylon 5
3. Farscape
4. Firefly
5. Star Wars (I know, it's not really a TV series...as least, the part I mean isn't...)
6. Stargate SG-1
7. Stargate Atlantis
8. Star Trek - The Next Generation
9. Star Trek - The Orginal Series (some will say I should of swapped that, but they're really pretty even)
10. Andromeda
11. The original Battlestar Galactica (this would be much higher up if it wasn't so obviously horrible and bad, but, still, it's not as bad as this last one)
12. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (hehe...how many people even remember that one?)

So, there you have it. Kelly's definitive list of quality science fiction shows. Star Wars is kind of a cheater getting on there, but if you notice the 12 listings, maybe it is the Matthias of the group.

I'm not sure who the Judas would of been though.... Maybe seaQuest DSV?

"Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster."

- Tom Bobadil in The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

"Short cuts make long delays."

- Pippin in The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

Electronic Straightjacket for me? Please.

On a whim (and an impulse), I bought a Scrabble PC game at Fry's the other day. Ya, I know...it's absurd. Especially since I already have a perfectly fine Javascript Scrabble. Of course, the javascript one doesn't have a computer opponent, but...hey...who cares, right?

Anyways, the game requires that the cd be in the drive tray in order to run. It's freakin' SCRABBLE!!!! Why!?! Next thing you know, they'll be telling me it's got safedisc, or some advanced DRM rootkit on it to make sure you don't pirate the stupid $10 game!!!!!!! (ya, I'm an idiot, I paid $10 for it, and it won't even let me change the resolution or play it in windowed mode). Geez! What would be the point!?! All I'm saying is that there are better ways. I really really hate (with a passion) having to play games that require me finding the cd/dvd and putting it in the drive. These games usually get played for about 3 days (or, in the case of Scrabble, probably only once), and then I grow tired of dealing with the trouble of swapping the disc around.

Can we have a consumer revolution in this country or something, please??? I would love it if we could have a massive boycott of every major record label, major hollywood studio , and major game publisher that uses these anti-consumer tactics. They need to stop treating consumers who legitimatly buy products like criminals. Isn't it enough that the prices of these products have gone up almost 400% in the last 10 years because of the real criminals? (a ton of whom are in China, btw) Do we have to accept the rubber glove style frisking manuevers as well?

Underlying the whole scheme of civilization is the confidence men have in each other, confidence in their integrity, confidence in their honesty, confidence in their future.
- Bourke Cockran (1854 - 1923)

I don't say we all ought to misbehave, but we ought to look as if we could.

- Orson Welles

The trouble with a movie is that it's old before it's released. It's no accident that it comes in a can.

- Orson Welles

"Slimy? Mudhole? My home this is!" - Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back

I went, and bought the new "Star Wars: Empire at War" today. It was very impulse buyish of me. I played through the demo last night, and loved it. Of course, I've now spent about 5 or 6 hours playing it tonight, too. It's kind of like a sequel to the old "Star Wars: Force Commander" game. Force Commander had so much potential, and got hampered down in bad decisions concerning gameplay. I seem to remember issues with the camera being a part of it. Empire at War has none of these it seems. It is, in fact, like a fixed version of the old Force Commander combined with Star Trek: Armada and Master of Orion: III.

Church was a little down today. There was a town hall meeting to discuss matters pertaining to the future of the church and who that future will involve as the pastor there. I'm not actually a member of the church, and so, I didn't go. That's for the best I think. I've seen what it looks like when a small church goes through the pastor huntin' process. It's not fun, and people generally leave during it out of impatience. (I'm not going to go into the reasons why I'm not a member, or even worrying about trying to be one. That's a rant for another night...) God, I've noticed, does weird things for seemingly strange reasons. But, I've learned to trust His judgement. Not just because I've been told to, but out of trial and error as well.

So, I think it might be fun to try learning a new language. I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing so though. I don't want to take a class. I really want to just kind of try it out at my own pace, and learn on my own. Yet, I probably need some sort of guide... You see, I suck at trying to learn a new language. I know english...and, well....english. I guess I could say I technically know Pig Latin, a little bit of Texas style spanglish, or a few computer languages as well, but they don't count. When I was playing Scrabble with a couple of my friends last night, I kept wanting to use spanish words. Or, proper nouns. I kept wanting to use those, too. I was very comforted when my friend, Daniel, got angry for having the word "Jedi" rejected. I might of had to put the game down if it had allowed that. By mentioning his use of the word: "Jedi", I have now, seemingly, come full circle on this entry. I apologize. It's not a very good one, but it's late and I must set my DVD Recorder/new alarm clock to start recording Sunrise Earth in a couple of hours to wake me up. ~g'nite.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.

- Winston Churchill -Roving Commission: My Early Life (1930) Chapter 9

Compassion is something I have a lot of, because I've been through a lot of pain in my life. Anybody who has suffered a lot of pain has a lot compassion.

- Johnny Cash

Just How Dorky Can I Be?

I am horrible at scrabble. We played some computer/java based scrabble tonight, and I lost horribly. It was lots of fun though. I can't believe we put down StarCraft to play it.

Helped a friend with his computer tonight. This guy could put together a car with spit and bailing wire. He, in fact, specializes in buying old automobiles and restoring them. Doesn't know really know anything about computers. I have another friend who is basically the exact opposite. My other friend can't work on cars. It suprises me though. The only real difference between the two fields is that one is a lot dirtier and more physical. In the future, they will become more and more inseparable. It was fun helping my friend with his computer though. If he gives it any amount of time, he'll learn pretty quick, I'm sure. Unlike cars, their is no fear of "getting dirty" or "getting something caught in a belt" to worry about. lol.

What really got me about the whole experience was the problem he was having in and of itself. One single pin on the back of the drive became bent. One pin.
This is what the back of the drive looked like:

The three red circles are the damaged pins. The main problem, the bent pin was where the big red circle is. The two smaller circles are pins that got pushed down behind the plug. The main bent pin however, was so bad that it had broken free of it's solder joint behind the plug, and I ended up pulling it out entirely:

The only reason this gets me is because this was a 250 GB hard drive. It's otherwise in fine shape. I'm going to try to get my dad to take a look at, and help me resolder those pins that are messed up as is. However, it just shows how one tiny sliver of metal, not holding up it's responsibility, brought the entire drive to nothingness. As if it did not exist.

Thankfully, it is not entirely impossible to fix these things.

I ended up giving him one of my old hard drives. I'm not sure why I wasn't using it. It was a perfectly good drive, and plenty big enough to be worthwhile to me. Heck, it was bigger than some drives I use currently in some of my machines. I don't know why I wasn't using it. All I know is, when I picked up the random drive that I figured probably was not being used due to some obscure issue with it, it worked perfectly. It was convenient. I'm thinking that God must of had me not use it so that it would be available just now for me to give away. One of my friends at church says that there are "no coincidences", and I agree.


