Reveling in Paradox

2002-04-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Why is it that America can "wage war on terror" and Israel can't? Why do we occupy Afghanistan(and over 120 other countries), while Israelis can't even occupy one? Why is it that the U.N. and the U.S. tell Sharon that "it's a question of human rights, the Palestinians must have a place to live whether you agree with them or not" when both the U.N. AND the U.S. have turned a blind eye to the Kurdish people who have faced precisely what the Palestinians have?(being systematically slaughtered and oppressed in regimes all over Arabia.....and who STILL don't have a homeland by the way) Why is it that the U.S. claims the moral "high ground" on this issue when they dispossessed American Indians of their homelands?(same as we accuse Sharon of doing in the West Bank) ..............Why is it that NO ONE is asking these questions to our leaders? We've bombed the Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, fought in Yemen, placed troops in Saudi Arabia, and are sending "peace keeping" forces(the "I'll shoot you if you don't stop shooting each other" troops) to the Balkans, Crete, Pakistan, and messed with Iran under Reagan........I don't see why the White House is so paranoid about upsetting the Muslim world now......I mean, WHO ELSE IS LEFT TO TICK OFF?

2002-04-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

"He knows nothing, he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career." --George Bernard Shaw

"Thinking is easy, acting difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action, the most difficult thing in the world."--Goethe

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."--Mark Twain

"A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books."--Chinese proverb

"When you hire people who are smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than they are."--R.H. Grant

2002-04-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I visited some friends of mine. They're Baptists, and welp, they worship rather badly. As I looked around in these large mainstream churches and considered all the young ladies there, my first thought was "so many young women around here who'd have such potential to be powerful instruments of high caliber for the Kingdom are made to be spiritual cripples and will never realise their true potential due to the shallow theological system which they're saturated in." However, as I went on, I realised something......Unfortunately many young women there, though they've not been brought up in a reformed covenantal manner, still have many "reformed" ladies beat hands down in many areas. There is a sacrificial spirit amoungst non-reformed women on a fairly large scale, and they know what it means to serve and submit to parents as well as spouses. I've also found that a good deal of the ladies of the 'non reformed' community I've come in contact with are not truly career minded. Sure, many still have delusions of grandeur, but I met several over the weekend who gave up so much ON THE SPOT(literally) for the man they consider to be the one God has for them. Honestly, I have been somewhat disappointed in this area amoungst many reformed women. Many of "ours" prefer long term careers to marriage and full-time home making. Now, all you TRUE reformed ladies out there, please don't be dismayed at this message and don't send me hate mail, for this is NOT written about you. However, all you other ladies out there who claim to be reformed and yet know you fall short of these marks, please take time to consider what you're squandering....

2002-04-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I used to think Whitney Houston was the biggest heretic because she sang, "I've found the greatest love of all inside of me." At first, I tried justifying liking that song by pretending she meant that Jesus was in her heart, but I felt that was way too corny.

2002-04-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

Today, at work, I almost became the first person to die while dancing on top of a ladder, singing Michael Jackson's "Beat It." Well...sadly, I probably wouldn't be the first.

2002-03-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

However, a voice on the phone can't beat seeing total understanding and interest in another's face.

2002-03-25T19:18:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you can't talk to some of the people you love the most. I went almost three weeks without talking to my mom. I haven't talked to my best friend in what seems like ages. I hate separation.

2002-03-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

One of the annoying things about shopping these days is that employees are rude, especially cashiers... just doing their job without enthusiasm and with an attitude of indifference towards you the customer. So it comes to me as quite surprising that I have found some of the nicest people working at gas stations. That may be unexpected to the unfair gas-station-employee image that most people possess. But at two particular gas stations in the city where I work, I have been pleasantly surprised to find myself interacting with friendly, talkative people who seem to have a genuine interest in me as an individual. I drive an hour each way every day because of the location of my place of employment, so I often find myself needing to fill up my car's tank, and because of these cashiers I always stop at those gas stations. At one is an elderly Jamaican gentleman, and at the other another older black gentleman, as well as a couple others (young people... they're nice too). I wonder why it is that the gas station people are the nice ones... maybe the fuel corporations decided that since their prices are so high they should plant nice employees in their stores to make people feel better.

