Headline from the BBC. Made me smack my forehead so hard I decided to dust off the blog for it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6954859.stm.
Other things to blame for HIV include infected blood transfusions. Those infected blood transfusions are so mean, causing HIV like that. The media has gotten so adept at eliminating any kind of moral judgment from their stories. Now they are actually blaming the problem on the problem. So now people are not the cause of HIV, unprotected sex is the cause of HIV.
You can't place blame on inanimate objects or acts, you can only place blame on people because only people choose how to use those objects or participate in those acts!
Also, school students are shot by "shooters" instead of "killers" or "murderers" and we are fighting "extremists," not "evil".
One things is for certain, there is only one thing (or person to be exact) that can clean up this totally depraved world, and it ain't politically correct media rhetoric. Keep your band-aid, I'm going under the knife.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Sean Michel
God loves beards. How do I know this? He gave one to every man and even some women. I am not the only man who realizes this. Sean Michel, an independent acoustic musician, recently tried out for american idol and shocked America with a brilliant rendition of a Johnny Cash song and a flowing mane to be envied by adolescent boys everywhere. He has been compared to Jesus and Osama Bin Laden in appearance. What does this say about our society? We are so used to men being clean-shaven that having a beard actually makes you stand out from the crowd. The only bad thing about this, is that now I have to watch American Idol to see how far he makes it. He has a great voice, but I don't see the commercial pop machine letting the beard get by.
Either way you should check Sean's myspace out. You can hear some of his music and see some pictures of his facial hair.
www.myspace.com/seanmichel
It's good to see rugged Christian men singing praise to their savior and honoring him by displaying the fulness of his facil-hair creativity. I might also mention that he did not sing "Friends are Friends Forever" or "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" but rather "God's Gonna Cut You Down." He cuts down the wicked - He does not cut beards.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Classes Now and This Spring
For all you nerds out there, here are the classes I am taking -
Almost finished with fall semester:
Seminar in Wittgenstein (Blue Book, P. I.)
French 100
Seminar in Shakespeare
Social and Poltical Philosophy (Greeks, Aquinas, Marx, Rousseau, Locke, Belloc, Solzhenitsyn)
Philosophy of Literature (Hawthorne, Dickinson, Camus)
Lined up for Spring 07:
Ancient Philosophy (Greek Tragedies, Plato, Aristotle)
Philosophy of Science (Aristotle, Kuhn, Einstein, Darwin, ?)
French 101
History of the Non-Western World
Seminar on Augustine's De Trinitate
Almost finished with fall semester:
Seminar in Wittgenstein (Blue Book, P. I.)
French 100
Seminar in Shakespeare
Social and Poltical Philosophy (Greeks, Aquinas, Marx, Rousseau, Locke, Belloc, Solzhenitsyn)
Philosophy of Literature (Hawthorne, Dickinson, Camus)
Lined up for Spring 07:
Ancient Philosophy (Greek Tragedies, Plato, Aristotle)
Philosophy of Science (Aristotle, Kuhn, Einstein, Darwin, ?)
French 101
History of the Non-Western World
Seminar on Augustine's De Trinitate
Friday, December 1, 2006
Trading Spouses
For those not familiar with this show, its basically a reality show where the moms from two different families switch places for a week. Like every other reality show, it is easy to see that the producers work hard to find two families who are as different as possible (after all, how can you create good TV if there isn’t any drama). Of course they edit the footage to create all kinds of false awkward silences and weird looks (It seems all of this would be easier and quicker with hired actors).
Anyway, when I happened to see the beginning of tonight’s episode my skin started to crawl. This was foreknowledge. I could feel the pain coming before the show had even kicked off. Two moms: The first was a conservative evangelical Christian, apparently Pentecostal, African-American, and mother of three beautiful mixed-race kids. The second was a young Caucasian woman who was a tattoo artist, roller-derby player, agnostic, and wife to a body-piercer.
I know it’s going to hurt. I feel it coming.
Just as I had foreseen, the first mom was outwardly disgusted at the appearance of the tattooed man who picked her up at the airport. She admitted that she thought he was a stoner (apparently she thinks that stoners are very likely to volunteer to have a camera crew in their crack houses). She was disgusted by this family’s tattoos, their home décor (mostly Asian religious symbols), and most of all - that they didn’t know “Jesus Christ who died and rose three days later” (Is there a different Jesus who rose after four days?).