So, on a quick note, my "quote" for tonight is the lyrics to one of the songs by one of the bands I mentioned last night. I think I stated last night that they had no entries on Amazon.com. If so, I was wrong. The entry does have no CD cover art image though, and I don't think the average Christian is going to enjoy their music. I could be wrong though...

Parallel Lines

My albums are in order,
and my room is fairly clean.
all told, I'm doing alright
with my routine.
I know I'm getting better.
So, where is my reward?
If there's a moment of truth,
then what's it for?
What's it for?

We're just parallel lines...
just biding our time.
Nothing lost, and nothing gained.
Every song sounds just the same.
We're just two points on a plane,
and we will never touch again.

No, we're not the criminal
No, we're not to blame.
Too bad that luck left us alone
and left us lame.
What's the point of grieving
if nothing's ever fair?
Why even think about you
if you don't care?
if you don't care?

We're just parallel lines...
just biding our time.
Nothing lost, and nothing gained.
Every song sounds just the same.
We're just two points on a plane,
and we will never touch again.

and love is for the losers
and hope is for the weak
mistakes are all in the past
I won't repeat them.
I'm feeling something better
burning holes in me
but I can't turn around
no I can't turn around
no I can't see
no I can't see you..

We're just parallel lines...
just biding our time.
Nothing lost, and nothing gained.
Every song sounds just the same.
We're just two points on a plane,
and we will never touch again.

- The Funland Band

"You consume me. You consume me.Like a burning flame,running through my veins,You consume me" - DC Talk

I think I've just spent the last two hours organizing .mp3s. I've basically got a whole lot of CDs that I have ripped to my hard drive over the years. I never even plug the CD's into anything anymore. Since my car stereo takes mp3 cds, I just burn folders to a data cd and take that in my car instead of the originals. The result is that I've got somewhere around 9+ gigs of mp3's on my hard drive. I decided to copy them to my linux "media" machine. There, I can plan them over the surround sound with ease. After copying them though, it suddenly occured to me that I can put images on all the folders... I had done this once before (a long time ago) in windows with my Pink Floyd collection by placing the album cover art on the folders. I had liked how it turned out, and I still have the images from it.

So, next thing I know, I'm browsing Amazon.com, and downloading the cover art image of every CD I have ripped. Then, converting it to a .png for linux's folder icon image, and the long tedious task of assigning each folder with an image. As I said at the begining, it's now been about two hours. I'm pretty much done though. (yay!)

Looking back through my collection, I realized just how weird my music taste is. Those of you who might recognize some of the lyrics, etc. that I quote on here will almost certainly assume that I like and listen to a lot of Christian music. You would be right. What suprised me though as I went looking back through my mp3's was the massive amount of non-christian music I own. I have a large Beatles and Pink Floyd collection. (I actually own almost every one of each band's albums on CD and vinyl) Then there's Cake, Green Day, Weezer, Ozzy, The Rolling Stone, Simon and Garfunkel, Credence, Jazz at the Philharmonic, Norah Jones, Johnny Cash, Steppenwolf, Steve Miller, Nirvana, The Funland Band, Dooms UK, Los Lonely Boys, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Dead Kennedy's.... The list goes on, but I hope I've illustrated the point. What supsrises me the most is not a viewpoint of diverse music or quantity thereof (in these post Napster days, many people have much more valid claims to diverse taste and/or quantity than I...). What suprised me the most is how much of that I no longer listen to, and how little I notice it.

I put on some Pink Floyd tracks from Wish You Were Here and Pulse while I was doing the whole icon cover art thing, and savored the flavor of music once intimately known and now a distant memory. I hadn't heard Astronomy Domine in a long time. It was great. And, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pat II?

In trying to fetch cover art, I also began to realize how some of the more local bands I used to love have all but vanished entirely. For example, out of the three Funland albums(sorta albums) I own, I could only find the art for Sweetness. And, none of them return a valid result at all on Amazon.com. I was able to actually find some stores online that still sell the Dooms UK, Greasy Listening, but no cover art either. It never occured to me when I was listening to these bands so long ago that I would be one of only a handful to even remember them later.

I suddenly feel old. lol.

We should make sure we don't forget the less popular art, which we enjoy, that tends to come and then goes, vanishing forever.

I'm cutting this entry short now. There's a massive lightning storm raging outside. Goodnight.

EVENING STAR

'Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro' the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
'Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.
I gazed awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold- too cold for me-
There pass'd, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,
And I turned away to thee,
Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.

- Edgar Allan Poe

“Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave”

- Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liarC.S. Lewis - Preface to The Screwtape Letters

If only life always resolved itself in the so obvious manner that TV does. I don't really mean that, but it would be so much simpler. A human author creates a story and decides, often early on, what characters are going to end being with what characters and so on by the end. Part of the craft is in telling the story in such a way as to artfully foreshadow the ending scenario without actually giving away the most important parts before their time. I think the best kinds of stories are the ones where I can read the first and last chapters before any of the rest of the book, and still love every word in-between.

It does go to show how much of a better story writer God is when we are told how the end comes, how the begining was, the most important parts in-between, and we can still savor life as it comes upon us unprepared in spite of it all.

Sometimes we want God to just tell us what we should expect in our lives. I'm always craving answers for specific questions. The truth is though that He has way too much fun letting us find out when the time is right to give it all up ahead of time.

I really like this article.

Never compare your ministry: for two reasons. First, you’ll always find someone doing a better job than you, and you’ll get discouraged. Second, you’ll always find someone that you’re doing a better job than, and get full of pride. Either way, you’ll be dead in the water.

- Rick Warren

"He (John F. Kennedy) leaves little doubt that his idea of the 'challenging new world' is one in which the Federal Government will grow bigger and do more and of course spend more.... Under the tousled boyish haircut it is still old Karl Marx."

- Ronald Reagan (1960)


"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

- Ronald Reagan

It follows that this Bad Power, who is supposed to be on an equal footing with the Good Power, and to love badness in the same way as the Good Power loves goodness, is a mere bogy. In order to be bad he must have good things to want and then to pursue in the wrong way: he must have impulses which were originally good in order to be able to pervert them. But if he is bad he cannot supply himself either with good things to desire or with good impulses to pervert. He must be getting both from the Good Power. And if so, then he is not independent. He is part of the Good Power's world: he was made either by the Good Power or by some power above them both.
Put it more simply still. To be bad, he must exist and have intelligence and will. But existence, intelligence and will are in themselves good. Therefore he must be getting them from the Good Power: even to be bad he must borrow or steal from his opponent. And do you now begin to see why Christianity has always said that the devil is a fallen angel? That is not a mere story for the children. It is a real recognition of the fact that evil is a parasite, not an original thing.

