Well, no big post yesterday.  There’s a reason for that too.  I get the same number of comments for a short post as I do for a long post, and the long posts take forever to write.

Anyway, I did write something just now… didn’t really write it with the intention to post it, but i figured why not.

Note: It is probably not about you think it is.

So here it is:

“Wait.
Always wait.
Now is not the time.
It is never the time.
Hold back.
Restrain.
Consuming thirst builds.
It cannot be quenched.
The dryness, the absence of the water longed for,
Turns all around parched and barren.
Cracked skin.
Burns.
Pressing on despite it.
To wish to God that the water was unneeded.
To wish for God to send the rain.
A bleeding heart, wishing to be cared for.
Cracked and dry as the skin surrounding.
Lie face down, broken on the ground.
Every thought, every need, every desire open there.
Looking up into the face of the one,
The one who holds the water.
Eyes pleading, unable to speak.
Fainting under the incredible heat.
Eyes close.
And you, you say good night.
Always.

One day I will find you.”

“Space is big, let’s dump our crap there.”

If anyone can tell me what this quote is from, I will give you a dollar.

saw this quiz on starswithfeet’s site…  looked cool, so I did it 😉

which “monty python and the holy grail” character are you?
this quiz was made by colleen

then I did another one on that page too… 

which children’s storybook character are you?
this quiz was made by colleen

Curious George is the man 😉

Don’t forget to read my huge post below this one and comment on it 😛

Later.

Ok, so finally someone gave a comment that gives me somewhere to go with 😉

Callings.  Does God give callings?  Is everyone called to a speciffic thing?  Is anyone called to anything?  If you have a calling, how do you know what your calling is?

Firstly, I have to say, the best article I have ever read on this is over at Decapolis (www.decapolis.com; click on “features and articles”, it is under features… it’s called “What is my calling?”).  Conrad is a smart guy.  I reccomend reading everything to be found there, if you get the chance.

Now, for starters….  I have always been told by people that basically, everyone has a calling on your life.  You need to do what God has called you to do… whether that be to be a pastor, to be a doctor, to be a rock star, or to be a… janitor, i guess (hey, somebody’s gotta do it).  If you don’t do what you are called to do, you are outside of the will of God and therefore will never be as happy as you could/should be.

Personally, I have never felt a calling on me at ALL.  I haven’t even felt a “this is what I want to do more then anything else”…  Sure, there are some things I’d love to do, but I’m not necessarily sure that I’m really cut out for any of them.

So that led me to believe that in general, God does not place a divine calling on each of our individual lives.  I also think that this means beliefs such as that God has that perfect special someone out there for you, that you are supposed to be with are merely idealistic beliefs.  I mean, think about it….  What happens if the person you are “supposed” to be with ends up with someone else?  Then it messed you up, it messed it up for them, it messed it up for the person that the person you were supposed to be with ended up with… and the person that they were supposed to be with… and so on and so on.  No one would be in the will of God as far as that is concerned.  Plus there is no such thing as the “perfect” person to be with anyway, since perfection is not a quality which is attainable by a human.

I think that our calling is mostly determined by our desires.  I think that perhaps, in a way, God may give us callings by giving us desires.  If you have a desire to play music, go for it, be a musician… if you have a desire to… be a computer programmer, go for it…. if you have a desire to… insert your desire here… go for it.  You have that desire for a reason.  Most people never achieve their dreams as far as doing what they want to do.  I think that all of these people have missed out on their “calling” (if you want to call it a calling).

I do however, think that some people are given clear callings to do something… and sometimes they may not want to do it right away.  These are specific instances though, and do not apply to everyone.  Some are given clear callings to be pastors, and these callings should not be ignored.

Expect another post tomorrow (or later today, depending on how you look at it… at any rate, sometime after I wkae up tomorrow morning).

Yesterday for some reason I got to thinking about prophets and prophecy.  I just got back from seeing the movie “life or something like it”….  it involves a “prophet” of sorts.  Therefore, I decided I would write about it tonight.

proph·et   Pronunciation Key  (prft)
n.

1. A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a god is expressed.
   
2. A person gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.
   
3. A predictor; a soothsayer.
   
4. The chief spokesperson of a movement or cause.

When we think of a prophet we tend to think of someone who can foresee the future.  In actuality, this is only a small part of who a prophet is, and, such an ability is not absolutely required to be considered a prophet.  I actually do not fully agree with the definition above.  A prophet does not act as an “interpreter” for God, a prophet merely delivers the message he hears from God to God’s people.  A prophet is there to encourage people, and to guide people.

