Against Nothingness

Developing a Faith big enough for the World It is a frightening thing, from the perspective of a man such as myself with a background of protestant separation of religion and politics, and the comfortably personalized and individualized, and thus reduced, version of the Gospel, to watch as my faith grows and becomes inextricably connected with social, political, and global issues. It is a frightening thing, from the perspective of a man such as myself with a white middle class North American background, to watch as my views of money, of life, and what it really means to have a good life change so drastically. Is the full gospel of Jesus Christ really that he died, took my sins away on the cross so that I could be saved? Does it not include that, important as it is, but also much, much more? Doesn't the gospel proclaim that Jesus lived (we always have an answer to why Jesus died, but besides to give us some good moral teachings, why did he live?), died on the cross, ro

A few things quickly. Chapter has been real sick lately, and she is starting to feel better, thank the Lord. The doctor's told her she has strep throat (spelling? probably wrong), but the symptoms don't match. In any case, she is getting better. The ETS has released all the documents from the Oct. 3rd meeting. The results, briefly: They voted 9-0 that the chages be dropped towards Pinnock, and 7-2 that the charges stay for Sanders. I will comment more later, but as of yet I haven't had time to read the stuff. A good article, which Pinkmoose reffered me to, is here . I haven't read it all, but what I have read is worth thinking about. The article is entitled " Bush and the Divine ". Lastly, I have suddenly gotten super busy... Hence only one update yesterday and one today, lol.

Ok, so I am wierd. This morning I started writing some stuff, but I didn't get to finish. So I emailed it to myself and now I finished it at school. So here it is, again, it gets into some stuff that may not be of interest to everyone. Fair warning issued, enjoy. Note: I have extensive quotations below from N.T. Wrights "Jesus and the Victory of God" as well as one of his sermons. I have not included footnotes or anything, but if anyone wants to know where to find this stuff, just ask in the comment section or email. Jesus and the Victory of God: Questions evoked by Wright and life Yesterday I finished reading N.T. Wright’s “Jesus and the Victory of God”. As I read through it, watching Wright one by one interpret sayings and parables in a way I have never thought of, nor seen, but which makes so much sense of so many things, I started to wonder. Wright puts Jesus into his day, and makes him radically relevant to his time and place. Jesus becomes politica

"It is a conceit of postmodernists that they are charged with survival on behalf of a humanity whose gods they alone have declared dead... What is degenerate about much postmodern celebration is that it lacks any religious sense of space and time... In practice, the footings of postmodernism are sunk in fast food, information desks... and indifferent elevators that marry time and money to the second. The postmodern celebrants of the irreal, of the screen and its simulcra, ought to be understood as religious maniacs, or as iconoclasts breaking the gods, and not at all as sophisticates of modern science or art." John O'Neill The Poverty of Postmodernism

Its our first big snow today. I don't know how I feel about it. Biking home in the snow sucked, and not being able to bike much more until spring isn't going to be fun. On the other hand, I like the snow. I like to watch it fall. It always amazes me when I hear of people, or meet people (cause I have), who have never seen snow. Who won't believe you when you describe it to them. Snow makes me feel fortunate, it reminds of all I have to be thankful for.

Breaking the Rules of School Today, in the middle of class, I cried. I wasn't the only one though, fully one half of my class of 18 people were crying. Today the rules of school were broken in the middle of my Christianity and Social Activism class. There is some kind of unwritten rule that education in the university doesn't get personal; your hands don't get dirty, your faces don't get wet, and your heart doesn't even get brushed. Later on in class, we, the students, were challenged!! Challenged in the sense of actually being encouraged to do something, and exhorted to change things. This is another no no. You can't ask a university student to DO something. Oh sure, you can get them to write an essay or an exam, maybe do some lab work. But you can't ask them to do anything meaningful because that might insult someone's value system. How could this happen? How were the rules of school subverted in the middle of that UofA classroom? Th