- C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

G.K. Chesterton

I keep running across references to a Christian author named "G.K. Chesterton". It started with a DVD of Rich Mullins I have. Then, I just started picking up on the name in various places. People talking about reading his work, or about other authors I admire being fans of his work.

The latest was an entry in my Myth TV's guide schedule listing a couple of programs about him. I don't know what to expect, but I set it to record them. I've also found some his work is free online.

If anyone reading this has any advice on where to begin...?

The wild worship of lawlessness and the materialist worship of law end in the same void. Nietzsche scales staggering mountains, but he turns up ultimately in Tibet. He sits down beside Tolstoy in the land of nothing and Nirvana. They are both helpless—one because he must not grasp anything, and the other because he must not let go of anything. The Tolstoyan’s will is frozen by a Buddhist instinct that all special actions are evil. But the Nietzscheite’s will is quite equally frozen by his view that all special actions are good; for if all special actions are good, none of them are special. They stand at the crossroads, and one hates all the roads and the other likes all the roads. The result is—well, some things are not hard to calculate. They stand at the cross-roads.

- G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy (1908)

The truth is that Tolstoy, with his immense genius, with his colossal faith, with his vast fearlessness and vast knowledge of life, is deficient in one faculty and one faculty alone. He is not a mystic; and therefore he has a tendency to go mad. Men talk of the extravagances and frenzies that have been produced by mysticism; they are a mere drop in the bucket. In the main, and from the beginning of time, mysticism has kept men sane. The thing that has driven them mad was logic. ...The only thing that has kept the race of men from the mad extremes of the convent and the pirate-galley, the night-club and the lethal chamber, has been mysticism— the belief that logic is misleading, and that things are not what they seem.

G.K. Chesterton - Tolstoy (1903)

"Attainment and fulfillment are not the same." - Ravi Zacharias - "Recapture the Wonder"

I think I'm going to sleep on my couch tonight. I tend to wake up more easily there. I keep getting annoyed when I go to bed on time or early, and then can't sleep until about 2-3 hours later! To make it worse, I then seem to sleep through 3 alarm clocks to amass way more sleep than I normally would need. It's frustrating. Here, I try to go to bed earlier and earlier so that I can wake up earlier, and be more responsible. Then, I end up being unable to go to sleep. My mind starts racing through all sorts of crazy things. I end up tossing and turning until I finally calm down enough to sleep. Of course, then I have the opposite problem. Once I wake up, my body refuses to respond imediatly, and my mind goes right back to sleep.

I'm sure everyone cares about my sleeping problems. lol. One of my bosses came in today and suggested that I should solve my problem by "sleeping alone." Of course, when I pointed out to him that I do that anyways, he promptly suggested that I needed to "get laid" instead. *sigh* People don't get it.

You know, if the world didn't constantly remind us of sex through TV, internet, news, billboards, and all sorts of other things, it would be a lot easier being abstinent. I mean, there's a lot of self-discipline that goes into just not fantasizing about sex. Society encourages it so much. Just how is a single christian male supposed to cope?

Peer pressure is a frightfully powerful thing. We hear the words "Peer Pressure" and think of all the anti-drug commercials and various things our parents or school teachers told us growing up. "Don't give in to peer pressure!" It's such a cliche that we wave the phrase off totally. But, the truth is, we still need to be aware of doing things only because we fear other people's opinions about us if we don't. Just remember Marty McFly in Back to the Future II & III They kept hinting that he had his life ruined because he made a mistake, and that mistake ended up being an act of giving in to "peer pressure." His major life changing lesson throughout the three movies ends up being self-control over his fear of others.

This issue is not just a common day one. It goes back as far as I'm sure we can trace. Consider Aaron in Exodus when he gives in to the Isrealites and makes the golden calf. Aaron, who knew for a fact that God exists. Then, consider Peter in the new testament when the matter of circumcision arrises:

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

Galatians 2:11-13

(by the way, you might also see Acts 15 for what would seem to be more about this incident.) The fear of man is a powerful weapon in Satan's arsenol.

I don't want to write as much as I did last night. That was a really long rant. However, it is good to recognize our fears of others. They may be little. They may be big. They may be obvious. However, I think they are always constrictive. The only times it would even make sense for fear of man to be good is when that fear would temper and prevent you from doing something you should not be doing. Even then, it's probably the wrong reason. It just happens to coincide with good ones.

We don't speak to our friends, neighbors, and family about Christ like we should because we fear them. We fear their reactions. We fear their rejections. We fear they'll stop liking us, or that they'll be angry with us. I wish I could tell you an easy way to get around or over that fear. I do know of the correct way, but I find it difficult in my own life to apply it: We must just do it anyways. We must live out our faith by risking it all for the sake of the one who gave up Himself for us. We simply must make people aware of the Gospel (Gospel means "Good News"). That doesn't mean forcing them to believe in it. That doesn't mean not talking to them if they don't. But, it is simply inconcievably wrong of us to allow them to carry around either no knowledge or, worse, perverted knowledge of the grace given, sacrifice made, victory obtained, and mercy granted by Jesus Christ, our Lord.

1 Then Job replied:

2 "Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can a mortal be righteous before God?

3 Though one wished to dispute with him,
he could not answer him one time out of a thousand.

4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?

5 He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.

7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.

8 He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.

9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.

11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'

13 God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

Job 9:1-13

Expanding upon things spoken to me...

So, if I write the post before midnight, does that mean that id doesn't count as "wednesday" post? I might just d e l a y the actual posting a few minutes. (:-) or set the post time to 12:03 a.m.)

When we talk about having a long day, are we measuring the time between waking up and going to sleep? If so, when we act and sound eager for it to end, are we simply saying that we have been living a mediocre existance for that day? Are we saying that it has been wasted? Is every wasted day a day without purpose?

I do not believe that God created us to sit on our asses.

63 was really cool. Got to chat with someone I don't get to chat with all that often. And, Rick's message on Galatians was pretty cool. We talk about being saved "by grace", and about how we are justified "by faith". Yet, it's so easy to fall in line with the legalistic thinking brought about by judaistic law, or even by the advice given by Paul in the scriptures for how we should live. we are free from the law in Christ. The only conditions I can think of at all is that we must believe the word of God, accept Jesus Christ into our heart as our savior, and follow Him. I guess people get caught up on the "following Him" part. They think of it like a rule that we must "obey his teachings" in the same way that the Jews were to "obey the law." It's not exactly like that. In Galatians, the bible says:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Galatians 5:13-14

elsewhere, the bible says:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22:36-40

We've been going through Exodus in bible study recently. As we hit chapters 20+ we began to encounter the first writings of the "dreaded" law. (I say "dreaded" because the law can not make anyone righteous because none of us can live up to it...)

Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."

Galatians 3:11

Anyways, about Exodus: We talked about how there are really three different types of "law" handed down to Moses. There's the "Moral Law" (think Ten Commandments), the Ceremonial Law (all the law relating to sacrifice, etc.), and the Judicial Law (stuff like how someone should treat a servant who misbehaves, or how a rape should be handled by the people, etc.).

We all pretty much agreed that the "Judicial Law" is pretty much outdated. It's very specific, and very much aimed at a specific people encountering specific tribal issues in a specific time and place. It's societal law, existing to serve a specific society. As such, it is essentially no longer important except as a template for how society should draw up law even today.

The "Moral Laws", in the meantime, are the laws of the ten commandments which can pretty much be summed up into what Christ says in Matthew 22 (and also in Mark 12:28-34, btw). There's one about keeping the Sabbath which could probably be bundled into "Ceremonial Law".

The "Ceremonial Laws" then are the laws concerning sacrifices. How you sacrifice, what you sacrifice, when you sacrifice, why you sacrifice, etc. There are a lot of these. However, when you recognize Christ as the perfect sacrifice, the need for these other sacrifices is taken away:

but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

Hebrews 7:24-27

So, we see that Christ is the sacrifice. The perfect sacrifice by which we are made perfect:

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

Hebrews 5:7-9

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Colossians 1:21-22

This leaves the "Moral Law" which Christ sums up in two commands:

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul
• Love your neighbor as yourself

(wow, I'm writing a lot tonight. lol)

I used to struggle with what it meant to "love" God. How do we "love" someone? Well, a lot of times we buy gifts for people we love. We perform favors for people we love. What gift can I buy for God who created everything there is to give?! What favor can I perform for the one that can do everything and whom by everything is made possible to do?! Then, you have sacrificing time to spend with the Lord. ok... so... praying means I love God? But, so much of prayer is selfish and is about my want s and needs! I guess praising God is good and all, but I think the ultimate praise of God is done via action. Namely: showing how much you love God. Ok, well, back to square one...how do we do that???

Then, I read 1 John. Specifically, 1 John 4 and 5. I'll quote some of it here:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:7-10

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome

1 John 5:2-3

Now, we come full circle, don't we? We are free from the law because Christ is the fulfilment of the law. He is the atoning sacrifice by which we are freed of the burden of the law. And, it is right to love Him for this. How do we love him though? By obeying His commands. What are His commands? To love God and each other. That just happens to be what the law originally told us to do. The difference is the lack penalty, and the willful surrender of ourselves to Him.

Whew! That was a log of writing. I guess I just felt like releasing conclusions. If you want to clarify, append, or argue any of this, go for it. (although, if you argue, I might argue back. ;-) )

I'm lying on my couch at an awkward angle, typing this. My back hurts, and my cat is sleeping with his chin on my shin. I've got to figure out a way to sit up without too greatly disturbing him. This post is really really long. So, if you actually read it all, I'd love to know!

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

- St. Augustine

How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts the human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. - Letter From a Birmingham Jail (1953)

One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. - Letter From a Birmingham Jail (1953)

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.

- attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.

- Martin Luther - An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans from Dr. Martin Luthers Vermischte Deutsche Schriften. Johann K. Irmischer, ed. Vol. 63(Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854), pp.124-125. (EA 63:124-125)

If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.

- Martin Luther - Letter 99, Paragraph 13. Erika Bullmann Flores, Tr. from: Dr. Martin Luther's Saemmtliche Schriften Dr. Johann Georg Walch Ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), Vol. 15,cols. 2585-2590.

But since the devil's bride, Reason, that pretty whore, comes in and thinks she's wise, and what she says, what she thinks, is from the Holy Spirit, who can help us, then? Not judges, not doctors, no king or emperor, because [reason] is the Devil's greatest whore.

- Martin Luther (German: "Vernunft ... ist die höchste Hur, die der Teufel hat.")
Martin Luther's Last Sermon in Wittenberg ... Second Sunday in Epiphany, 17 January 1546. Dr. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtsusgabe. (Weimar: Herman Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1914),Band 51:126,Line 7ff.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

- C.S. Lewis "God in the Dock"

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

- C.S. Lewis - "Is Theology Poetry?"

USA Hockey

I just want to give a quick shout out to our USA Men's Hockey team. I just watched the end of our 5-4 loss to Russia. Shots on goal were 34-21 in US's favor. Come'on guys. Surely, Robert Esche does not suck that much. We need some 'D' to go with our mediocre 'O', or else we aren't makin' it past those D'mn Finns tomorrow!!!

"If it keeps going like this, the Zamboni driver is going to be the first star."

- Don Cherry (Uttered during Cherry's rookie season as a commentator)

Cheap Research?

I love wiki's. I'm especially a huge fan of wikipedia, and my knowledge of many things has exploded since I have started exploring it. It contains all manner of answers to all these various earthly questions I can raise. You might notice I link to it often in my blog.

Today, I've found another wiki: Wikiquote.
I love it. I love quoting people a lot as is. I believe it helps solidify a point when you can say, "Look! This person said part of it, too! And, this other person said the other part! My point is a combination of views they've already arrived at!"

So, that being said, I'm just going to post a few quotes from two people I looked up right away.....

* note: I plan on reusing some, if not all, of these in the future. hehehe

J.R.R. Tolkien :

"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to."

- J.R.R. Tolkien in a letter to Michael Tolkien, March, 1941

"I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?

- J.R.R. Tolkien On Fairy-Stories, 1938 Andrew Lang Lecture, University of St. Andrews

"I am doubtful myself about the undertaking. Part of the attraction of the L.R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. Also many of the older legends are purely 'mythological', and nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil.

- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 247

C.S. Lewis :

"Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away amoung the mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the glass there may have been a looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different - deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. THe difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked like it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean. It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried: "I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia so much is because it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!"

- C.S. Lewis The Last Battle

"The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning." And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of the all the stories, and we can most truely say they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

- C.S. Lewis The Last Battle

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself.

- C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God's eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.

- C.S. Lewis Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (1963)

"Is he safe?" "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver... "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

- C.S. Lewis The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

Red Eyed and Stumbling.....

I you discount the two hours of sleep I snuck in between 9:30 and 11:30 this morning, then I would have been awake for almost 34 hours right now. It is a more or less normal time to be going to bed now. Hopefully, I'll wake up at a good time.

