why are we hiding? continued

Mr. Quiring--Loud applause and a resounding AMEN!!!! You're not blind to the problem at all, and I'm very glad that you're praying about it and seek to fix it.

Once again, you're right in saying that I was making a generalization about "everyone" pretending to be a Christian, but I would definitely say with confidence (and sadness) that most are like that. Yet what grieves me even more is that the fault lies with us. The fault lies with the actual Christians at our school, including myself.

Fixing this problem will require a radical change in our approach. We can't have a speaker come in and just talk about how to be a good person. It is absolutely imperative that we apply the gospel to all that we teach, and explain the significance of God's grace as it applies to every day of our lives, and not just the moment we are saved.

In fact, we have to go back to basics. Most people I have talked to have no reason to believe in God, because they have not been presented with any sort of argument for his existence (other than the shaky argument that "all of this creation couldn't possibly have come together by chance!" The fact is that, from a logical perspective, it very well could have, even if the odds are highly against it.)

Most of the non-Christians at our school (the number which is, by the way, becoming increasingly populous as people are starting to get tired of the charade) say that they don't need religion to be a good person. After all, there are plenty of good Christians, and there are plenty of good Atheists; just as there are plenty of mean, bad Christians, and many mean, bad Atheists. So what's the difference? Why should they have to practice any religion? They know that they don't need a religion in order to be a good person.

And that's a legitimate, true argument. But what they're missing is the fact that Christianity is not a religion, and a Christian is not someone who has it all together. In fact, it's quite the opposite. A Christian is not only someone who doesn't have it all together, but they acknowledge this fact and rely on God's grace for their validation. Christianity isn't about being a good person. It's about knowing that you're a hopeless, screwed up, broken, bad person.

In the words of Flannery O'Connor, the best way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin.

So the problem in our teaching emphasis is twofold:

-People don't understand the gospel.
-People don't have any reason to believe in the existence of God.

We also need to trash the idea that some are Christians but they're "just not committed." Jesus says that you cannot serve two masters. Either you're in, or you're out. Those who claim to be Christians but have not been changed by the Holy Spirit are not Christians. The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These attributes are defining characteristics of the work of the Holy Spirit. Faith without works is nothing. But works are no obligation. Logically, works are no longer required of us after we are saved, since we are indeed saved by grace. However, the apostle Paul makes it clear that those who truly experience a rebirth in Christ will not only be saved, but will be filled with a desire to do what is pleasing and right in God's sight. They will not be judged by these actions, but the desire to do them will be the default drive. Therefore Christians will not always get it right, but they will always be striving toward a Christlike character. Again, it's NOT an obligation. Becoming a Christian doesn't REQUIRE good works. Rather, it induces them. Knowing that we are saved by grace, we are spurred on to spread it to those who are just as deserving of it as we are.

The beautiful thing about Christianity is that we are not only more screwed up and helpless than we could ever imagine, but we have more hope than we could ever imagine. God doesn't judge us by our performance, or how "good" we are. He is grieved by our rebellion, but his love for us is unconditional, and we are justified in his sight by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. That's why when a Christian fails, he feels grieved in his heart, because the Holy Spirit that reigns in him is grieved. But a Christian has no need for guilt! Even on days when we feel like we've screwed everything up, God's grace is the same.

To quote Jerry Bridges yet again, "Our worst days are never so bad that we are beyond the reach of God's grace, and our best days are never so good that we are beyond the need of God's grace."

The sooner we start incorporating that into our teachings, the sooner people get a better understanding of what Christianity is really about. Right now, there's plenty of discussion on how to "avoid Satan's attacks" and how to live a holy life. And that's a perfectly valid topic! But it can't end there. Plenty of religions teach fidelity to God and living good lives. But Christianity alone teaches that our performance is not what validates us; it is solely the grace of God and the work of his Son Jesus Christ on our behalf.