In biblical times, a prophet was not merely someone who displayed these things… it was an actual profession, an office.  They were paid to do their job just as people are paid for doing any other job.  As a result, there were many false prophets…  in it simply for the money.  They said what people wanted to hear, they offered blessings to those who would pay them well.  But they did not hear from God.  The true prophets of Israel had a tendancy to be hated by Israel.  They spoke out against things that they knew to be wrong, they insisted that people follow the will of their God and creator.  They did so in the face of much persecution and hatred.

The book of Lamentations I think is an incredible book.  It gives you insight into what it feels like to be a prophet.  It is also a very depressing book, as the title obviously points out.

To know what is going to happen to people if they continue in their ways, to try to warn them of it, and then to see it fulfilled despite all your efforts.  Why should one even bother?  God puts this responsibility on someone, a prophet, and says “Tell these people that they are doing wrong, and if they do not stop there are going to be consequences.”  The prophet tells them, and nothing changes.  The consequences come to pass.  Wouldn’t it be easier for everyone involved if there was no prophet?

So many times people see someone who is trying to help them as someone who is trying to judge them.  They don’t realize that sometimes other people may know better then them what they are talking about.

The audible voice of God.  Have I ever heard it?  No.  I know people who have heard it.  Not many, but a few.  Do you think I am crazy for believing these people when they tell me this?  Do you think they’re crazy if they honestly believe they have heard the voice of God?  Have you ever thought that maybe some poor homeless man standing on the street-corner screaming out prophecies may actually be hearing from God?  Or have you always dismissed them as “crazy homeless people”.  Certainly, some of them are.  But God has been known to use those that society looks down upon.  Look at John the Baptist.  I’d imagine he fits the mold of “crazy homeless man” pretty well.  God used him to announce the coming of Christ.

So are there modern-day prophets?  Certainly.  Anyone who hears from God is a prophet.  If you want to be a prophet, you will be.  However, remember that there are consequences to hearing from God.  God has put his prophets through hell before taking them to heaven.  He will not be afraid to drag you through the mud to be heard.  That is what a prophet does.  Lives his life to represent the voice of God.

The role of prophet is not as enviable as people always seem to see it.

What are the predominant and accepted philosophies in the world today?  Well, without doubt, there is no worldwide one… the perdominant thing changes depending upon where you are.  So we’ll stick with just us, America.  The first thing to come to mind is relativism.  I just read something concerning it last night, and that is what brings this whole topic to mind.  I also find that pluarlism seems to hold a pretty strong hold on our culture.  Which is no surprise… it goes right along with relativism.

Ok, just for anyone who may not be familiar with the term relativism… it can be used to apply to several different things… moral relativism, cognitive relativism…. essentially they all go hand in hand.  Truth is relative.  Morality is relative.  Relative to what?  Relative to every individual on the face of the planet.  Pluarlism is basically the belief that all religions/belief systems are correct.

Lets start out by talking about relative truth, and consequently, since they are so tightly tied together… pluralism too.  I am here to argue that truth, does in fact, exist.  For the purposes of this argument, lets assume there are 3 people….  a Christian, an atheist, and a hindu.  These are 3 very different beliefs.  Christianity dictates that there is only ONE God, Atheism dictates that there is NO God, and Hinduism dictates that there are MANY gods.  Every belief is contradictory to the other.  How can there be no God and there also be MANY gods?  How can there be just ONE God but there also be MANY gods?  How can there be ONE God and also NO God?  For one statement to be true, the other 2 MUST be false.  It cannot be different on an individual basis, because we do not live in an individual reality.  We live in a group reality, a shared reality.  What I do effects you, what you do effects me, because we effect the reality that we both live in.  Face it, your beliefs do not determine reality.  You can believe whatever you want, and that’s perfectly fine, but that doesn’t stop you from being dead wrong if it doesn’t line up with reality.

