I just found this video on Youtube, and felt like I had to share it with you for 2 reasons.
1) To make it perfectly clear that the U.S. is no where CLOSE to being a racist nation.
2) That to get our civil rights advice from Europe is like getting preventative lung-cancer advice from a 2-Pack a Day smoker.
To President-elect Barack Obama,
Congratulations. I, a guy that voted for your opponent, really truly mean it when I say it. Congratulations on winning the most powerful position on the face of the earth. I wish you good luck, and I pray that God guides you through what will be the most intense, draining, and challenging 4 – 8 years of your life.
You are a better man then most for stepping up to this challenge, and while I disagree with many of your positions, I will still respect and honor your place as President. But at the same time, I will exercise my right, as a citizen of this great country, to question every decision that you make.
However, I will do absolutely nothing that at all mirrors what people have done in blatant disrespect of our out-going President.
And now to everyone on both the losing, and winning sides of this election.
It’s over. The people have spoken, and the winner has been decided.
During this campaign, I saw some of the most despicable behavior on both sides. However, I hope that we can really “grow-up” and respect each other as citizens of this great nation, working through one of the most difficult times in recent history.
All ready, I’ve seen some pretty horrible comments directed at people in my party. Yes, some of those people made horrible comments to you back in ‘04. However, if you really want to make this work, I say that you drop the attitude and condescension. Be the grown up, and either ignore it when some ignoramus says or does something out of line, or in a very controlled manner, correct them. No yelling. No spitting. Just call them out and explain to them that they are embarrassing themselves and this nation with that kind of behavior. And when someone like me, reaches out to shake your hand, and says “Congratulations”, don’t throw in some snide comment.
Like I said above. We are facing a challenging enough world. And no progress is going to be made if we resort to silly and asinine behavior just because we perceive the “other guy” to be “inept” or a “bigot” (when in all honesty, you know that he is nowhere close to bigotry).
The ball is now in your court. You have it, and you can either totally screw things up by acting like the children that people on my side have painted you to be, or you can really unite this country with honor and respect.
But this back-biting, uninformed, and malicious nonsense needs to stop. With the election of this new President, we have that opportunity. I suggest you take it. Both Republicans and Democrats. Both Obama supporters and McCain supporters. Take the high road, and I PROMISE you, both camps will be pleased with the results.
Respectfully,
A Republican Voter
Yeah, so for some reason I have Henry V on the brain. Go fig. I think it’s because I was watching a movie trailer the other day, and they were playing the main theme from that movie (the one with Kenneth Brannuagh (sp?)) during it. The St. Crispin Day speech is one of the most powerful, and moving speeches I think in all of literature. I hesitate to say that it is the one of the best ever, because I am sure that some real life general or leader has made a speech that was more inspring then that. Yet I have not found it.
I spent an amazing afternoon with good friends yesterday. While I was slightly over-whelmed by all the people that were there (I am an only child, and my folks [whom I still live with, but not for much longer] are in Spain… so I went from quiet home to ~30 people… a little shell shocked HA!), I was happy that I was able to be with them all.
And the best part of the whole day was speaking to my amazing girlfriend at the end of the day for nearly 3 hours. She is an amazing woman of God, who loves Jesus more than anything, and she definitely inspires me to do life better. Check out her blog here.
P.S. I also learned yesterday from a good friend of mine that it is quite difficult to play P.I.G. (a variant of H.O.R.S.E.) in khaki pants and penny loafers. Not only did said friend nearly kill himself and/or destroy his nice outfit, but he got owned by his competitors who were wearing flip-flops.
P.P.S. I also discovered why one should never ride a bicycle in jeans. Rather, I almost found out when I was racing someone on said bicycle and my jeans got sucked into the gears. Even though I did not eat pavement, I did not enjoy the lesson. “Memo to me:…” HAHA!!
***EDIT***
I have included the St. Crispin Day speech that I mentioned, below.
So last night, I was doing some homework, when I got a text from a buddy of mine asking if I wanted to play in a charity poker tourney at his parents house. Now this family is very near and dear to me, and in a lot of ways, are my family too.
So I went and played, did pretty good, finishing 3rd out of approximately 25 people, winning a gift pack of 8 movie tickets (2 of which included 2 large pizzas).
Then I hung out until 2:30 in the morning talking and catching up and “being family” with my surrogate family while my folks are out of town.