I had a good bad weekend. It was fun, and I got to do some hanging out. I helped our fourth, Superman, move in. So its me, Superman, the Big T, and That Guy, in our house now. But I got no work done. I tried to work on sunday and I just couldn't do it. Chapter on the other hand had an excitement filled weekend of chaos. She is a youth sponsor at her church and they went to an alliance youth conference this weekend. Chapter had never been to one before, and was a little bit unprepared for the amount of chaos that is involved in such things. Kids skateboarding in church hallways, doing the macarena in the aisle on the bus, etc. She got used to it and had fun still. My random music on winamp just started playing REM "Its the end of the world as we know it". That combined with John's comment on my last post, and a few books I am reading, just now started me thinking. The world is changing a lot. No one seems to quite know how, the growing mountain of co

What follows are some comments on a specific issue, which I suspect may not be of interest to many of you. I write this for my sake as much as anyone else's; I still hope those of you who read it enjoy it, but I thought fair warning was in order. Pinnock, Sanders, Nicole and the ETS (for full details and articles that I have read regarding what I am writing, refer to this ETS page . Today I found out from a friend that there is currently a membership challenge process going on within the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) with regards to Clark Pinnock and John Sanders. Let me start off by saying that those are two academic theologians whom I have great respect for. There are a few people on that list, but not a lot. The list is not entirely composed of those I agree with; I disagree in a lot of ways with John Piper, but I very much respect him. I disagree also with some of what both Pinnock and Sanders say, though less so than with Piper. That list is also li

We had a guys poker night last night, it was sweet. We got two tables going, one of four and one of five. Five dollar buy in, so this is cheap poker were talking about here. Of those nine people, 3 lost all their money, 3 ended up down but with stuff left, and 3 ended up winning some. I did pretty good, i was down 7 and came back to being down only 1.50. But my friend steve did amazing. He came back from being down 6 to being up 25, which is a record win at our guys poker nights. HomieBear if you are reading this, you shoulda been there. In other news, lightning struck the Gibson Passion shoot , again! I follow in the wise footsteps of the pink moose, and offer no comment on that one, though many jokes spring to mind. And finally, the fourth member of our household should be moving in sometime today. Very cool.

Just a Regular Happy Sand Man I read a lot. First line in my description. I think a lot, yep, its true. I was reading and thinking today, and I came across three stories I want to share. They are from the sayings of the Desert Fathers, all about a man named Abba Agathon. Historical? who knows, possibly, even probably. Thats not the point though. It was said of him that, coming to the town one day to sell his wares, he encountered a sick traveller lying in the public place without anyone to look after him. The old man rented a cell and lived with him there, working with his hands to pay the rent and spending the rest of his money on the sick man's needs. He stayed there four months till the sick man was restored to health. Then he returned in peace to his cell. Going to town one day to sell some small articles, Abba Agathon met a cripple on the roadside, paralysed in his legs, who asked him where he was going. Abba Agathon replied, 'To town, to sell some thin

Storming Through My Final Midterm 7:14, and all of the appliances in my room waited with glee. The coming moment would be marvelous. "You ready?" Asked the palm pilot. "Oh yeah!" replied the alarm clock, a little to much glee in his voice. The computer, the voice of reason, chimed in with "I don't know if he meant to turn the volume all the way up last night guys, maybe we shouldn't do this..." But it was to late. "ENGH ENGH ENGH ENGH ENGH!!!" the alarm clock shouted, almost giggling at the same time. In a blind panic, I awoke. Sometimes when I awake to that stupid buzzing noise, yeah you can all hear it, I think I have a sadistic masochistic streak in me. This mornign when I awoke to that alarm clock, I couldn't think anything except "shut it off shut it off shut it off", like a mantra it rang in my head. But I couldn't find the button... never fear there's always the plug. I reached, and pulle