I am so tired.

I've been vegging out to Discovery HD for about the last hour or so. Before that there was a rerun of Friday's Galactica and a HD college hockey game (the Beanpot). BU won, btw. 3-2, I think... Did I mention I studied MythTV's "mythfilldatabase" source code all evening?

I did a little bit of reading online about flies after I discovered they were still around. I might have found the culprit. The humidity in my apartment has been so low the last couple of months that I've actually been using a humidifier to boost it up to normal ranges. Apparently, flies like "moist" places. My humidifier is now off. This kind of sucks, too because I have been using it to prevent shocking my computers, my cat, and myself to death. Now, we're just going to have to risk it!

I'm going to go to bed now before I fall over and collapse on my keyboard. Then all you'd get to read is the ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"SLEEP - Those little slices of death, how I loathe them."

- Edgar Allen Poe

If I didn't wake up, I'd still be sleeping.

- Yogi Berra

Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep.

- Albert Camus

Every All Nighter Has It's Moment

This is what happens when I'm awake early enough to watch Sunrise Earth.

Damn Flies!

I had two more of the flying intruders today!

They've gotten BIGGER!!!

This is one of them after I doused it with RAID.
* note: he shrunk just a little after he died... *nods*

Allegorical Similarities

The NBA All-Star game just ended. Eastern Conference won. I live in Texas, and all three of our NBA teams are western conference. So, Doh!

I'm planning on pulling an all-nighter tonight. I've seriously messed up my sleep schedule recently, and I don't trust myself to wake up at the time I would like to. Nor do I trust myself to go to sleep early enough if I go to bed even so early as now.

Now, I must endeavor to find things to occupy my time for the next 6-8 hours. TNT, which was showing the basketball game, is now showing Spiderman. This is a really well done movie. What nerd can not sympathize with Peter Parker? Who better defines the hopeless part of romantic in all nerds everywhere?

Watching Peter Parker's awkward conversations with M.J. in the first movie reminds me so much of myself in elementary school. Yes, there was a girl. There was a crush for a long time. There was even a play (in the 5th grade instead of the 1st). There was a best friend who ended up with the girl. His father even hooked me up with my current job. Of course, the similarities end there. The girl and my former best friend are married now.

I just watched the part where Uncle Ben gets shot, and dies. He dies because Peter fails to do the right thing. Peter forever is forced to live with the knowledge that his uncle died because Peter didn't do the right thing. I wonder if this is supposed to remind us about how Christ died because we/mankind/the human race/etc. did not do the right thing. We, like Peter, sin, and, as Uncle Ben paid for Peter's sin, so Christ paid for ours in the same manner.

They're showing the part where Peter realizes the truth. An awakened man, Peter's life is never the same. Instead of having a superpower like Peter, with which to fight evil villians everywhere, we have the task of sharing with others the news that Christ died for us all. And, our "superpower", so to speak, is The Holy Spirit. It does change us, too.

It's often said that "Life imitates art". That's not true. Art imitates life. The stories we read, the sculptures we make, the paintings we paint, and the poems we write are all, in the end, inspired by life. I have a knack for stating the obvious. I guess this another one of those times. So, when we find a story that we relate to, as I was finding myself relating to Spiderman earlier, that is not an instance of my life copying a story. Rather, it is an instance of a story copying life. Not my life specifically of course, but someone else's. This is how we are meant to learn.

"With great power comes great responsibility."

- Uncle Ben

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:18-20

A Quick Bout With Anger.

Reading from this article this week has aroused a deep anger within me. The DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) created in 1998 threatens our rights as consumers, as individuals, and as free citizens here in the United States. This article explains it better than I can. It's true that I am not a lawyer, and can not understand the repercussions of it in a solely legal view. However, I shouldn't have to be. The elected officials of our land are elected to represent our views of how the law should stand. They totally frakk'd up when they produced the DMCA. It had a legitimate purpose: To curtail the rapidly rising volume of internet/digital piracy. However, for the same reasons that we do not drop nuclear bombs on cities to kill a handful of terrorists, the DCMA should never have been enacted to combat piracy. It's too broad, and it reflected only the viewpoints of a few people with money and power. When you live in a country where freedom and democracy mean battling for your rights against corporations everyday, the average citizen stops trying to fight. People are angry at the president for electronic eavesdropping. Should we not be just as angry at congress for allowing themselves to be so swayed by the RIAA and MPAA's wallets that they produced the DMCA?

Just for the record, I don't think the RIAA is right. I think believe that copying music from a CD to an iPod is fair use, and a lot of other people, including the RIAA when they fought their case against Grokster, agree with me on that. (see this article.) I think this issue will eventually wind up in the supreme court. The only question then will be: How corrupt is our judicial system? Who will they side with? The people or the RIAA? Because those are the clearly drawn lines.

"Whatever you get into, gets into you. And whatever gets into you, controls you."

- Rich Mullins

The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.

- C. S. Lewis

Observer Mode

I've been trying in vain to write something for this space all night. I fear I have a bit of a block. I started at one point to talk about Battlestar Galactica, and, at another, Windows Vista as well. I searched out poems and quotes to serve my purposes tonight and convey my feelings which are like blood to my soul in ways outside of ordinary prose. Alas, I realized the stuff about Windows Vista and Galactica were pretty lame. Well, actually, Galactica's was interesting, but I couldn't find words to convery it right. Words are so important.

What are words for?
Communication.
And what purpose do words serve if we do not use them properly to comminicate?

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Matthew 6:7

We take words so much for granted. Consider the etymology of a cliche. Why does a phrase become a cliche? How does it loose it's meaning? Why is it that most cliches are actually things we should consider and remember seriously? The words have lost their meaning from overuse, and now, in order to convey the important meaning, other words must be made or found to do the same job.

So, now, even if we know the right words to use to get our meaning across, no one one will listen because they've heard it so many times before without hearing. Consider the words : "Jesus Loves You" They are a cliche to so much of the world. How many people here in America haven't at least heard the phrase? How many actually know what it truly means? I'm sure people gather that it means that Jesus, that guy the Christians talk about, loves them. Why should they care? The phrase "God loves you" has so much of the same problem. Which God? Whose God? If we say "Yaweh loves you" or "Yeshua" (Yeheshua) loves you" then they'll still wave it off. They won't understand the signifigance of someone they don't know loving them. It doesn't matter that He created them. They won't know or believe that.

So, how can we put meaning back into ideas/the good news/messages when words have gone out, partied too much, and, thus, let us down? I don't think we always can. Action certainly makes a difference. Allow me to see the ways that God words in your life, and I'll desire Him to do the same in mine. With The Good News, I think we must first allow others to see what they are lacking when they ignore our cliches. Give the concept of God's love meaning to them by allowing them to see how He loves us, and then tell them that He loves them, too. (because, He does...)