Thinking about it, I know that God has blessed me with some absolutely amazing people in my life, and for that I am eternally grateful.
So as I was preparing to write this blog, I realized that all my blogs are so serious and not at all of “fun” variety. If you agree with this and have issue with my lack of “fun” blogs… awwww… so sorry. I’ll try my best to lighten things up, but I can’t make any promises.
On Myspace, I am friends with a handful of “militant atheists” with whom we have a mutual respect for each other. When I say friends, I actually mean it. We talk about things outside of atheism vs. Christianity and would most likely hang out together if we lived in close proximity. One of them in particular, who holds the view that if God is real, He is a Totalitarian Dictator of the universe (at which point I remind him that I hold that title at present moment HAHA!!), and therefore, he wants nothing to do with God. I have gotten in many dialogues with him, many of which have been most enjoyable.
I had written Lucas (the aformentioned blogger) just kinda checkin’ up on him, and of course, our communique turned to “when/what is our next discussion?”. This came about because I had shared with him the this debate between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson from Christianity Today about whether or not “Christianity is good for the world”. It is a facinating and indepth dialogue that I enjoy because a) I actually enjoy reading Hitchens, even though his theology is often trite and b) it was incredibly fair considering the site that posted it.
So to make a long story short, I had mentioned how much I would really enjoy a chance to sit down and talk with Hitchens, and how he would most likely have no idea how to deal with me since I read his book “God is Not Great”, enjoyed it, agreed with many of the points, yet did not have a crisis of faith. (More on that in another one of my “serious” blogs). Lucas responded by saying:
“hahaha and ur an enigma in the christian world. ur like a virus which mutates to become immune to our current defenses
hahaha hows that? compared to a virus? hahaha”
Another time, I’d been told that my faith/theology is like a chain link fence, instead of a brick wall. Yeah, a brick wall is strong, but you remove a brick, or push on it enough, and it’ll fall over. A chain link fence is so much harder to destroy.
This of course got me thinking. Why is it that I have very little problem defending my faith? Why is it that a large majority of the church drives me insane? Why is it that most Christian’s on Myspace’s blogs do not like me, and I get along better with the atheists/agnostics?
I think first and foremost for me personally, is that I know and percieve my relationship with God, I don’t believe in it. There is a huge grand difference between the two ideas (knowing/percieving and believing), and I don’t hope that God loves and is in relationship with me, I KNOW He is. It is this tacit knowledge that is the water that is mixed into the concrete, which forms the foundation of my worldview.
Secondly, I have found that through my relationship with God, the very foundational questions in life get their best answers. The Christian worldview, in my experience and research not only offers the best answers, but in my opinion offers the only right ones. I defer to Ravi Zacharias who says this:
“How do you establish a worldview? You establish it by answering 4 questions coherently: Origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. Where did I come from? How do I determine right from wrong? What gives life meaning? What is the end of life? You take these 4 questions, and each answer has to correspond to reality, and where all 4 answers are given, there has to be a coherence to them… then you apply the tests of truth; logical consistency, empirical adequacy, experential relevance, these are the things that come to bear.” (Just Thinking broadcast on www.rzim.org, Utah University Q & A, part 1 of 5).
I strongly believe that reason, logic, and the transcendent reality of God and His relationship with me are designed to work in perfect harmony. Because these things are outside the realm of science, there is no way that science can disprove my relationship with God, and therefore the nature of God. And if the nature of God is true, then every other issue that we deal with in our day to day lives find their solutions and their answers. Does this mean that the answers are always what we want them to be? Absolutely not. But so far, in my experience, I have yet to be let down by this worldview.
It is the foundational questions and the answers provided by the Christian worldview that make my faith and theology a chain link fence. It is because of the answers that are provided, that I believe the absolute nature of God shines through. Anyone inside the church who says otherwise needs to do some serious self-examination. It is because of this understanding that when I get asked a “hard” question, I do not consider the possibility that my faith has been trumped. I just acknowledge that I don’t have an answer, and then I go and find it. There is no new issue that Christianity has not dealt with, and provided a logical and reasonable answer, at some point in its 2000 year history. Not one.