This morning I found out that the word "internet" first came into use the same year that I was born, 1982. Cool coincidence. How did I find this out? By rewatching a flash music vidoe called " Internet Killed the Video Star " by Broad Band. Which is another funny little music thing. "Came from the cold war, now its one global store" (while these lyrics are being played the have two guys (world leaders perhaps? lol) giving each other the finger, with the bold words COLDWAR in the background, and then it changes to the same to guys, in winter gear, smiling, with the words COLWARDROBE instead. Yep, American Capitalism won the day... of course the Russians taking the bad advice of america led to its economic downfall, and while this was going on, America was given multiple chances of mutual disarmament with Russia, but they refused every time. They knew that the "Russian Bear" was entering its death throws, why disarm? Of course, today, the U

Happpy Day! My little big brother has started a blog of his own. You may have noticed that my list of places worth a fly by blurring is growing, or you may not have. Obviously I consider all those places cool and good places to check out, though they definitely focus on my interests. This new link, to my brothers blog, I not only consider worth listing, but also worth mentioning. I am sure his site will change over time, but he has his first posts up. It is called "What Was That?" which is its name in the link list. Check it out

Outside The Inbox: songs inspired by SPAM is now available for free online!! Thats right, a free cd, by various artists, full of songs inspired by subject lines from spam. Its actually a pretty decent CD, I don't like all the songs, but some of them are pretty funny. I liked "You Are Being Watched" by Supercar "Never trust your cookie jar, cause cookies are all spies...." lol I haven't listened to them all, but I am quite enjoying it. Worth checkign out. Huge variety of styles, as well as varying levels of interaction with the actual subject of SPAM. "Erik Someone wants to date you.. so we told them you didn't know how to drive." (from "Erik Someone Wants to date you" by Brad Sucks ) enough, i have studying to do. Hilarious stuff, check it out. I will listen to the rest as I study.

The Night of the MAO's "My brother is watching CSI, and its backwards, and you have to decipher it." Chapter, on MAO's. My Fiancee, Chapter, gets headaches. She has an incredibly high threshold for pain, and so normally, while they are not good, they are bearable in some sense. She has advil and tylenol, but if the headache is light enough that she only needs those, she usually just grits her teeth and gets through it. Then she has a permanent prescription of T3's. These she affectionately calls "Skittles". It doesn't happen super often that she needs to take them, it happens enough though. But every once in a while, Chapter gets headaches that stare T3's in the face and laugh. Demoralized, the pills skitter through her body with little to no effect, except to sometimes make Chapter sick. For headaches like these, Chapter pulls out the Big Daddy of all headache pain killers. MAO's MAO = Medically Administered Opiate

Some have noticed that I mentioned having more hope since some stuff happened, but that that hope doesn't seem very evident here. This is true, but only partially. Of my last blogs that have been more than "here is what is going on" two have been retellings of where I have come from. In all honesty, I have come from a place of little hope (not no hope, but less). So, I guess I am saying, its coming. Still haven't figured out why I am rehashing some of this stuff, but I am. As to the other one, well that one was a wierd post. It was trying to express a feeling that I didn't know how to explain... probably sounded worse than it was. Here are some good lyrics: "William" by Relient K My life’s been torn apart, stripped down and going nowhere. I don’t know where to start, and where to go from there. It gets tough, to follow your will. I get scared, that I might take a spill. Me and faith, we argue a lot. If my will will be your will or

I realized that my post from sunday at 12:30ish was a part of my story. I feel like I should write more of it, who knows why. But I am not going to write it all from the same perspective, or with the same style. I kind of doubt I am going to put it together either. Maybe I am writing it just cause I can, who knows. Another Part of My Story: Part 1.? (prose this time) I met a man, an amazing man. His name was Jesus. For a time I followed him. But I, as everyone does, turned away. I got lost, again. Jesus found me, again. I was so excited. Being away sucked. Nothing was the same without this man. "I want to show you something, follow me." Jesus said. And so I did. I followed him up a steep rise, and I was so excited I ran. When we reached the top, we stood, overlooking a cliff. There was no where else to go but back the way we came or over the edge. "You want me to jump Lord?" "Yes, but..." And I cut Him off. "I can do th

A third midterm done, and quite to my surprise, done well. Once again they asked the questions I knew the answers to. Thanks to all those who have been praying for me, the Lord is answering. One more test to go.

