Double Sided Coin (Part 1)

“re·li·gion [ri-lij-uh

noun
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.” (religion)

There are few words in our culture that invoke as much emotion and opinions as the word religion, there are people who want to destroy it, save it, repair it, and ignore it. I think that very few people really stop to think about what religion really means and how our beliefs do and should impact our lives.
The definition above is taken from Dictionary.com and the third definition made an impact on me when I read it, “the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices”. It seems to me that Dictionary.com hit on something that a lot of Christians miss, a Christ follower, in order to fully experience a life in Christ, should be able to engage in a community of people who also profess to follow Christ.
That is obviously a academic and sterile definition, I prefer the one that Paul gives the church in Ephesians

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (Ephesians 4:1-7 ESV)

The whole book of Ephesians is a great example of how and why we need to be in a community of God because it is one of a small number of books that is written to a community rather then an individual but this verse sums it up really well for me. We were all brought to God through Christ at the leading of the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 2) and it is that reason that we need to “bear with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
I am further struck by Paul’s use of words is unique, we are to eagerly maintain the unity that we have with our spiritual cohorts. We aren’t just suppose to engage in a community but find one that we like to be apart of, one that we look forward to going to and being a part of. These types of community are much easier to engage in because they spring up organically from our relationships and our much more impactful because they have an effect through out our lives.
I don’t think that these communities have to take on the form of a traditional church, that would be a very narrow definition of community, but rather a group of people who regularly encourage you and whom you encourage (I don’t know if that was the proper use of who and whom). After all the apostles where just a bunch of bros hanging out together in the desert.

Work Cited
"religion." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 29 Aug. 2011. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion>.
"Ephesians 4:1-7." BibleGateway.com. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. .

Image from  Benjamin Miller <http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/8911>

So I will give this another go

Over the past couple of weeks and months I have been thinking about the things that have helped me grow and expanded my horizons. There are several things that have done that, marriage, school, dog ownership. One of the big things was this blog, it helped me to try and formulate my thoughts and ideas in a way that other people could understand and engage with. I feel like this is one of the things that has been severely lacking in my life over the past 2 or 3 years, my ideas have become scattered and less organized and it is my hope that with some discipline and work I can get those abilities back in tune (keyword is hope).

So I hope that you will read the older, a bit wiser, and maybe funnier me.

Eleven Lies I was made to Believe Growing Up

1. Don't think to much/I can think to much. I was raised with two groups of people in my life, the people who taught me to question everything, and the people who to be to do this and believe that with out question. The older that I get the more I find that the people encourage you to learn become fewer and fewer and the people who just want you to listen and accept become more and more.
2. The first year of marriage is the hardest of your life. So many people told me this that in the first four months of being married I was thinking that one day I would come home and my wife would be pointing a shotgun in my face. Year on of marriage wasn't easy but it also wasn't characteristically difficult either.
   
3. If I made that face to much my face would freeze like that. Yeah, I believed this one for a long time.
4. Money, Drugs, Sex can't bring happiness. Imagine my surprise when I got into college and found out that there are many people who find their happiness in these things.
5. I be/do whatever I wanted to be/do. In all truth from my birth I have had many restrictions placed on my life by socioeconomic, sex, race, age. That is not to say that I can't aspire to be anything I want to be, but at some point dreams give way to reality and that is the point at which I have to learn to be satisfied with where I am at in my life.
6. That Life is a journey, not an adventure.
7. Only Baptists have a valid interpretation of the Bible. Growing up I never had a comprehensive overview of what other denominations believed but my own. Now that have studied/study other denominations and theologies I find that the interpretations that I was taught where in some areas dead one, in others way off, and in other areas just incomplete.
8. I have to change and wash a tee shirt after every individual use. (JACK'S MANNEQUIN: I'm Ready).
9. If you aren't a Christian you don't have anything good to say. I knew the names of great philosophers, Gandhi, Buddha, Muhammad, Marx but I grew up hesitant and even fearful to read a word that was written. Now that I have read them I find that more often then not they just reinforce beliefs that I already have and help me to develop new beliefs about mankind.
10. Jesus was born on December 25th. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
11. My Worth is based on my Wealth. It isn't really a surprise that in a consumer driven society like America this is a common one for many people to deal with. The lie is that you are only worth anything if you buy new things, even if you don't need them. This starts the cycle of work so you can afford the things that you don't need, then work so much that you don't have the time to enjoy the things that you work so hard to get.