Next is moral relativism.  I don’t even see how this is logical.  It is simply an excuse for people not to feel guilty about anything.  “What I do is right for me even if it isn’t right for you.”  In some cases this is a perfectly true statement.  Some people can handle things other people can’t.  Take alcohol for example.  According to the Bible, drunkenness is a sin.  However, it never once states that the drinking of alcohol is in and of itself a sin.  Therefore, a person who can control his drinking and hold his liquor can drink freely, while someone who has problems with it would have to hold off.  This is not to say that one person is allowed to drink and the other not, it is just that the one who has to hold off has a greater problem keeping from becoming drunk and thus committing the sin if he is to drink at all.  Now, to simply display how foolish this whole idea of moral relativism really is….  someone breaks into your car and steals your cd player.  You go to the cops, the cops find the guy, bring him in and question him.  They let him walk off as though nothing happened.  ‘what?!’ you say?  To your disbelief the police return ‘oh, well, he doesn’t believe that it is wrong to steal.  for him, stealing is perfectly acceptable.  it is not our place to judge, and so we cannot impose our standards on him.’  You can also bring this into other topics, murder being one of them.

I also like how when people make their arguments for things, they appeal to being “wiser from time”, more or less.  Like, “oh, yeah, i used to be just like you… believing that things aren’t relative… boy… sure am glad I grew out of that one!”  Yeah, more or less they’re saying “Go away, I’m smarter then you.  If you don’t believe what I’m saying without question then I don’t want you around.”  Sorry, but relativism is a belief that’s been around for a long time.  It’s nothing new.  It was present in Greek culture, which predates Christianity.  So sorry, no, you are not on the top elitist bandwagon of thought, you are merely riding the wave of an emergence of a very old idea.  There is nothing new under the sun.

Ok, so a lot of the time people tell me that I’m “smart”.  I don’t necessarily really think that I am.  I mean, I don’t think of myself as some super-intelligent person, I just think of myself as well.. not stupid.  And I’m not so sure that they are correct about my being smart.

So I was just kind of thinking…. what makes people perceive you as being smart?  Like I can find someone… totally disagree with them on EVERYTHING and still think that they are incredibly smart.  So it isn’t them saying things that I agree with, and I’m like, “hey, yeah, they’re right!” that makes them seem intelligent to me.

Anyway, next step… dictionary.com, find me some definitions 😉

smart   Pronunciation Key  (smärt)
adj. smart·er, smart·est

1. 
   
   
   
   1. Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright. See Synonyms at intelligent.
      
   2. Amusingly clever; witty: a smart quip; a lively, smart conversation.
      
   3. Impertinent; insolent: That’s enough of your smart talk.

Ok, so then I looked up intelligent… but it gave me something like “someone who has intelligence”… well duh… thank you for the enlightenment, dictionary.  I didn’t know that.  So I looked up intelligence.

in·tel·li·gence   Pronunciation Key  (n-tl-jns)
n.

1. 
   
   
   
   1. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
      
   2. The faculty of thought and reason.
      
   3. Superior powers of mind. See Synonyms at mind.

Ok, the important things here are sharp, quick thought; amusingly clever, witty; and the faculty of thought and reason.

Wit.  The natural ability to percieve and understand.  I think this is the key factor in being thought intelligent.  Looking around, seeing your surroundings, and understanding things based on them.  I think it is a capacity that everyone has, but some people just plain don’t use it.  I think that I tend to use it a lot.  I constantly observe things.  Like a lot of people think that I’m shy, and I do have a tendancy to be quiet… but it is mostly due to the fact that I am listening, I am observing, I am thinking.  Which can be a good thing, but, in too large of quantities it can be a bad thing.  I tend to overanalyze things.

Secondly, thought and reasoning.  A well thought out and reasoned argument displays intelligence, even if there is no real brilliance behind it, if you know what you believe, why you believe it, and it makes sense, then you come off as knowing what you are talking about, and you come off as intelligent.

Another factor is definately in grammar and spelling and things such as that.  If you read something and everything is misspelled or some parts of it don’t make any sense grammatically, you have a tendancy to dismiss what the person said entirely.

Keep this stuff in mind for your life.  Really, I promise you it will help.  You don’t have to be brilliant to be smart.  It’s within you to be.  Don’t just say things, don’t just accept whatever someone tells you as truth.  Believe it or not, people are in fact fallible.  They can be wrong, and sometimes they lie.  Think for yourself.

Godspeed.