Woah! check this out!! It can read minds! Lol, ok, I know how this thing works. Can you figure it out?

Tuesday morning. The day of my third midterm. Bioethics today; while an interesting subject, the test doesn't look like it will be fun. Oh well, I think I am ready.

A Part of My Story: Part 1 Somewhere along the line, I got confused. I began to think that walking by faith would remove the vagueness and ambiguities, when in fact it calls me to live in them. I desired much less a mandate that required faith, and much more a guarantee so that in fact faith was never really neccessary. And so I started to live by "the faith" instead of by faith. Somewhere along the line, I got confused. I began to put my hope in my guarantee of salvation, in the afterlife, and I stopped having hope for this world, for this life. I accepted the fact that the world was going to hell in a handbasket, and rationalized that that was neccessary so that Jesus would return. I forgot that Jesus came to heal the world, to offer springs of living water in the midst of this desert existence. And so my hope gradually left the person of Jesus Christ and moved to having hope in the right doctrines. Somewhere along the line, I got confused. Love become se

Sometimes I get gripped by this feeling. I can't describe it. Its like being sad, joyful, thankful, tired and fully aware at the same time. It happens in those rare moments when something touches you deeply; but it also happens at times for no reason. I spent the whole day studying, and talking with Chapter. Both good, one obviously more fun than the other; but at the end of the day, I just need to relax. So I played chess with Chapter, then I played some other internet flash games, I read, and as I was heading to bed I decided to put on some music from a few anime's. Sometimes i listen to music because I am in a certain mood; other times music puts me in a certain mood. Perhaps the best way to describe this mood would be sober solitude. "We couldn't say them, so now we just pray them. Words that we couldn't say. Someday maybe we'll make it right, until that day, long endless nights. Words that we couldn't say." Ha-a-le-lu-yah. The

In a culture of convenience true love, deep passion, a large vision or sense of mission, and much more go against the grain. Not only that, but seeking these things is costly. True love gives beyond convenience, but good luck getting anyone to do that for you. Of course, its easy enough to point the finger, but I do at least as much as anyone. It is discouraging to try to give of yourself in love, because having a larger vision of love means that you see many others not giving to you in love, I get frustrated and want to give back what I am getting, or I get angry. Turning the other cheek is never easy. I see lack of integrity in many people's actions, and it makes it hard. But that isn't the hardest thing, I see all this in myself more than I see it in others, and am faced with how much I lack. Sometimes I wish I could just remain ignorant, satisfied with a lower standard for myself. I realize that all my indictments, of the church, of those around me, are indictments

And so begins the weekend. 12 o'clock on a saturday, with an oreo cookie for breakfast. Well, ok, I am going to go and eat a real breakfast, but thats what I started with. It seems that I like to write here even when I have nothing to say; lets see, this weekend will consist of studying, reading, and talking with Chapter. Thinking about tithing last night as I fell asleep; as I plan on being a minister, I am going to have to talk about money sometime. I, like most people, or so I like to think, know there is little to no basis for the 10% tithe to be found in the new testament. I have heard the church accused of keeping this old testament teaching, among all of them, because they want/need money. I don't think that such an accusation could be farther from the truth; I think that this idea is kept and taught because the attitudes towards money that are actually evidenced and encouraged in the New testament are much scarier, and much harder, than a 10% tithe. Jesus on

Another midterm done, and done well. It sure makes it easy when they ask the questions you know the answers to. Now if only the rest of life worked like that... well ok, it would be much less fun that way. Two more midterms to go, and while the rest of life may be less fun if I knew all the answers, that isn't true of these tests.