I have great, great respect for those of you who are stepping out, whether you are a Christian or not, and establishing your honest, true beliefs. I'd rather have a school full of honest Atheists than faking Christians.

The Christians at our school must encourage and respect people who admit that they don't share our beliefs. Pray for them, love them, and treat them with the same dignity you would with any of your friends. Though we, as Christians, have a hope in Christ Jesus, we are no more deserving of it than anyone else. As I have said before, I'm no more deserving of God's grace than the prostitute on the street corner. With that in mind, who am I to treat my friends any differently? I'm not a Christian person because I'm a good person. I'm a Christian person because I'm a sinner. When we approach our salvation in this way (the correct way), we can level with those around us, and they can more easily approach us with questions and know that we'll respect them. It's very important that we establish ourselves as down-to-earth, kind people.

To those of you who are not Christians, or who are unsure of your beliefs, don't be afraid to question! If you hear something and have a problem with it, talk to someone about it! Argue against it! Puzzle your friends and peers! Make us THINK!! Don't be afraid to be skeptical of and honest about Christianity. If the person you ask for help from is really a Christian, they will respond with respect and will earnestly seek out the answer to your question if they don't know it themselves. When we ask questions, we get answers. So ask questions!! Voice your opinion! Go against the norm! If a speaker asks those who are Christians to stand up in chapel (God forbid) and you don't necessarily feel comfortable doing so, DON'T DO IT! Stay seated. Those who remain seated in those situations will actually make a louder statement than those who stand. It's ironic how that works.

I will pray for the Christians at our school, that God will be with them in puzzling situations, and I will also pray for those who are not Christians, that God will work in them and bring about a new life, and make known to them his life-giving gospel of Grace. And I will pray for those in leadership at our school, that God will daily use them to accomplish his purpose, and that they will clearly and effectively communicate the message of the good news to everyone in their lives.

Grace and Peace be with you all.

why are we hiding?

Some of you may remember Danielle Cardona's blog post a while back, when she was still a senior at Alma Heights (*sniff*). I copied it over to my blog for your reading enjoyment/commenting, and some of you (Mr. Quiring and Chris, who acknowledged that he was a godless heathen :P) shared your thoughts on it. Months later, here I am addressing it again. Why? Because as I attend school this year, I see more and more clearly what Danielle was talking about. Perhaps it's because I'm an upper-classman, or maybe I've just been a little naive this whole time. But it's a huge, huge problem at our school. People are hiding. Everyone pretends to be a Christian and does whatever they need to do in order to get by. Why would they be driven to pretend all the time?

They hide because of fear of judgment, and rightly so. If one is caught doing something wrong, three things will happen:

1. The whole school will know about it.
2. The whole school will develop an opinion of that person based on what they heard.
3. The faculty will confront/discipline them and continue to do so until they appear to have changed their ways.

I would venture to say that in most cases, rather than actually correct the problem, the person merely shuts down their real self and puts on a mask of ideal behavior while at school, and lives their normal lives when they're outside of school or distanced from a teacher. Certainly there are those who have experienced a genuine change by God's grace and live their daily lives in the genuine, healthy pursuit of holiness.

Then there are those who actually put on the disguise outside of school. They "act Christian" everywhere, at home, at school, at church. But they don't know why they do it, and often get burned out. They're just being good because every speaker, teacher, and authority figure tells them to. They follow God because their parents (or pastor, or teachers) said so. They have fallen into a pattern of Pharisee-ism, and have no meaning in their life. Most often, they have highly emotional experiences during worship or dimly-lighted altar calls, but require a boost of energy every now and then.

Though these people are different, they share two things in common. They are not Christians, and they do not have a proper understanding of the gospel and how it applies to their daily lives.