It's easy for me to ramble on, and offer advice to those who could be reading who are out on the front lines fighting. Those fighting for the sake of souls who fight against them. I'm just sitting in the stands.

"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder."

- James 2:17-19

O Me! O Life!

O Me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light--of the objects mean--of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all--of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me; 5
Of the empty and useless years of the rest--with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here--that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

- from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1900)

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

"If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents - the accidental by-product of the movements of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else's. But if their thoughts - i.e., of materialism and astronomy - are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all other accidents. It's like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset."

- C.S. Lewis

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The Falcon cannot hear the falconer ;
Things fall apart ; the center cannot hold ;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned ;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming ! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight ; somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again ; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

- William Butler Yeats

"I want to reach the people and I want to be pleasing to Him. That's all I want to do." - Kirk Franklin

There were no flying insects in my kitchen tonight. I did see one in death throes this morning when I walked in their to grab a drink. I hate insects. The maintenance people apparently came by today to check the attic. They didn't find anything, but they did randomly seal up a hole behind the dishwasher. huh? I didn't mind. They even left the closet door open. My cat got his first unimpeded chance to go explore the closet. When I came home from work and saw the door open, I merely called his name, and waited for him to come out looking sheepish. Seeing how he responds to my instructions (or defies them) sheds a whole new light on my/our relationship with God.

When my cat defies me (and he does do so very knowingly sometimes...), I think I get a taste of how God must feel when we defy Him. To see my cat, knowing that I want him to do one thing, but that he has decided he wants to do another (even when it's something for his greater good), is frustrating to me. I've had to develop a whole new kind of patience for dealing with him when he is like that. How much patience God has for us! I have come to realize that I am not eager to have kids now. lol. It's easy to notice the ways that I am annoyed when others don't take my advice. It's not so easy to realize theu didn't want it, or that they wanted to do things differently. Let's forget for a moment that my advice is sometimes bad. (Truth is, none of us consider our real advice bad when we are giving it or else we wouldn't do so with good intentions) If all my advice was 100% acurate, people would still not take or want it all the time. How much would that piss you off if you had 100% acurate advice, and no one wanted to hear it? What if they would all rather just screw up and do it their own way? Well, that's how we act towards God. We choose to ignore His advice, His commands for our life. We choose to want and do things our own way even though He has the 100% acuracy.

We live in a society where we believe it is our right to choose. We believe we have the right to go with our opinion even when we know that it is wrong, and that we should suffer no consequences for that. When it comes to us choosing against God's "opinion" (I would really suggest that God doesn't have "opinions", but, rather, an omniscient will that guides us towards the benefit of all his creation and, ultimatly, the glory of Himself.), are we not then choosing sin? Is that not essentially what sin really is? Part of the definition of sin from the American Heritage Dictionary says this:
Sin:
a.) Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God.
b.) A condition of estrangement from God resulting from such disobedience.

consider:

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

Genesis 1:27-28

So, since man is purposed to rule over the sea, the birds, and every living creature that moves on the ground, that means that I, therefore, am in a position of authority over my cat. So, when he disobeys me, I get a taste (just a minute taste) of what it must feel like for The Lord when we disobey Him. Hearing my cat whine about what he wants, and not giving it to him because I know what's best is tough for me. However, it puts into perspective why we don't get everything we want from The Lord. And, I find myself desiring to whine and moan and disobey The Lord less often because I can begin to understand what that's like myself. I still whine, moan, and disobey, but I'm less inclined to. I begin to trust that God is really enforcing the best plan when I see how I have to deny my cat what he wants out of concern for my cat's best interest. It's not easy a lot of the time, but I try to remember this: God takes care of me better than I take care of my cat. His love for me is deeper than my love for my cat, and, because I know how I look out for my cat's best interest, I can trust God Almighty to be looking out for mine even moreso.

“Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave”

- Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Not much to say...

It's been along and dull evening. Aside from dodging the occasional fly (I'm still warring with them in my kitchen for some odd reason), nothing of interest has happened. I've recompiled Myth TV for linux about 100 times, finally realizing what library I was missing to get the firewire connection working on it (yay!!!),watched the Mavericks win a game against someone, hung out with a friend, and watched the last two episodes of Firefly. I'm tired.

I've been getting into work too late lately. It seems like I've been awake odd hours since early January. Now, I need to get my sleep back on track so I can do all my errands in the morning, and make it to work on time. I'm very lucky that I have a boss who is as lenient with me as he is. Praise be to God for that one. I really don't deserve the job that God has given me through grace. I especially didn't deserve it when I began, and I'm only qualified now because God has opened my mind to things previously not understood by me at all.

So, I hope no one minds the short post. I'll write something else on the flipside.

"Each thing was made for Him. He is the centre. Because we are with Him, each of us is at the centre. It is not as in a city of the Darkened World where they say that each must live for all. In His city all things are made for each. When He died in the Wounded World He died not for me, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less. Each thing, from the single grain of Dust to the strongest eldil, is the end and the final cause of all creation and the mirror in which the beam of His brightness comes to rest and so returns to Him. Blessed be He."

- Perelandra - C.S. Lewis

The willow bends while the great oak can't.
As the onslaught increases, the great oak snaps.
The ground resounds with the great oak's pain,
and then all is silent for the great oak has past away.
- me: 9/3/97

On the dangers of seeing only the side of God that loves and forgives,but forgetting the side that judges with righteous wrath...

Another Valentine's Day come and gone. *whew*
It's such a worthless holiday. Someone tonight suggested that we think of it as a time to celebrate Love and Christ's love for us. I respect that opinion, but I really don't think it works. Valentine's Day is all about romantic love, and I don't really view Christ's love as being quite like that. (even with all the stuff about Christ being the bridegroom of the church)

So, it sucks to be single on Valentine's Day.
It often also sucks to not be single on Valentine's Day.
Then, you feel like you have to do certain things or you are actually expected to do them. Things like buy candy, cards, and dinners.

For those who are single, the holiday is a thoughtless one that tramples on our already lonely psyches.

For those of you who are not single (and it's been a long time since I've been there), it is a usually stressful day involving lots of money being spent to "prove" that you love someone. Apparently, if you don't "prove" this, then you really don't.

Well, "Bah! Humbug!" to Valentine's Day! The worst holiday ever! I hope we all survived. For all you guys out there, read this article and weep that you don't live in Japan. Girls, be glad that you don't.