The same Amma (Amma Theodora) said that a teacher ought to be a stranger to the desire for domination, vain-glory, and pride; one should not be able to fool him by flattery, nor blind him by gifts, nor conguer him by the stomach, nor dominate him by anger; but he should be patient, gentle and humble as far as possible; he must be tested and without partisanship, full of concern, and a lover of souls. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, of holy memory, asked Abba Pambo to come down from the desert to Alexandria. He went down, and seeing a prostitute he began to weep. Those who were present asked him the reason for his tears, and he said, 'Two things make me weep: One, the loss of this woman; and the other, that I am not so concerned to please God as she is to please wicked men.' ---The Sayings of the Dessert Fathers

My second midterm is this morning, Chinese religions. Hopefully it goes as well, or better, than the one on wednesday did :)

I realized something today. In bible study I said that in accepting a view of the church that is not very flattering, and realizing we are a long ways from where we should be, myself included, I have found more hope and joy than before. While this is true, it is not quite accurate. What has given me hope and joy is not so much looking at the church in a certain, as being free from the modernist obsession with resolving paradoxes. The law of non contradiction is still valid in my mind; two opposite things cannot be true at the same time. However, I think that sometimes we have, and again myself included (if I didn't do this then i wouldn't have had to be freed from it), taken tensions and nitpicked them down until we think we have proven them to be contradictions and then we must make a choice between one side or another. After doing this once, we somehow get to the point where tensions themselves are bad and need to be resolved. Like true peace of mind would come if only

This semester the Bible study I am in has been examing various doctrines and ideas about Hell. It has been very interesting, and, considering how big an issue it often is with those who are not Christian, I think it is fairly important. On the other hand there isn't really that much for personal development in a study of Hell. So I have taken the wise advice of Chapter, and today will be attempting to do a bible study more focused on personal development. I have basically given up on connecting it to Hell, which is fine. The problem comes in the fact that in planning and thinking about this bible study, I have got myself into a corner again. Why are we studying Hell? Seriously, yeah its important, and I know we probably all learn better in a group setting, and we need to know about Hell, yes... but I have a lot of other questions, and see a lot of other areas that are lacking, which seem to me to be more important than Hell. Rant: The Hard Questions So today I think I

The beatification of Mother Teresa will take place Oct. 19, 2003. One step closer to sainthood. I find it encouraging that this champion of love, a saint of the gutter as she has been called, is being moved so quickly through this process in the Catholic church. I can't really articulate why, it just warms my heart.

Ok, rant time. From now on, if I go into a rant on here, I will title it, and label it rant, so you know. Rant: When the Trouble started for the Church I am supposed to be studying for my midterm on Friday and preparing for my bible study tommorow. I have been, but I decided to take a break. I was looking through some of the music I had on my computer, some old stuff. Ever heard of Carman? Probably not; he is a Christian musician whom I first listened to way back in elementary school. His songs are interesting; very eighties, though I think he continued producing past that, those are the songs I have. I listened to one, called "Its Our Turn Now". It starts out with a news broadcast, presumably from the time and date it mentions, about prayer being removed from classrooms in america. June 17th, 1963. It goes on to say how the world has screwed up, but its our (our being the church) turn now, and were going to do better. While I think Carman has the right idea,

Woohoo!! One midterm done, and done well. My Rel 215, Christianity and Community Action, midterm went excellent. Our teacher had given us a list of twelve essay questions to study from, telling us two would appear on the exam, and explicitly saying that we would NOT have a choice. Today, before he handed out the exam, he said "don't be nervous, there is always grace and mercy." And he handed out an exam with 4 questions, and we could choose two. Not only that, but two of the questions I was most prepared for were on the exam. So it was sweet. 3 more to go.

Funny Site: We Love Arnold . I particularly enjoyed reading Arnold's campaign platform: Pro-Kids! Pro-Jobs! Anti-Violence! Pro-Hope! Anti-Bad Stuff! Which, the site goes on to note, is much better than the opponents campaign platform: Anti-Kids, Anti-Jobs, Pro-Violence, Anti-Hope and Anti-People.