Rejoice with those who rejoice

Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Some of the more iconic words spoken in the bible, right up there with John 3:16 and "Jesus wept". I have heard those words used in many sermons in my life to encourage people to get down, no matter how good there life is going, and mourn with people who have lost.

In the last few days I have come to see that first part of the verse in a new light, or maybe a better way to put it is a refreshed light. Five simple words, Rejoice with those who rejoice, that can be very hard, and at time impossible, for us to put into practice. What does it mean to live everyday, not just, mourning with those who mourn but also rejoicing with them as well?

I think that on the big stuff we have it down, birthdays, anniversaries, newly born babies, but on the little stuff I think that we have fallen short of where we should be. Psalm 116:12 says "What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?" if we only look at the big stuff in our lives and say that is what the Lord has given me then we are missing half the picture.

An example of this happened to me today. I had to get my emissions test done for my car today, now my car is a 1992 Saturn two door SC with 180,000 miles on it, now let me tell you what I have to do to start the car. Because the alternator on the car is dieing on the car it is sort of a crap shot if it will actually start when I put the key in, so when I do need to drive it I take it out of gear, turn the radio off, turn the fan off, then I proceed to turn the key on and off as rapidly as I can in the hopes that eventually the engine will turn over. Also if you didn't know one of the top rules at the emissions place is that a car has to enter under it's own power. All of this I knew but my definition of entering and their definition of entering are two different things, so as I pulled into the building and was asked to turn of the car my heart stopped. As the man was walking around the car, checking under the hood, and making sure that the gas cap didn't leak all I was thinking was "God please let the car start. Please, oh please, oh please." And as I went to start the car it fired right up on the first try.

Now I am not saying that this was a miracle, I wouldn't diminish the word miracle like that, But I would say it was one of many everyday things that we don't rejoice enough over. Bad news will travel from state to state, even jumping oceans sometimes but it is hard to hear about good news within your own group of friends, and that is a shame. It is something that I am endeavoring to get better at and I hope that others will join me in doing the same.

It's been awhile

I know that I have neglected this blog for awhile but believe it or not I haven't really had that much to say. But lately there have been a few thing floating around in my head that I wanted to get out. So I have at least two posts in me (maybe more) and hopefully I will get them out in the next couple of days.

What is really real (to borrow a phase from Universe Next Door)

I was at a BBQ the other day with some people from Ruth's work, it was a good time but the conversation turned to religion for a brief moment. A comment was made that most of the people there seemed to agree with. The statement went something like this: "I believe that all religions are correct, you can't say that only one is right. There is no way that you can know that, the universe is to big!". The statement wasn't new to me, it has been around awhile and has gained in popularity over the two decades or so. But the way that this statement was worded made me stop and think about it (in reality I didn't really give it a second thought there but later that night when I was laying in bed), the specific part that made me stop and think was "there is no way that you can know that".

Is that statement really true, if religion is true then is it possible to know if one is right? Is it even reasonable to think that there is only one true religion? In order to answer those questions I really had to examine what religion was at its core, beyond denominations, politics, etc and really get at what is the base of religion. The answer that I came up with for that is that religion is the combination of two things. First is Faith, meaning what you think is ultimate reality, whether that is that there is a God or gods, an essence, or nothing at all. All of these at some point ask you to take a step of faith in order to believe them and your faith is one of the main parts that help to define religion. But the steps that you take by faith or informed by the second part of religion, your Beliefs. By beliefs I mean the culmination of your life experiences (up to whatever part of life you are in) and your world view, which both actually help to define each other through out your life.Both of those two parts, Faith and Belief, are really just about the universe and the way that it works. Faith is about who or what is in control of the universe and belief is about how everything else works or should work.

Now that religion is clear what we do know about the universe is that it works within curtain rules and boundaries, Physics, Mathematics, the other Natural Sciences. The way that the world works within these, somewhat specific, modes. Since we only live and operate within one universe and the universe operates in specific ways it would follow that only one religion would be right, the one that would most closely resemble the way in which the universe really works. Therefor the statement of "...you can't say that only one is right. There is no way that you can know that, the universe is to big" is untrue because if religion is true then it would necessarily follow that there would only be one true religion.