People have often asked this question: "If we are saved by grace, why are we obligated to do good works, and why is faith validated by our good works?" That's a very good question to which they receive no answer. They either ignore it, or they conclude that the two are noncohesive and therefore decide to go with the Gnostic theory that to God, it doesn't matter what we do, because we're saved by grace. This question is EXTREMELY important, perhaps the most important question to be asked of the entire Christian faith, and yet it is NEVER addressed.

Why is it never addressed? Because the people in authority have given this problem the wrong diagnosis. They think it's because they aren't in a practice of regularly checking themselves and seeking accountability with others. In short, people are just being lazy and uncaring about their faith, and they need to "snap out of it!" Is this really going to solve anything, or is it only going to drive us further down the same hole? People understand that they're supposed to be good. They get it. They don't get why they have to be good. And since no one talks about that, they dismiss it and draw their own conclusions.

It's time for us to wake up. It's time to see the root of this problem, which is not just "spiritual laziness".

In Romans 6, Paul outlines the dilemma of grace vs. works in detail:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sinÂbecause anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

In The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges discusses this passage in great detail, and I would highly recommend reading what he says about it. According to this passage, there is certainly the idea that we need to offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness and not wickedness, but with the undercurrent of grace. Grace frees us from the bondage of sin and allows us to say "no" to it. It gives us freedom to live life to the fullest, to say no to that which is harmful, and yes to that which is pleasing to God. When one fully understands the gospel of grace and the impact of it on his life, he automatically receives the ability to live a life full of genuine desire to grow in Christ. Rather than trading in the burden of sin and picking up the burden of trying to be good all the time, this passage depticts it as trading in the burden of sin for the freedom of being able to abstain from it. By God's grace, we are able to live Christian lives. Certainly, we don't automatically become perfect, and we will always struggle with sin in our lives as long as we are on this earth. And that's exactly why there's no need to hide from it!

You see, when we realize that grace is what defines us, we see that we are on the same level as everyone else. Christians, though free from the dominion of Sin, still struggle with it. Our righteousness, therefore, is not found in ourselves, but solely in Christ's work on our behalf. When Christians begin to see that they are no more righteous than the prostitute on the street corner, he begins to level with them, to love them, to care about them, and not to judge them. When we stop putting on our perfect masks every day to school and come as we are, without judging others for doing so, we are truly experiencing the freedom that results from the undercurrent of God's grace. When people realize that they are define by grace, they can come out of hiding. They can be themselves: imperfect, broken, often stumbling, but reliant on God's grace for their justification, and not their own deeds.

Now, certainly, when we are filled with this grace, we are equally filled with the desire to do better. So while we are totally honest with ourselves and others, we also strive to lift each other up and encourage each other in our struggles. There's a big difference between that and what's actually going on in the present at our school.

"All our efforts to teach godly living and spiritual maturity to others must be grounded in grace. If we fail to teach that discipline is by grace, people will assume, as I did, that it is by performance." Those are the words of Jerry Bridges.

I'm always praying for Alma Heights, and for the people who go there. Ultimately, God is the one who changes people, who awakens them to the truth of his gospel, and strengthens them in their relationship with him. I pray that he will have mercy on me and on everyone else. I myself am not above judging others by their imperfect actions. I am no more worthy of God's grace than anyone around me.

To wrap this up, I will give an example of judgment that occurs all the time at our school. The Wednesday before last, the speaker asked all those who were willing to stand up for Jesus to stand where they were. Why did he do this? Most people didn't stand up because they wanted to. They stood up because of peer pressure, and because they would be judged if they didn't. Asking people to stand up or raise their hands as a sign of belief is a horrible practice that must be stopped. We don't need to be polled on our fidelity.

For the sake of not increasing this already lengthy post, I will stop here. This problem can be expanded and disputed in many more branches of thought, and there are certainly more questions to be addressed. I do feel, however, that what I mentioned above is the root of the issue. I would like to hear what you all have to say, whether it be agreement or disagreement, and perhaps we can establish some kind of direction in this argument. To those of you who are Christians, I ask that you please keep Alma Heights in your prayers.

iPod--full review

So yesterday I got the newly-updated 5th generation 80 GB black iPod, and so far I really like it.