On to another subject, though related to the above, I really miss going to church. My job is requiring me to work on Sundays, which is very unnatural, not only spiritually but with physical side effects too. I was talking to the girl working in the gas station tonight and she remarked "Isn't it a beautiful thing to work Saturday nights", referring to the fact that you know that when you close down, you will be turning in and looking forward to a day of rest... Sunday. I knew what she was talking about but unfortunately I can't feel that anymore right now, because I have to work Sundays, which happen to be the busiest day of the week at my store. I can't wait for Easter... the store is closed this Easter for the first time ever, thank God.

2002-03-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

Anyone know where I can find a full listing of Interdisciplinary programs around the country?

2002-03-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

Fellow thinkers,

I am dismayed. Today, during a class session of world politics, my professor was going over Chinese culture and history with us. He continued into the lecture and then explained where the term "cow-towing" comes from. It was an ancient Chinese gesture of submission and obediance. First he told us how many bowings and prostrations it required, he then explained what prostrations are by coining the seemingly innocent term "girl push ups". Of course you readers out there know what he was talking about, as did I, but many of the class girls(clueless bimbos about real life, or those who've taken so many steroids that they actually do male push ups) were offended and insisted they didn't know what he was talking about. The professor, who had thought nothing of it til that time, suddenly realised he had overstepped the PC language barriers placed upon everyone in our day and hastily apologised for using such "regressive terminology". He tried to explain his reasoning for using the term and finally said "ok, I'll shut up now". Friends, THAT took the cake. Remember, this happened at what is deemed to be the most "conservative" college in my area.

The few real thinkers out there in our time are coerced to be silent, as this man was. None of you out there reading this should ever feel squelched though. Instead, make it embolden you to point to them saying "but what about Scripture and the 1st Amendment?" Indeed, this universal elitist push for linguistic fascism can only have sway over you if you let it. What do y'all say? Am I the only one outraged here? On a happier note, as I left, I reminded the professor about the first Amendment and that he had no need to fear fascism, and that I'd stand by him anytime he used "regressive" and horrible terms......such as "girl push ups". I hope I wouldn't stand alone.

2002-03-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Eyes must like bananas;
I'm in the mood for an orange.

2002-03-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

Time flies like an arrow;
Fruit flies like a banana.

2002-03-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

*makes a face*...This computer is being stupid. . . Sometimes it'll let me post, and other times it wont. What a pain...

Ok. We need a topic. :)

2002-03-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

So I think we have finally arrived. Okay, so we haven't "arrived," but surely this is a start. A few of the links are in the wrong places, but for the most part, it looks like we're in business. I am going to get some sleep.

2002-03-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

(the following posts are dedicated to those who enjoy exercising the little grey cells by thinking................*which excludes all bureaucrats and anyone in a national office, save Ron Paul* so if you're reading this and your residence is in DC just save yourself some time and stop right now)

To the last remnants of the thinking world.........I bid you greetings,

Let's try an experiment shall we? I'll say a word, and you tell me what the FIRST thing is that comes to your mind, ready? Okay. The word is "centralisation". Okay, got that mental picture immortalised in a glossy 6" x 8" for me? Good. Let me ask you another question, did that mental image have anything, anything at all, to do with politics, campaigning, legislation, government or anything in general that you might have covered in the Political Science building back in your college days? If you answered yes, then that says several profound things about you and the world you live in. The word "centralisation" is a hazy word in our day and age. Hardly anyone rightly understands it. Why is it that we have been conditioned to think of government when we hear that word? It is largely because those(non-thinkers) who understand the term LEAST are precisely the ones who enforce their bogus perceptions upon the rest of the Reformed Christian world.