Hello, I am back. Its Tuesday. And while in some ways its good to be back, in many ways it sucks to leave. At the end of a month, or month and a half period, of not seeing Chapter, I almost get used to it. Not quite; I always miss her, and there are many times that I wish I could just hold her, but it gets bearable. On the first day back, everything that I can't get by phone is fresh in my memory. But I am back, and I have to deal with it. Not only am I back, but I have had to hit the ground running. I said to Chapter at the airport that it's going to be wierd going back and being all of the things that I am not while I am in Vancouver; A student, a volunteer with Campus Crusade, a roommate in a house with 4 guys, once again in a long distance relationship. Its not that I am not those things while I am in Vancouver, but that I am not directly in those roles. I am still the same person, but I have a different hat on. Issues of being and doing; fun yes? So why hit t

Well, I am about to head to bed. This will likely be my last entry until tuesday, though I might get one in this weekend. Tommorow I am flying to vancouver, and I can't wait. Its like Christmas eve right now, except that I don't usually feel this way at Christmas anymore. Have a great thanksgiving weekend, whatever your doing. Thank you Lord for this trip, and for the blessings that you give to each of us.

An episode from my Brother's life. But first, a bit about my brother. He is 19 years old, in bible college, his name is Shawn. Physically he is taller, stronger, broader etc. than I am. He is hilarious, and an awesome guy. Anyway, in one of his classes they had essays due, and the teach picked three that he thought were well done to present to the class and ask questions about. One of them was my brother's paper. The teacher read a quote from it, and then asked "What does this passage reveal about the author?" My brother immediately put up his hand, and the teacher (probably unaware at this point that it was Shawn's paper, but i am not sure) acknowledged him. My brothers response: "I think it shows that the author of that paper is an incredibly good looking guy."

I just read the two Real Live Preacher Dramatized Version stories that the real live preacher has on his website. Excellent stories, and they are making me think. I particularly like the story of blessing the breast and the womb It makes me think about what it means to be a christian. Along the same lines, something else i was thinking about last night was the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30 I was thinking of sermon ideas, and ended up modernizing the story, which I did much like Real Live Preacher does his things. I really did think of this last night though, but I was definitely moved to write it out by the RLP's stuff. In any case here is what i came up with (its a bit unpolished) Meet Tim. Tim is a 22 year old man; he has blond hair and blue eyes, broad shoulders, deep chest, low voice, and a commanding presence. He is handsome and fit, and has a girlfriend in university; he plans to ask for her hand in marriage next week. He is a humble and gen

I was just reminded that I haven't commented on Arnold's recent landslide election in California. The PinkMoose just called and wanted to know what I thought. We agreed that we know nothing about his ability to govern, and most likely, neither does anyone else. So why was he elected? Not on that basis. Will he do a good job? who knows, who cares. I think its a good image of the state of the American, and probably N. American, conscious and conscience. Celebitry'ism at its best, Arnold was elected based on popularity and public image. In my opinion its a natural and neccessary outcome of the all-covering consumerism of our culture. Note: I am aware of Clint Eastwood's success as a mayor, and am not saying anything about Arnold or his ability to govern. That remains to be seen.

The mind works in odd, confusing, and often annoying ways. Yesterday, as you know, I wrote an essay. Though it doesn't take me long timewise, it takes a lot out of me, it requires more focused energy than I accustomed to putting out. So when i am done an essay, i am basically done for a little while. I tried to read last night, but I couldn't (which if you know me will say something about how done I am after an essay). So after wasting some time with comics, strongbad's email, and online games and talking to Chapter online, I decided that since I wasn't should go to bed. I was tired, my brain was shut down, so hey, why not? That of course was when i underwent a system reboot. By the time my head hit the pillow my mind was fully active again. Normally I can get to sleep pretty good, I just set aside whats on my mind and go to sleep; yes, this takes me 15 to 30 min, but hey. After a system reboot though, I guess it doesn't work quite so easily. So I ending u