First of all, it looks amazing. The black iPod is one of the coolest-looking things ever. Apple really takes the cake on this one. The white iPod is good-looking, but the black (in my opinion) is beyond words. The screen is dazzling. It comes automatically set to halfway brightness, and you can raise and lower it as you please. It hurts my eyes when the brighness is all the way up, so I keep it halfway. I'm sure the brightness will come in handy in situations with more light.

The feel is nice. The thickness of the 80 GB is a good, solid thickness. I love the classic, flat front surface. The headphone jack is in an odd position (over to the right), and I don't really know if I like it there. It certainly looks cool, but I have to actually hold the iPod a bit more firmly when inserting my headphones, unlike before when I could just stick them in. The clickwheel is also a little bit awkward, since it's slightly smaller than previous clickwheels, and the center button is flat instead of raised. I can't really feel my way around it as easily, and it really made me see how much I used that raised center button as a reference point. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. The clicking response is good, though the forward skip button's click is duller and softer than the other four controls. Not a major setback though.

The song transfer rate is significantly slower than my previous iPods. It took almost all night for my iPod to transfer my 3607-song library (and a few short videos) onto itself. I haven't put any pictures on there, as I don't see any point in doing so (I never really utilized that feature on my old one). So that's a bit of a pain.

The new software is pretty cool. I like the letter scrolling feature, though it's a bit jumpy. The iPod is generally slower than the previous generations. The stopwatch works well, and the world clocks are pretty cool too. The search is pretty effective, though it may not be all that useful, as it takes a little while to punch it in. The screen lock feature is great, and will probably actually come in handy for me in my effort to keep my pesky siblings from using it when I'm not around.

The video playback is, of course, spectacular. Again, the screen is what makes it. It's really clear, crisp, and very comfortable to stare at for long periods of time. The battery life is really great, and is hardly effected playing music with no backlight (my backlight timer is set to 2 seconds). The video tends to suck it up a bit, although playing video on this iPod takes about the same amount of charge as music did in my previous iPod. So it's all good.

Finally, and most importantly, the sound quality is better than ever. My last iPod had a problem with music that had deep, resounding bass (usually classical pieces), causing a weird, annoying, cloudy buzz. It's hard to describe. But it was annoying. This one, however, plays these same songs beautifully and clearly. The gapless playback is truly gapless, might I add. This is especially convenient for classical pieces and recordings of live performances. It's come a long way from the tinny, shallow sound of the 3rd Generation iPod.

I'm happy with my purchase. I think I'll be sticking this one for a few years, just as long as it sticks with me. You'll all get acquainted with it on Monday, I'm sure:).

ipod...arrived!

It arrived today in the mail, and is currently importing my iTunes Library. It's been updating for the past three hours, and has hardly gotten to the 1/3 mark. This'll have to be an overnight type of thing. I'll post pictures later when it's up and running. I can tell you that it looks beautiful and that I can hardly wait to start using it.

new ipod...coming soon...

I'm so excited that I just had to post about it. I just ordered an 80 GB black iPod. It's going to be awesome. I sold my palm pilot AND my old iPod to come up with the funds for it. The only reason I'm getting a new iPod is because I ran out of space on the old one...hopefully, I'll never have to buy a new iPod ever again!! Hehehe yeah right.



Nothing says macho like The Godfather playing on a black 80 GB iPod. Of course, Apple has to get their act together and give us a bit more of a selection (somehow I'm not too keen on seeing the latest "Brother Bear.")

christian college??

LOL!

http://www.cafepress.com/larknews.23099703

I'm SO wearing that shirt next spring.

my current stream of consciousness

There's a difference between what we want and what is wise. That's a principle I'm trying to force myself to think about these days. Yearbook has been a continual frustration as far as computer delays, and the delay (as I predicted) was set even later (until next Tuesday "at the latest"...which means it will be Tuesday and no sooner, though perhaps later). Anyway, I understand the complicated process of finances/picking out the right computers, and am pleased that we're getting the Core 2 Duo chips. I'm sure it'll all be worth the wait.