P.S. I am listening to Slacker right now and they are playing "Sleep" from Copeland but it sounds like a remix or something...it is amazing.

Slacker (Finaly a website after my own heart)

Free streaming music, that is what Slacker does and they do it well. Slacker is in its simplest form a internet radio site, but offering much more then your average internet radio station. First unlike most internet music stations, that are an after thought of their physical radio station counterparts, or other media streaming services (e.g. Rhapsody) slacker is devoted to bringing you uninterrupted music for free. They say that you can expect about two ads per hour but I have been listening to it for the past hour and I have yet to hear a single ad, but there is a pay version for those who don't ever want to hear an ad. Second unlike other streaming music services that make you pay if you want to take the service with you slacker enables you to take the service with you where ever you might go with their portable radio players that can hold 15, 25, and 40 stations with prices of $200, $250, and $300 respectively. Slacker is a great service that is worth a little time and attention.

My play list while writing this:
"Hey Hey"-October Fall
"Crushcrushcrush"-Paramore
"I Woke Up In A Car"-Something Corporate
"Ocean Avenue"-Yellowcard
"There's A Case For This"-Cute Is What We Aim For
"I Write Sins Not Tragedies"-Panic At The Disco
"Thanks For The Mmrs"-Fall Out Boy
"Tonight Lites"- A Cursive Memory
"Hate (I Really Don't Like You)"-Plain White T's
"Hero/Heroine"-Boys Like Girls
"Flashlight"-Punchline
"Sweetness"-Jimmy Eat World
"Light Up The Sky"-Yellowcard

Possibilities

I was going through some of my older writings and came across this.

In the beginning there was space. A large place, that could have been filled with anything. But this place wasn't just filled with anything, this place was being written with hopes and dreams, knowledge and truth. The Creator of this place filled it with endless possibilities. He placed two beings to live there and take care of it. In return for doing this these beings could take part in any of the possibilities that this place could offer, except one, which if the two did take part in there would be grave consequences. The two beings loved it there. They ran and played; they loved each other and the Creator for giving them all of this. One day another, greater, being came to visit them, but this being was filled with lies and anger towards the Creator. He came to the two and convinced them to take part in the possibility that the Creator had forbidden. After they had some this the Creator, already knowing what had happened, came looking for the two; He was very disappointed in them . The creator told them that because they had done this they could no longer take part in the possibilities that the place had to offer anymore, and that they had to leave. When the two heard this they were very sad. They begged and pleaded and the creator had compassion on them, but because He had already made the promise there was nothing that He could do to keep them in that place. However, He did create one possibility to give to them, a hope for the future. The Creator told the two about this hope and the two were very happy, but at the same time the Creator was very sad. The two didn't know why, they thought that it was because of what they had done, but before they could find out they had to leave the place. Many years later the two became four, four became ten, and ten became many. The many were still holding on to the hope that the Creator left them with. The many thought that the Creator would come and give them back the place that they had to leave. This whole time the many were watching for the Creator, and one day He came. Not with singing and praise, but with pain and crying. He didn't come as a Creator but as one of the many. He was no different then them, He lived, and worked, and played like the many. He loved, laughed, and cried like the many. But there was something off about this one, it wasn't that He was wrong in anyway, it was that He was a little to right. This made some of the many mad, and they wanted to do away with Him and wanted to have Him killed. These many plotted to have Him killed.Then, on a day that was calm and sunny, a day that the wind blew softly through the trees, a day that reminded angels that they were angels, it was on a day like this that the many killed the Creator, they slayed the Creator. For a few of the many they thought that all hope was lost, but the creator knew what was in the hearts of the created. In fact He planned on it, because this was no the end, no it was only the start. You see, when the Creator died He took death with Him and destroyed it. Death was the very thing that took away possibilities from the many, took away hope and truth, love and joy and the Creator in killing death gave all these things back. After dying the Creator came back to the many to tall them what He had done: The many, wanted the Creator to come back to give them the place back, but when He didn't give it back that got mad and killed Him. what they didn't know was that the place they were wanting so badly wasn't important; it wasn't about the place, it was about the possibilities, and that is what the creator had given them again. You see, because in the beginning there was space. a large place that could have been filled with anything. this place was being written on like a book, written with hopes and dreams, knowledge and truth. The Creator of this place filled it with endless Possibilities...