-Jason

Ok, I wrote this in response to something on billythestick’s site.  However, I spent a good bit of time on it, so I decided I would make it a post rather then a comment.  Just seems more people will see it this way.

Anyway, the post it is in response to said:

“This is something that a friend passed along to me that a guy she knows really and truly believes.  How would you respond to this?

“Strange…a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied seventy times seven and invented Hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!””

and here is my response:

ok, divide it up into points… basically what they are saying is:

1. God made bad people.

2. God made people die in a short period of time.

3. Forces us to forgive.

4. Condemns people to a Hell that he created.

5. Does things he tells us not to do.

6. Created man without man’s consent, and blames man for what he is, rather then himself.

7. Wants people to worship him because of all this.

So take each point one at a time, makes it a lot easier.

1. God did not make bad people.  He made people who had a choice to do whatever they wanted.  Think about it.  By what standard do you judge what is good or bad?  Who decides?  There are many cases in which people disagree.  So who is right?  And even if we all agreed that something was bad, what makes it bad anyway?  Maybe we are all just mistaken.  There must be some standard.  The standard is if it is in God’s will or against God’s will.

2. God created man to be an eternal being.  When man chose to sin he chose death.  It is not God that caused man to die, it is sin.  The wages of sin is death.  Think about it, an eternal being who is constantly doing evil things?  After awhile things would get really bad.  Could it really have been any other way?

3. Yeah, God wants us to forgive people, and he is forgiving himself.  If he was not, we would not still be here.  We all are completely deserving to be wiped off the face of the planet.  By all means God should have destroyed everyone long ago, if you take his love and forgiveness out of the picture.

4. God did not create “Hell”.  Hell is simply a state that must exist.  It is not a place so much, as it is eternal seperation from God.  If you are not in God’s presence, you are seperated from him.  That is what Hell is.  Complete and eternal seperation from God.

5. As creator God has rights that we do not have.  God has the right to extract punishment on people, which we do not have.  It is never ok for you to murder someone, regardless of what they might have done to you (killing in self defense or war is different).  However, it is perfectly reasonable for God to punish someone with death, because he is the one who created them and gave them life to begin with.  Just as if you created something, you have every right to destroy it, but no one else has that right.

6. Firstly, how could God have created man WITH man’s consent?  Man did not exist to give consent.  It is not possible and hence could not have been any other way.  Also, see point number 1.  God did not create man as bad, he created him as good, but with a free will to do as he chose.  Man CHOSE bad, therefore, man IS to blame for what he became.  God is responsible only in the sense that he allowed man to choose bad.  But if you use that logic to blame God you are really stretching it and you could blame anything on almost anyone.

7. Man was created to commune with and worship God.  That is man’s whole reason for being.  Without it, you are not fulfilled.  There is emptiness there.  Yes, God wants us to love him and to worship Him, but he does not force us to.  As in all things, we are given a free will.  Worship God because without him you would not even be.  If you make honest observations of life, you will find that God’s very existance means that he MUST be a good God.

And that’s all I have to say about that…. 🙂

Ok, so in case any of you are intensely worried about my wonderful bio-bibliography paper….  I did in fact get it done and turned in yesterday.  Barely, but I did it. 😉  Hopefully I’ll get a good grade.

All I have to do today is go watch some short plays in drama class….  so maybe after that is over I will write some more.

Godspeed.

-Jason

This is going to be a very quick post because I still need to write the biography on stephen crane that I have to hand in today.  But for some reason I feel like posting, so I am making some time to do it.

I am out of clean clothes again.  That means it’s laundry time.  I was hoping I’d be able to make it to the end of the year… but that’s not going to happen, because if I don’t wash clothes then I will have to wear dirty clothes from now until next saturday… and that doesn’t sound very appealing to me.

Anyway, my last NT Survey class was today.  So my morning classes are done with.  Life Science there are still 2 more classes, and same with American Lit.  But english and NT are done… thank God.  So, my remaining work is: 3 make-up papers in english; 2 extra credit papers (which I NEED to do) in Life Science, American Lit project (which I’m doing now), my journal for American Lit (which I sitll haven’t started), write a critique of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Go see another play and write a critique of it, and finals in each of those classes.  So yeah, despite the fact that I’ve been getting stuff knocked out of the way constantly this week, there is still tons left to do :P.

But since like all of it is due the end of this week, it’ll be over then.  Thank God.