And I think ultimately, that is my biggest beef with the Church. We spend so much time treating symptons, instead of addressing the root issue. We spend so much time making church fun and exciting, instead of equipping and discipling people to be better Christians. We do not put a correct emphasis on knowledge and understanding. Instead, we “preach to the choir”, telling them something that they’ve already heard a million times, and not at all shoreing up their hearts against the onslaught of the world. Because while the message of atheism, humanism, naturalism, and agnosticism are all wrong, to a Christian who is not brought up to speed to the foundational questions and the answers that they are provided through Christ, they (the Christian) are simply fodder and will be lost in the storm.
Finally, I have the most amazing parents (especially mother) in the world. Yeah, she did a good job with that child-rearing stuff, but more importantly, she taught me how to really study and understand the Bible. She taught me to never be affraid of asking hard questions, and how to find the answers to them. She taught me that critical thinking and constant learning are one of the core foundational practices of a true Christian. Through her, I have learned more about Church history, the Bible, the nature of the Bible, and our role as Christians then through any pastor, teacher, or anyone else. It is because of her that I have the foundation in Biblical understanding that I have. And you know what the amazing part is? I’ve been learning all this since I was a lil’ monkey. I’ve been analyzing the Hebrew or Greek root of scripture since I was 10ish. And you know why? Because it’s not hard to do at all. In fact, you are doing yourself a great diservice for not spending time and effort actually studying the Bible the way it was meant to be studied, and instead you settle for the Message Study Bible. Especially with the technology of today, the Strong’s Concordance, Hebrew/Greek Dictionary, and every translation known to man is at your finger tips.
So the only group to blame for the back-sliding of our society is not the devil, it’s us. We’ve decided that simplicity is a virtue, and that the simpler and more fun we make the Bible, the more people we can get saved (Btw… where in the Bible does it say that we are to go out and save everyone?… hint: it doesn’t. Go back and read again Matthew 28: 18 – 20 , and pay attention to what it is Jesus commissions them to do). So we’ve blown it. Now what are we going to do about it?
***EDIT***
I realized shortly after writing this that I made a bit of a mistake in one of my previous statements. I had mentioned how I don’t believe in God, but that I know, Him, and therefore, I have no need for belief. I was listening to Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis on tape, and he talked about how believing and knowing are actually quite symbiotic. Since I will always defer to a man like Lewis, I have since corrected this mistake, and adjusted the paragraph.
I found this poem by Steve Turner called Creed in a book by Ravi Zacharias called “Can Man Live Without God”. After much research, I found the whole poem online, and I hope that you all enjoy it.
——————————–
Creed by Steve Turner
We believe in Marcfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to thebest of your knowledge
We believe in sex before, during, and
after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes
UFO’s and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think
His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same -
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its
compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps
Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and
bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors.
And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth
that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be
the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Youth go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.
So today, I started waking up at an hour that most would consider suicidal, and going to gym and working out for nearly 2 hours, which many would say is even more suicidal (how something can be more suicidal is beyond me, but whatev…).
As I was working out, I was thinking about all the days that I have started a new workout regiment, only to quit it a few days later. Sure there were various elements at fault (my nice comfy warm bed in the dark little nook in my room, which I have affectionately named “The Womb”), but even then, there were times when I dragged myself kicking and screaming into the cold morning air to do whatever shenanigans I came up with on the drive to the gym.
With that, I realized that during those times, I had a motivation. A goal to shoot for. I never really workout because it’s fun (despite what I may have said in the past… not to say there wasn’t a time when I would workout for fun, but during that time, the options were a) working out or b) homework… which do you think I picked? HA!). I workout because I love the feeling after a long workout. And yeah, I do have a certain level of pride knowing that I did more in my workout than most people do during a week or even a month of “working out”. But if that were enough to fuel me to exercise, I would never quit, and I’d prolly push myself to injury or worse. So therefore, this cannot be the main motivation to my desire to workout.
So what’s my motivation for driving myself to the point of exhaustion early in the morning? There are several factors, that I’ve come to again, accept. It’s not like I forgot them, or had some moment of great enlightenment where the heavens parted, angels sang, and I understood why I must workout. I woldn’t necessarily say that I workout because it’s the smart thing to do or the healthy thing to do. While huge benefits, I think that they are mere perks. And while I would much rather stay in bed, or not be sore from a workout, I know that after the workouts, I will feel better, not just physically but mentally. Stress goes away. Things that would make me pull my hair out, after a workout, just get a shrug and slip from my thoughts.