My only concern is the newspaper. I've received mixed reports about whether or not we (the newspaper) will actually be able to use one of the Macs. Mrs. Bernson informed me that the newspaper would probably be using the old PC's with new processors, and linux. The other day, though, Mr. Boyd asked me of my preference in tools to make the newspaper, and I told him honestly, "Pages." Pages, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is great for desiging cool documents, but still a step behind Microsoft Word as far as practicality. The formatting is a little weird, and complicated to customize. As you can probably imagine, writing a paper with a teacher's specific standards can become a frustrating process. Microsoft Word is still better for the boring stuff :). But Pages would be perfect for making a good-looking, well-put-together Newspaper. Mr. Boyd seemed to respond positively, and confirmed with me that he would have to buy iWork. Do we get a Mac? I don't know.

I spoke with my dad the other day, and put together a keynote presentation for him filled with reasons to get a Macbook Pro. Powerschool makes everything much more computer-based, and I don't know how I could bear trying to piece together a newspaper on something like OpenOffice. In other words, if we don't get to use the Macs, I'll have a good reason to get a laptop.

But I'm still hesitant. If I buy one now, it'll have to last me a while. I won't get a new computer for college, which means I'll enter college with good, but below-the-standard technology. I think I would like it better if I waited until then to get the latest, greatest technology. Another factor is that if I bought it now, it would all come out of my pocket. My dad would grant me the money I need now, but I would make payments to him every month (basically everything I make), for the next 8 months minimum, according to my calculations. I'd not only get a good computer now and possibly regret it later, but I would also lose a lot of my independence, since I would have little to no spending money. If I waited for the end of Senior Year, my parents and grandparents and maybe some others would band together and buy me the greatest configuration I could ever want as my graduation present. And by then, who can fathom what that might be?

So I face this decision with hope, but with doubt. Aside from yearbook, it would be incrediby convenient to carry my computer with me in my bag and have the ability to access it at any moment. Not to mention My Dad's still thinking about it, so it's not even a definite possibility. I think, though, that it's very likely that it will be. It's a hard decision.

On a different note, today was an interesting day for me. It started off well; Katie and I agreed to share history outlines, which has taken a huge workload off for both of us. In History, Mr. Shapiro talked about the Puritans' doctrine and theology, and we delved into reformed theology, which of course teaches the Biblical principles of predestination. It was an interesting experience: I was at Alma Heights, learning reformed theology in History class. Mr. Shapiro tried to be unopinionated about it, simply trying to teach us what the Puritans believed and set in place for generations, but he spoke of it as if it were a common theological belief (which it is, but not in the Alma Heights context, of course).

The irony of it is that we learned better theology in History class than we did in Bible class:) Bogdan, who has been quite loud lately, contributed to our discussion of the question, "Why did God make us?" He immediately brought up the idea that God had the desire to create beings that actually wanted to love Him, so he gave them a free will so that they could choose him. Just this morning, Mr. Shapiro had told us that our sinful nature controls and dominates us, leaving it up to God to free us from it. But no one seemed to notice this apparent contradiction in teaching.

Bogdan's observation (to which Mrs. Travis heartily agreed, along with most of the class) has a critical error. It places God in a place of need. God needs us to love him. Poor God! Most people don't love him!! I think he needs a hug. A small one, since most people would rather slug him in the face.

Is God really that naive? Did he really think that, given the option, we would choose him over the attractive sinful pleasures of the world? I think he knows better. I think he knows that our state is corrupt and unfixable, except by his own power. Originally, when all was perfect, Adam and Eve were made to glorify him and bask in his creation. He created them for his own enjoyment, yet is wasn't just simply that. It was relationship.