Yesterday was tantalizing. You ever heard of the greek myth about Tantalus? He became immortal by wining and dining the God's, but then betrayed them, stealing some of their godly nectar and sharing it with other mortals. So he was sentenced to the eternal punishment of being neck deep in water, with fruit right above him just out of reach. If he bent down to take a drink, the water level would sink, and the fruit would come down, but if he stood up to get the fruit, it went back up and so did the water. Thus we get the word Tantalize. This word, however, has become almost a good thing, and I am not reffering to it in such a way. No, yesterday was tantalizing in that good old fashion sense of greek torture. Why is this? Well, if you have never been in a long distance relationship, you may not understand, but I will try to explain. In a long distance relationship the best form of contact available to you is usually the phone. You come to depend on a person's voice in a

Sweet, done the essay. Report: Time: 4:10 - 7:55 = 3hr and 45 min. Subtract breaks and dinner (about 1hr) 2.75 hrs. Still to be done: Final editing. When am I going to do the final editing? Sometime in the next two months!! Thats right, this essay is not due until Nov. 24th. Why am I done an essay due on Nov. 24th by Oct. 7th? Don't ask, because unless you knew my schedule it just wouldn't make sense. Normally, I don't do essays this early at all. Normally about 3 weeks before it is due i start reading for it, one week before its due I write it, and over that week i edit it. Can't do that this year, my schedule just won't allow it. So I had to be a little more disciplined and planned. Thats 2 essays, out of six, done, and boy does it feel good.

Ok, so i am seriously going to get to work now. But i checked out the second site reccommended to me, its Jonny Baker's Blog . Another site not thouroughly checked out, but i found this quote, and thought i would cut and paste: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. amzanig huh? Cool

Ok, I had to Blog about this. A few sites were recommended to me by a good friend of mine, and I was checking them out in my usual efforts to delay the inevitable (my essay). The first one, the only one i have checked out so far, is called Clubbers Temple . It is an English (like, England) flash site that is pretty cool as far as sites and flash go, but it is also a church. I haven't fully explored it yet, i can't let myself do that now, or I will never get to my essay, but I did take the flash journey thing, and checked it out a little bit. Its very interesting. First impressions: A good attempt to be church online, it has all the fancyness and proffesionalness, but it seems almost to much like the real thing (like online should be different or something?). I haven't fully explored, but i am wary of it being a good alternative church, but falling into some kind of consumeristic trap... i am always wary of that though i guess. So, for now, I liked it, its cool. Tha

Woohoo my books are here!!! I ordered some books online almost a month ago, but then that huge power outage cut that out. When I and the company finally figured out what was going on i had to reorder them, and then when they got here, i guess the slip or whatever (didn't get it delieverd because there were customs fees to pay) got lost, so they have been at the post office for a week. But they are here now. Incidentally, if your interested in the specific books they offer, 7loaves is an excellent place to order books from. They handled the situation incredibly well, did literally everything they could and then some to get it all sorted out and get my books to me. They even gave me a discount for the inconvenience (in the form of free rush delivery, though it didn't matter at this end, but thats not their fault), when i knew that there was nothing they could do about it (i mean, seriously, how are they supposed to handle a massive blackout without inconveniencing people?).

Here's some stuff i have been thinking about: In the early 1900's, with industrialization and such, we in the first world reached a place where our basic needs were generally well met. In response to this, people wanted to work less, and enjoy the fruits of their labor. However two groups of people didn't want this: 1. The protestant moralists, who believed that to much free time would lead to, at the very least, sloth (one of the seven deadly sins). 2. The economists, who were operating under the assumption that growth is good, and in order to get growth needed people to keep working and keep consuming after their basic needs were met. So there were a bunch of economic meetings to find a way to solve this problem. In the end they come up with one, known as "quality of life" or "standard of living". Let me offer you some quotes (taken from "Your Money or Your Life": "In 1929 the Herbert Hoover committee on recent economic change