Simply Epic (Summer Mux)

I stayed up all night crafting it. It is like my musical baby, I nursed it, I cared for it, I loved it to life. And now it is here, my summer Muxtape. It (much like myself) has something for everyone. Go here to listen.

Buzz

It seems like the name buzz is around in a lot of places on the internet, from Yahoo's buzz, or Blogger Buzz, or the new service from AT&T simply called Buzz. Buzz is a new service that collects popular blogs post from that day for your consumption, what makes them different from every other blog collecting site (e.g. Google Reader, Yahoo Mail)? Buzz will read you the posts to you through a creepy avatar that speaks to you in a Stephen Hawking voice. This is a cool little feature that is worth checking out but not really anything to get excited over, at this point you aren't able to add the blogs you read to this service so you won't be having your daily news read to you anytime soon. In fact buzz is pretty featureless when it comes to the ability to put user generated content in there. Still it is an interesting site that is making me play with the voice feature in windows right now (good memories of Ravencrest can be found in this little electronic voice).

Luke 9:46-50

Luke 9:46 An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.” 49 John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.” (NASB)

I don't hear many people talking about these verses for some reason. It isn't the most comfortable of all verses I will admit, I can think of a lot of people who I wouldn't want to align myself with by saying that we ultimately believe the same thing, in fact most times I might try to distance myself from them by highlighting our differences. But that is not what Jesus is telling us to do here. John basically comes to Jesus and says that because this man is not part of their group he shouldn't be able to cast out the demons, John latter would change the criteria by which he would judge someones ministry from what group they are in to, simply, whether or not they would preach Christ 1 John 4:1-4.

Jesus' response to John is to make it clear that there is no in between, if someone is teaching the name of Christ that is what is important, either someone is helping you or not. Later in Luke 11:23 Jesus puts it a different was saying "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters." Jesus makes it clear that the way in which we are to judge mans ministry is by who's name he does it by. It is either Christ or by the world.

Stuff

Recently on Richard Dahlstrom's blog he posted about a video on the web called the story of stuff. In the video a woman named Annie Leonard takes you through the complete process of production of stuff, from extraction to disposal and the effect which each stage has on the environment. It is only twenty minutes long and is an eye opening video. Click the link above or the picture below.

I am a grown up

When I was in third grade I looked at the fourth graders and thought that they were almost grown up. When I got into middle school I looked up to Peter B. thinking that he was mature. In high school I wondered if I would ever become an adult. It took me 22 years and a marriage but I realized last night at about 2am...I am an adult...
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...
Shoot.

More Free Stuff

I, like most people, love free stuff, so anytime that anything free pops up on my screen I take notice. That is just what happened the other day, thanks to Webware, when I found Giveaway of the Day. Giveaway of the Day does just what the name says that it will gives one software title away everyday for free, the thought is that the more people have and are reviewing the software that is given away the better it is for the company, a way to get free advertising. This is one of the best ideas that I have heard about in a long time, I don't get why Microsoft can't think like this. To see what todays free software is take a look at the ticker below.

Darwin

No matter what your personal view of evolution is one thing can't be denied, that is that Charles Darwin was a very intelligent man. He wrote many books and papers in his life time and since his death in 1882 only a small group of people have been able to read his actual hand written work at the library of Cambridge University. But now, thanks to a small group of people, anyone can look on anything that Darwin ever wrote along with first drafts of his papers and theories. It is worth looking through but if you want to read any of his work that is edited and in print most of it is in the public domain and so it can be accessed through Google books here.

Update: I actually wrote this post about a week ago and scheduled in to post today, but it you are interested in a little more about atheism check out the discussion to my post titled Let's Kill God.

This so Cute...Why did Someone Invent this

How many times has this happened to you, you're sitting in an airport trying to read up on some news, or posting to your blog, or writing a paper and things are just to bright to work, or what if you are working on your computer in a large cement room with no heating in the middle of winter and your hands start to get cold. Well now neither on of those situations has to give you trouble any more with these BTIs (Body-Technology Interfaces), just slip them on and your good to go. If you are interested in getting one (or maybe making one) you can contact the people at Sternlab and I am sure that they will be able to help you out.