Back at the her house, the second mom had to tag along as first-mom’s kids went to “Bible Study” which consisted of the standard overweight, goateed, balding (I mean cool shaved head), shiny-shirted youth pastor whose brilliant message was about the “dead people” walking around who didn’t know Jesus, after which he asked the kids to offer whatever amount of money they could, which they then proceeded to throw on the stage. They then gathered around the money (I kid you not) and sang praise songs going into fevers of adolescent emotional overflow.
Also, when first mom’s mother found out that there was an agnostic in her house with her grandchildren, Grandma felt it was her duty to proselytize the heathen with such effective apologetic techniques as “if you believe in everything, you don’t really believe in anything.” She then initiated a bible study for the next day in which she invited like-minded upper-class women from her church over to her daughter’s house so that they might, in effect, overwhelm second mom by shear force. (One of these theologically astute women compared the joy of God's people after being delivered from disaster to the feeling one might get if her husband pulled up to the house in a brand new Mercedes.)
How did the hip, tattooed, pierced, yoga-practicing, agnostic family respond to all this?
Come on… you know…
That’s right – they were respectful, kind, understanding, and friendly. And they were open to these peoples’ way of life - basically the opposite of the Christian family. By the way, the dad of the Christian family spent most of his time checking his fantasy football team online. It was nice to see that he, at least, exhibited all the virtues of a true evangelical Christian male - passivity and withdrawal.
It just hurts.
I’m not going to defend the agnostic family’s worldview because I don’t find it sufficient. But what would I have hoped to see from the Christians?
First – Try to be someone’s friend before you tell them they are going to hell! I am well aware that Christ talked about hell all the time – but it was in the context of healing the sick, feeding the poor, and demonstrating humility, compassion, strength, and empathy. People listened to him because of the way he acted and the things he did. The evidence that what we believe is true is not buried in some middle-eastern archeological dig. It is welcoming a stranger into our home. It is being generous with our compassion and attention. Prove that what you believe is worth believing in.
Second – Educate yourself about your own beliefs and theology enough to know how to address the questions and concerns of modern people from a biblical perspective. Why do Christians think they can hand someone the whole religion in a single conversation when it took the Apostles and Paul a whole Testament. None of the Christians in this show knew how to deal with the postmodern mindset that is almost a given in anyone under 40 today. This is perhaps more understandable for the Grandma than the women of the same age.
Empathy and Intelligence. Compassion and Wisdom. Is that too much to ask? They seem to be big parts of our religion. Why do we have such a hard time with this?
Condescension and Ignorance. Aloofness and Opinion. We are so good at those things.
I am so good at those things.
The other day a girl in my Wittgenstein class was blown away by the idea that Jesus is also God. She said she had been a Christian her whole life but didn’t know that Jesus was God. I had to fight the urge to pounce and give her a tract – perhaps kneel at the prof’s pedestal and lead her in prayer. But I was sensitive enough (due to my own immense failures in evangelism) to realize that you don’t explain the Trinity in the five minutes between Philosophy and French 101. A few comments were made to the effect that this was standard teaching of the Christian church and that it was something she should look into if she was unaware of it.
I calmed myself down, sat back, and marveled. This girl was in amazement. It was beautiful. It was beautiful because she was on to something. Like a kid who is just about to start peddling the bike on his own for the first time - there was possibility – there was revelation – there was hope. Why push the bike over before the kid has even gotten on?
The second part of the episode will be on Fox next Friday night. As a friend pointed out to me today, they will probably find someway to tie the whole thing up in a relativistic, tolerant, thoroughly humanistic fashion.
Anyway, when I happened to see the beginning of tonight’s episode my skin started to crawl. This was foreknowledge. I could feel the pain coming before the show had even kicked off. Two moms: The first was a conservative evangelical Christian, apparently Pentecostal, African-American, and mother of three beautiful mixed-race kids. The second was a young Caucasian woman who was a tattoo artist, roller-derby player, agnostic, and wife to a body-piercer.
I know it’s going to hurt. I feel it coming.
Just as I had foreseen, the first mom was outwardly disgusted at the appearance of the tattooed man who picked her up at the airport. She admitted that she thought he was a stoner (apparently she thinks that stoners are very likely to volunteer to have a camera crew in their crack houses). She was disgusted by this family’s tattoos, their home décor (mostly Asian religious symbols), and most of all - that they didn’t know “Jesus Christ who died and rose three days later” (Is there a different Jesus who rose after four days?).