When I got home from work today, I made myself a nice sandwhich as I sat around waiting to go to church. It was a good sandwhich, and I decided to make another. I dropped two slices of bread in the toaster.... walked back to check on something with my computer.... walked back into the kitchen.... and FREAKED. You see, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, my kitchen was swarming with flies. Yikes! I hate bugs, and flying bugs that are hard to see, but move really fast make it even worse! (I'm shivering at the memories)

The most confusing part of all this is that I really don't leave a mess in there. I mean, I had a couple of dishes that may have been as much as two days old....but...that's it. No food lying around... I took out the trash yesterday... No weird odors...

I finally seem to have gotten rid of them though. I went and bought a can of "Raid: Flying Insect" killer. :) They dropped like...well....flies. I feel sickened for having valid reason to use that cliche.

Anyways, now I'm just hoping they're gone for good. If they're back tomorrow, I'm gonna have to call the complex and see if there's like a dead body in my attic or something. (maye a dead squirrel or mouse???) At least I can combat them now. (Even if it leaves dead flies everywhere)

The story of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal church, disturbs me. It bothers me on multiple fronts. For starters, the bible clearly denounces homosexuality. There is zero breathing room on the matter. It clearly states that it is wrong :

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:21-32

That's some pretty straightforward condemnation of such activities. I mean read again this part : "Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." Words and phrases like "unatural", "inflamed with lust", "due penalty", and "perversion" leap out of that sentance. That's not just saying homosexuality is wrong. It's saying it is a sign that you are living very sinfully.

Then there's the alcoholism. What's the difference between a drunkard and an alcoholic? Well, basically, one of them is admitting they have a problem. That means that this guy has a problem with drunkeness. The bible also says that that is an act of the "sinful nature":

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

Luke 21:34

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:19-24

Now, my problem is not with the fact the he is a sinner. I am a sinner. I'm not going to pretend to be more righteous than he is. The problem is that he continues to sin in such a way as to defy God. He continues to act in such a way as to defy Christ. How can someone like that continue to be allowed to be a LEADER in the church? That is absurd!!! Consider:

Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Titus 1:7-9

Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

1 Timothy 3:2-3

In both places, Paul is discussing the leadership requirements for the church. He's not talking about some kind of law regarding salvation, but, rather, a way in which those in charge should be and demonstrate as being through their lives. I don't believe he's even calling for absolute perfection in that. However, someone who is living an openly gay lifestyle AND is a leader in the church is someone who needs to resign or be kicked out of that leadership role A.S.A.P.

Some would argue here that I am passing judgement on someone when I should not. I don't think so. Christ most certainly said:

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Luke 6:36-37

I don't mean to be unmerciful, but this man should not be in the position of "role model" like he is. Paul later writes this to the church in Corinth:

I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

One last thing I'd like to mention before I go. This is a slightly different subject. Actually, it's something I would of included last night if it had been written yet... : Multi-chip RFID packages to substitute multiple RFID cards : "the technology - which was integarted in to a prototype card - will enable users to flip a switch to activate one chip to open a door or flip another switch to buy groceries"

Wow, I must sound pretty paranoid, eh? I just happen to notice these things, folks.
~ Goodnight.

"You must not do, you must not even try to do, the will of the Father unless you are prepared to 'know of the doctrine'."

- Surprised by Joy - C.S. Lewis

"It will be an ill day for us if what most humans mean by 'religion' ever vanishes from the Earth. It can still send us the truly delicious sins. The fine flower of unholiness can grow only in the close neighbourhood of the Holy. Nowhere do we tempt so successfully as on the very steps of the altar."

C.S. Lewis, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast." (Senior devil Screwtape in a speech at the Annual Dinner of the Tempter's Training College for Young Devils)

The most thoughtless of holidays...

Just for the official record :
Valentine's day sucks.

(and, yes, I drew the very crude pic shown above. It took me about 5 minutes. That was more time than I would of (had I known prior) spent on it.)

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable. "

- C. S. Lewis

Baseball season is looming,Conspiracy Theorists are blooming,and I've just wasted the night away..

"The Rangers have the distinction of having been the team in its current location the longest without ever reaching the World Series. It has been 45 seasons for the franchise, 33 in Texas." - Evan Grant - The Dallas Morning News

"Oh, God, please don't let us have another season of defeat."

I realize that many people say it's silly or foolish to pray for success of a sports team. The arguments sometimes go something like this : "Why should God decide to answer your prayers over mine?" or "It would cheapen the competition to have prayer decide it" or something crazy like that. I didn't care then, and, you know what? I still don't. I do pray for the success of my sports teams. Especially the Rangers. More than any other sports team, I pray for the Rangers. They need it.

I've grown up watching the Rangers, and some of my earliest memories involve going to their games at the old Arlington Stadium. When I first started this blog, I had the link for the Rangers in the sidebar named "The Worst Baseball team :(" I changed it after a friend and fellow Ranger's fan complained to me about it. After 27 (going on 28) years of mediocrity (in other words, my whole life), I'm ready to see them win. Consider, the New York Yankees have been to 39 World Series, and won 26 championships!!! We've made it to the playoffs 3 times total and won only one of the games involved.

So, baseball season's looming. Football season's in the rearview mirror (about time), and hockey season is just hitting it's exciting stretch point which will carry me until April. Once April hits, my TV will be turned onto the Ranger's broadcast aprx. 6 out of 7 nights a week. (unless I'm at bible study or 63, and then I'll end up missing most of the game... :( )

I'm looking eagerly forward to hearing Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve smalltalk for hours (breaking up the smalltalk only for game action), watching homeruns fly over the left and right field fences, and watching rookie pitchers cough up our lead on the mound. Ah yes, baseball.

I'm going to break out of baseball loving talk though (we're still a couple of months away), and mention something slightly more current.

How many people read the news today and saw this headline : 2 Workers Have Chips Embedded Into Them?

It's a little creepy really. Consider the impact those can (and probably will) have on our whole system of identity and purchasing power. Imagine if we could be ID'd with the simple swipe of an arm. Or, if we could buy something with the same motion? Better yet, if everyone could purchase a cheap reader, than those chips (maybe in combination with a biometric device of some kind) could be used to establish secure online purchases. Pretty soon, we might be looking at a world without cash. (consider Japan and it's growing use of ecash) I've heard a lot of people swear that it'll never happen here, but I think it will. I think it'll happen sooner than we think, too. If it does, I'm out. It sounds too much like one popular theory of the fullfillment of biblical prophecy to me.

I wouldn't want to get into a conversation about that particular bit of prophecy though as I've heard too many theories on it, and a lot of people have very heartfelt and differing convictions pertaining to it's meaning. A lot of people get scared at the thought of seeing those times come to pass. I was more or less one of them once upon a time. It very much traumatized me. I think I've mentioned that on here before though.