Thomas Hobbes(a bachelour who lived in 17th century Puritan England) witnessed what happened when man attempts to centralise total power and control over a developing nation-state. The English Civil War, fought twixt the Cavaliers(loyalists) and the Roundheads(Puritans), was one of the bloodiest conflicts that England had ever seen. What started as a mere clash of ideals between King Charles I and Parliament though resulted in wholesale death . The deaths of tens of thousands of Englishmen, hundreds and thousands of foreign mercenaries(many from mainland Europe), the death of King Charles I, and the death to the monarchy, as Britain had known it til that time, all resulted from this power struggle. Caesar had tried to go where the Word of God forbade. Consequently, the Crown's actions had cut down nearly a whole generation of England's next leaders and left itself in ruin. Any other thinking individual would have said "serves a tyrant right for claiming that which belongs to Christ", yes, any THINKING individual. The late(but not late enough) Mr. Hobbes, however, looked at the carnage caused by this thirst for excessive power and concluded that the only way to prevent another similar disaster was.........for government to have even MORE power. Ingenious! Not only should England have consolidated and unrivaled power, but the entire world should enjoy the blessings of unlimited political centralisation. Yes, Hobbes was the first majour outspoken champion of a one world government philosophy. It was his ideas which were finally practised a century later, but not in England.

Twas the French who, after they'd disposed of their own monarch, established parties for total pagan authoritarian government based upon many ideals contained in Hobbes' book 'Leviathan'. The Jacobins(in particular) consolidated power, killed all political rivals, and then(by the same philosophy though under different leadership).........started taking their worldview of death to all of Europe. Napolean's men(with the cry of the Revolution on their lips & indoctrination of Hobbes in their heads) spread Statist worship over the old continent. Europe attempted(and still is attempting to this day) to 'put confidence in princes' as the Saviour for all their problems, which of course is what the Psalmist emphatically said NOT to do. This Statist philosophy then spread over the Atlantic Ocean in the 19th century. Revolutionaries preached their 'gospel' in our universities and warped much of Christianity in several regions of the American States. Eventually their disciples gained power in Washington and succeeded in centralising it at unprecedented levels. As a result, we can drop bombs and kill 4,000 Aghan civilians and other non combatants(1500 more than were killed during 9/11), pave the way for U.N. sanctions in every organised nation state in the world, leave our men and women in over 120 globally recognised countries, and do it ALL with a clear conscience........because centralisation(as it applies to government) they believe is the answer to man's every dilemma. Those pagans believe it as sure as we believe Jesus is the answer. They have to, since they've spurned the Christ, they must turn somewhere...........which leads us up to the present day.......*whew*.

We think of government when we hear the word "centralisation" because men who were born a few cents short of a full dollar(like Hobbes) cared enough for mankind............to give him more problems than he had before. Thomas Hobbes is a great man to photo-copy and stick on your dart boards inside your room.(still too good though for a non Christian, and definitely all round non-thinker).

2002-03-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

I can't wait until summer...
I'm just starting to get tired of rain. There hasn't been enough to be tired yet, but in a week, I know I will be.
:)

2002-03-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think that it's rather sad that penguins aren't originally found in the US... it's a tragedy....

2002-03-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

Wow. I'm here finally. This is so amazing.

2002-03-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Well, the Ides of March have left us, and tho it's still winter, it doesn't feel like it.

That's a good thing — Summer is welcome here.

2002-03-15T07:22:00.000-08:00

This blog is simply a group of twenty something year old Reformed and covenantal Christians talking about whatever they feel like. We all share the common belief that God's creation is beautiful and that beauty is one of the many centers of a Christian worldview. We also believe that the Christian life is intensely practical. Although we all love theology, what good is it if you can't apply it in sacrificial service? Much of the Christian life is paradoxical, but it is not contradictory. We hope you will join us in our reflections on what it is like to live in God's world of paradox.