When I workout, I’m able to live better. I’m able to make wiser and better decisions about any situation that I may encounter. My relationships with friends and family go much better. I laugh more, I learn more, and in general, life seems to draw more into focus. In some ways, I’d almost say that for me, exercise is a way for me and God to hang out. While I’m doing whatever, I’m processing and thinking about what’s going on in my life and I really feel God there with me, giving me insight and understanding. It’s in those moments when I’m pushing hard, over that last distance to the end, that I really come face to face with the person I am. It’s in that moment, when I come so close to a sort of “absolute reality”, that I benefit best from my workout. All the other cares and worries in the world fade away. All the things that seem important become actually quite trivial and unimportant. It’s like the clouds part, and revelation comes.
So what I guess I am trying to say in that above ramble, is that when I workout, all of the junk around me fades away, and the truth of life and whatever situation I’m in becomes that much clearer. That is ultimately my main motivation; getting to that place where I can actually think clearly, and not be distracted by the things around me, nor the noises that may be swirling through my head.
Well,
I have finally taken the plunge and established a blog outside of Myspace, and I must say, that it is a rather refreshing and exciting feeling. I don’t think that I probably will find as much debate here as I do on MS, but I know that here, I can be a little more structured and communicate a little more readily with the outside world and with many friends. I plan on bringing several of my blogs over from MS to here, and basically repost them so that people can read and comment on them anew.
At the present moment, I am at school, doing “homework” and listening to Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails. It is their latest album, it is all instrumental, and it is absolutely brilliant. This album is a perfect example of how the record industry and society as a whole tends to tie the hands of musicians, preventing them from making good music (as opposed to the garbage you hear on the radio for the most part). It’s a shame that our society as a whole has lost it’s whole understanding and reason, and that it is so blatantly obvious, yet they all continue to ignore it.
I was listening to Ravi Zacharias give a speech on “Secularism & the Illusion of Neutrality”, and it’s amazing how much the world around me really doesn’t get it. They believe that they have swallowed the red pill and fallen down the hole after the white rabbit. But in truth, they’ve swallowed a Mike & Ike and are lost in the corner of their bedroom closet. And you know, I don’t fully blame them for the futile exercise they call “life”. Yes, they choose to accept the safe-unknown, but were there really any sound, rational, and logical alternatives out there for them? Were they ever taught the fundamentals of not just right and wrong, but rational and irrational? They were never taught to consider the possibility that the questions have already been asked and answered, but that to find them, you were going to have to look for them, not wait for them to kindly sidle up next to you, nudge and go “HERE I AM!!”.
Life is not simple, so who are we to expect the answers to the most intrinsic and most discussed questions in the history of man to be answered in our life time? Who are we as Christians to never question the very tenants and foundations of our faith? Are we scared that we’re going to find some big secret that will cause the Church as it has stood for 2000 years to crumble? How can we possibly take ourselves that seriously? Because in all honesty, if we do find something like that, we would be doing the ourselves and the world a favor. Is our faith a brick-wall that can easily be pushed over or de-stabilized, or is it a chain link fence that just bends to pressure and does not give?
Do I think that this will happen? I’m about 99.9999999999% certain that it won’t. Because ultimately, even if the natural aspect of Christianity is “disproven”, I know with 100% certainty that the supernatural won’t be. I know my God experiences were real and genuine because they were more real and genuine then any other experience I have had in my life to date. And so, regardless of the outcome, I choose to live my life 200% in line with the heart of God. I know that personally, since I have made this decision, life is exciting. It hasn’t been sun-shine and daisies, not even by a long shot. But I know that if I continue to walk on the path God has for me, being obedient to Him, loving Him, and being in relationship with Him, He will give His best for me, and that will far out-strip the very best that I could ever imagine or comprehend.
In closing let me say this. If our purpose, value, and intent on this Earth is not defined within the framework of Judeo-Christianity then no other world view/religion/philosophy can be right. If Christianity is not “the way” then nothing is. And you know… that doesn’t frighten me even a little because I know that Christianity will never be disproven. It’s not possible, and so, it just allows me to pour more and more into being obedient to God and pushing through the garbage of this world to get to where He wants me.
So again, welcome to my blog, and I look forward to sharing with you more and more.
Grace and peace.