China and Tibet

Most people, in western culture, know about the terrible things being perpetrated by China in Tibet. But the knowledge of what is going on in Tibet is not reaching the Chinese people because of the strict censorship law that are in place in China. However there is a site called Wikileaks which is trying to force information, about what is going on in Tibet, through the Golden Shield Projects (a.k.a. the Great Firewall of China) censors to give the people of China a look into what is going on with their own country. To do this Wikileaks has released over 150 videos and pictures about the Tibet uprising and are asking everyone to help them push these through the censors. I do feel the need to warn anyone who would want to look at the photos, that are extremely graphic and brutal, it made me sick with the first picture that I saw, I knew that it was bad in Tibet but it didn't quite hit me how bad it really was until I saw these pictures. It is hard to get through the Shield Project but I hope that they can so the the Chinese people can be informed about what is going on right next door to them.

This web site is already blocked in China, if you want to see if a site that you have is blocked just go here and find out, you would be surprised to see just how little it takes to be blocked.

Apple Keeps Pushing Technology Forward

Apple Is getting ready to release a new product that will revolutionize computers and the technology industry forever, it is called the "i" and it looks amazing. Like most apple products Steve Jobs introduced this, check out the video below for more.

See more videos Here

EEE...I WANT a new Computer

It should came as no big surprise to anyone that I love computers and spend most of my time online. Recently two types of laptops have caught my eye, they are UMPC's (which stands for ultra mobile PCs) and Mininotebook (or Subnotebook depending on what tech site you frequent). In the mininotebook category two computers have come out that have captured my attention, the HP 2133 and the Asus Eee PC devices which are 900 (yet to be released), these are both small, light weight, relatively cheap, and pack to the brim with features (relative to their price and size). The Eee PC 900, set to be released soon, has a multitouch mouse pad, 1 GB Ram, 8 GB to 12 GB hard drive, and ports galore, to some that won't sound like a lot but to me that sounds like just enough (at least for now). At launch the Eee PC is going to be $500 but prices are suppose to come down and with Intel about to come out with a new processor called the Atom, which is specifically made for this type of device, these computers can only get better. Check out the hands on video below to see the Eee PC doing its thing.

100

This my one hundredth post on this blog, it took me three years but I have made it to a hundred. Hopefully it won't me as long to make it to two hundred. So here are some fact about the number one hundred according to Wikipedia.

• The number of years in a century
• A 100 year old person is known as a centenarian. George Burns. Bob Hope, and United States Senator Strom Thurmond were among those who had lived to 100.
• The number of pounds in an American short hundredweight
• The United States Senate has 100 Senators
• The number of subunits into which many of the world's currencies are divided; for example, one euro is one hundred cents and one Pound Sterling is one hundred pence
• The number of tiles in a standard Scrabble set
• The denomination of the U.S. hundred-dollar bill with Benjamin Franklin's portrait; the "Benjamin" is the largest U.S. bill in print
• The denomination of American savings bonds with Thomas Jefferson's portrait
• The denomination of American treasury bonds with Andrew Jackson's portrait
• In Greece, India and Israel, 100 is the police telephone number.
• In Belgium, 100 is the ambulance telephone number.
• In United Kingdom, 100 is the operator telephone number
• Hundred Days, aka the Waterloo Campaign
• "The First Hundred Days" is an arbitrary benchmark of a President of the United States' performance at the beginning of his term
• 100 is the HTTP status code indicating that the client should continue with its request
• STS-100 Space Shuttle Endeavour launched April 19, 2001
• The 100-Series Highways are a series of arterial highways in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia
• SEPTA Route 100, also known as the Norristown High-Speed Line, is an interurban line system operating between Upper Darby and Norristown, Pennsylvania
• NASDAQ-100 is a stock market index of 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange
• The American Film Institute series
• Radio stations such as Z100 WHTZ New York and Z100 KKRZ, Portland, Oregon
• In English slang, adding the number 100 to a particular skill or subject denotes introductory knowledge ("Physics 100", "Soccer 100"), akin to the name of a first year university subject.
• Games 100 is an annual listing of the year’s top games
• The Time 100 is a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. The list has developed into an annual event.
• The One Hundred Years War
• One Hundred Men and a Girl is a 1937 musical comedy film starring Deanna Durbin
• 100 Grand Bar (formerly known as $100,000 Bar) is a candy bar produced by Nestlé
• Monterrey, Mexico is located at 25 degrees 40' N latitude and 100 degrees 18' W longitude
• Pope Valentine succeeded Pope Eugene II to become the 100th Pope in August 827