Back at the her house, the second mom had to tag along as first-mom’s kids went to “Bible Study” which consisted of the standard overweight, goateed, balding (I mean cool shaved head), shiny-shirted youth pastor whose brilliant message was about the “dead people” walking around who didn’t know Jesus, after which he asked the kids to offer whatever amount of money they could, which they then proceeded to throw on the stage. They then gathered around the money (I kid you not) and sang praise songs going into fevers of adolescent emotional overflow.
Also, when first mom’s mother found out that there was an agnostic in her house with her grandchildren, Grandma felt it was her duty to proselytize the heathen with such effective apologetic techniques as “if you believe in everything, you don’t really believe in anything.” She then initiated a bible study for the next day in which she invited like-minded upper-class women from her church over to her daughter’s house so that they might, in effect, overwhelm second mom by shear force. (One of these theologically astute women compared the joy of God's people after being delivered from disaster to the feeling one might get if her husband pulled up to the house in a brand new Mercedes.)
How did the hip, tattooed, pierced, yoga-practicing, agnostic family respond to all this?
Come on… you know…
That’s right – they were respectful, kind, understanding, and friendly. And they were open to these peoples’ way of life - basically the opposite of the Christian family. By the way, the dad of the Christian family spent most of his time checking his fantasy football team online. It was nice to see that he, at least, exhibited all the virtues of a true evangelical Christian male - passivity and withdrawal.
It just hurts.
I’m not going to defend the agnostic family’s worldview because I don’t find it sufficient. But what would I have hoped to see from the Christians?
First – Try to be someone’s friend before you tell them they are going to hell! I am well aware that Christ talked about hell all the time – but it was in the context of healing the sick, feeding the poor, and demonstrating humility, compassion, strength, and empathy. People listened to him because of the way he acted and the things he did. The evidence that what we believe is true is not buried in some middle-eastern archeological dig. It is welcoming a stranger into our home. It is being generous with our compassion and attention. Prove that what you believe is worth believing in.
Second – Educate yourself about your own beliefs and theology enough to know how to address the questions and concerns of modern people from a biblical perspective. Why do Christians think they can hand someone the whole religion in a single conversation when it took the Apostles and Paul a whole Testament. None of the Christians in this show knew how to deal with the postmodern mindset that is almost a given in anyone under 40 today. This is perhaps more understandable for the Grandma than the women of the same age.
Empathy and Intelligence. Compassion and Wisdom. Is that too much to ask? They seem to be big parts of our religion. Why do we have such a hard time with this?
Condescension and Ignorance. Aloofness and Opinion. We are so good at those things.
I am so good at those things.
The other day a girl in my Wittgenstein class was blown away by the idea that Jesus is also God. She said she had been a Christian her whole life but didn’t know that Jesus was God. I had to fight the urge to pounce and give her a tract – perhaps kneel at the prof’s pedestal and lead her in prayer. But I was sensitive enough (due to my own immense failures in evangelism) to realize that you don’t explain the Trinity in the five minutes between Philosophy and French 101. A few comments were made to the effect that this was standard teaching of the Christian church and that it was something she should look into if she was unaware of it.
I calmed myself down, sat back, and marveled. This girl was in amazement. It was beautiful. It was beautiful because she was on to something. Like a kid who is just about to start peddling the bike on his own for the first time - there was possibility – there was revelation – there was hope. Why push the bike over before the kid has even gotten on?
The second part of the episode will be on Fox next Friday night. As a friend pointed out to me today, they will probably find someway to tie the whole thing up in a relativistic, tolerant, thoroughly humanistic fashion.
Hesitation
Do I really want to do this? Do I really want to "blog"?
The reasons I am hesitant:
These things often become gushy, confessional, and self-centered.
They usually display rattled off opinions rather than well thought-out expressions.
So I am not trying this so that I can "lacerate" in front of an audience.
I appreciate informed discourse and the chance to learn from others.
I hope this will allow me to stay in touch with friends on an intellectual level.
I hope this will be practice for more formal writing and thinking.
I hope that as I shore up my own ruins, I might help others do the same.
We shall see..
The reasons I am hesitant:
These things often become gushy, confessional, and self-centered.
They usually display rattled off opinions rather than well thought-out expressions.
So I am not trying this so that I can "lacerate" in front of an audience.
I appreciate informed discourse and the chance to learn from others.
I hope this will allow me to stay in touch with friends on an intellectual level.
I hope this will be practice for more formal writing and thinking.
I hope that as I shore up my own ruins, I might help others do the same.
We shall see..
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