It's a sad day/night when you're up until almost 5 in the morning working on programing stuff, and you feel like you've gotten nothing done. Sad for two reasons :

1. Not getting anything done.
2. Knowing you have now stayed up way too late, and you should of gone to bed hours ago. You didn't though because you were busy getting nothing done, and now you know you're going to wake up late again for work. Thus, your boss will be annoyed (greatly), and you will, once again, make less than you should/could this week at work. *sigh*

So, once again, goodnight.

The game of baseball is the king
Of all the games we play
And it is one pursuit that is
Distinctly U.S.A.
The people swarm into the stands
To watch their favorite teams
And munch their hot dogs when their lungs
Are not engaged in screams
The pitcher hurls the horsehide and
The batter gets a hit
Or else the ball goes sailing and
Some fielder smothers it
A clever runner steals a base
A player takes a walk
Or managers and umpires
Decide to have a talk
The crowd is gay or gloomy or
Completely in suspense
But it goes wild when someone knocks
The ball beyond the fence.

- Baseball by James J. Metcalfe

Star Wars and other things gone bad...

I think watching the recent trilogy of Star Wars films has soured my viewpoint of the saga all together. A friend of mine and I watched The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi tonight, and I find myself suddenly endeared to the story again. It amazes me how easy it was to forget all the things I really loved about Star Wars after watching the horrible things Lucas just released. I was reading a little bit of trivia a few minutes ago on The Empire Strikes Back, and I discovered that Lucas apparently resigned his membership in the Writers' Guild, Directors' Guild, and the Motion Picture Association of America after they fined him (almost $250,000) for his decision to not show opening credits in The Empire Strikes Back. According to what I read, this made it very difficult for him to hire actors in later films. Maybe that explains the loss of talent in Episodes I-III? I can't really say, but it does incline me to be a little less annoyed with them. (I still think he made some horrible choices though)

We also saw The Sum of All Fears tonight. That movie is still really horrible. Tom Clancy's stories really got gypped in translation to film. The only one that was translated well was The Hunt For Red October. All of the Harrison Ford ones (all both of them :)), and the new Ben Afleck one sucked big time. They butchered the story in the Harrison Ford ones, and they almost didn't tell it in The Sum of All Fears.

Other than movies, it's been an afternoon and evening of linux and web programming. (There was also a couple hours of bible study in there) My friend and I spent a lot of time looking over a Linux webmail program called "SquirrelMail". My friend has been working on a PHP plugin for it, and he wanted some assistance in doing the server side scripting. Of course, this is complicated by the fact that I haven't used PHP much, and only extensively know asp.net in regards to server side scripting. (How many people am I loosing out there?) I had to become a quick study, and I only accomplished enough to understand what he was trying to do. That's a long ways off from writing what will be needed to solve his problem. We're looking at a possible instance of needing to utilize Remote Scripting. I have a library I wrote in .Net/javascript several months ago which works pretty well, but, unfortunatly, .Net isn't really something that can help us under Linux (or on PHP pages. lol). We're planning on more work on this tomorrow. It is kind of nice being able to talk to someone in an intelligent fashion about how this kind of technology works. There's a much larger depth to web technology than there is to the straightforward Windows/MFC stuff I used to write...

* Edit : A friend of mine just sent me this link, and I thought it was appropiate to include it in this blog entry.

"This was the first thing Mark had been asked to do which he himself, before he did it, clearly knew to be criminal. But the moment of his consent almost escaped his notice; certainly, there was no struggle, no sense of turning a corner. There may have been a time in the world's history when such moments fully revealed their gravity, with witches prophesying on a blasted heath or visible Rubicons to be crossed. But, for him, it all slipped past in a chatter of laughter, of that intimate laughter between fellow professionals, which of all earthly powers is strongest to make men do very bad things before they are yet, individually, very bad men. "

- That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis

My vision is blurringfrom all this eye rubbing,and now must I seek sleep.

This is going to be a short blog entry, but, at least I try to keep them up.
It's late. Very late. (or, early, depending on how you look at it)
I need to go to bed before the sun starts rising.

Today was a very boring day.

About the only noteworthy thing I can think of to say about today is that I finally saw The Green Mile. I had heard about it before, but it was pretty much on my list of movies that I should probably see eventually, but may never get around to seeing. That movie was very good. I might even say it was better than Shawshank Redemption, and Shawshank has Morgan Freeman in it. I still have a hard time believing that Stephen King wrote The Green Mile. I've always been a bit of the "horror" genre hater. So, I've never read a STephen King novel, and I've only seen a few of his movies. Even so, from what I know of him, The Green Mile seemed way out of character. It wasn't until near then end when John Coffey "punishes" Percy and Billy that it even seemed to bare a tint of Stephen King fiction. After that and the ending though, I became able to believe who wrote it. I'm still impressed though. I thoroughly enjoyed that movie, and it moved me to tears a couple of times. (ya, I'm enough of a "modern sensative guy" that I can be moved to tears. lol) There are special movies about human tragedy that do that. American History X would be one of those. There are others, but I don't have the time to sit and think about them right now. (and, no, The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are not two of them. Although the Babylon 5 episode where Marcus dies was close, and the last episode of Farscape was not just close...)

Growing up, I read The Hardy Boys all the time, and I became quite attached to the characters in the books. Then I discovered a newer, recent series that was out. (I had been reading the 1920's editions) In that newer series, they killed off one of the main characters. I was traumatized. You see, that's the way I get when it comes to stories. Be they on the big screen, little screen, or in the words on a page, I become attached to them. And, if I become really attached to them, and then they die.... well, let's just say that heartbreak ensues.

It goes to show that the stories we hear and tell become such a part of us that we respond to them as though they are real even when they are not. Storytelling is indeed an art, and surely this is one of it's primary purposes: To blur the lines between fantasy and reality by making fantasy become real to the audience of the story.

"All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."
- Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

"I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence.That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command.Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma.When the humans disbelieve in our existence we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics.At least, not yet. I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, belief in us, (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The "Life Force", the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis, may here prove useful."

- Uncle Screwtape in C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters

In the first place our warped natures, the devils who tempt us, and all the contemporary propaganda for lust, combine to make us feel that the desires we are resisting are so 'natural', so 'healthy', and so reasonable, that it is almost perverse and abnormal to resist them. Poster after poster, film after film, novel after novel, associate the idea of sexual indulgence with the ideas of health, normality, youth, frankness, and good humour. Now this association is a lie. Like all powerful lies, it is based on a truth - the truth, acknowledged above, that sex in itself (apart from the excesses and obsessions that have grown round it) is 'normal' and 'healthy'

- C.S. Lewis