I would agree with someone that God desires a relationship with his creation. But I would disagree with those who think God is pitiful enough to leave that decision up to us. We're in a more screwed-up state than we even know. We are like dogs who return to their own vomit, as the Proverbs say, constantly returning to our sin. The sway of the entire scriptures is that we can't do it ourselves, that we continue to mess up, and that we are born with this tendency. Our tendency imprisons us, it reigns in us until God frees us from it and frees us from its bondage. In short, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Of course, we continue to struggle with sin. The difference is that we have the ability to override our sinful nature, thanks to God's empowering of us to do so. We actually have the ability to say "no" to our sinful desires. Someone without God sins even when he intends to do good, since the very act of good is performed under the motivation of self-promotion. And self-promotion is not only selfish, but futile. In Isaiah, even our good deeds are described as "filthy rags" compared to the holiness God requires from us. The act of doing good for the purpose of somehow making ourselves legitimate is the opposite teaching of the gospel. Can a creation so corrupted and chained really free itself from it's terrible curse? The Bible strongly emphasises that we cannot, but with equal emphasis tells us of the hope we have in a merciful God of grace. That, to me, paints a much more beautiful picture than that of a needy God hoping his creation will pick him.

I didn't quite intend to get in-depth theologically with that, but there you go. It's been a long time since I wrote a post this long, and that's probably a good thing. Hasta luego.

minor change

Sorry for yet another change in address. My welcome page idea was completely useless, because it wouldn't work on Xanga or Myspace. That, and I ended up giving people my actual blog address anyway, and got tired of saying "sensesay1." It's back to sensesay.blogspot.com. Change your RSS feeds! And rest assured that no further changes will be made to my blog url.

potential yearbook cover

fade to color
Originally uploaded by hijohnmark.

Eh? Eh? It's a work in progress, and this is merely a concept, but it's the general theme wer'e going for. We'll probably end up using a different photo, but I'd really like the dominant color to be blue. It's a bold, refreshing color that I really like. We're going for a classy, clean, simple look this year. Our set theme is "perception: the way we see it." Comments? Questions?

Other concepts can be found here.

blue coconut

This is an awesome app for Mac users.

Basically, it allows you to download music from shared libraries, which means I can download music straight from my Dad's computer, without having to ask him to burn me a CD (or even having to ask his permission:). No more wasted CD's, no more tracks burned in the wrong order (which seems to happen almost every time he burns me a CD in one way or another). Just a quick (very quick) download, and that's it. It even downloads the album art. A screenshot for you:



I'm sure there's a windows equivalent to this program, and if you can find one, see if it works. Do you know what this means??? This means you can sit in an airport or a Starbucks and download music from anyone's computer that happens to be running iTunes, as long as it's not purchased from iTunes (unfortunately, it doesn't remove the protection from Music Library files--JHYMN needs to get their act together!!). I can easily see this program put to even more illegal use, since technically the iTunes Music Store is like one big library...I think you catch my drift.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with Shared Libraries on iTunes, an excerpt from Wikipedia should be sufficiently informative:

iTunes Library songs can be shared over a local network using Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous) – Apple's implementation of the Zeroconf (zero configuration required) open network standard – which allows shared lists of songs within the same subnet to be automatically detected. When a song is shared, iTunes can stream the song but won't save it on the local hard drive, in order to prevent unauthorized copying. Songs in Protected AAC format can also be accessed but authentication is required. A maximum of five users may connect to a single user every 24 hours.

Originally with iTunes 4.0, users could freely access shared music anywhere over the Internet, in addition to one's own subnet, by specifying IP addresses of remote shared song libraries. Apple quickly removed this feature with version 4.0.1, claiming that users were violating the End User License Agreement.

Music sharing uses the Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP), created by Apple for this purpose.[10] DAAP has been reverse-engineered and is now used to stream playlists from non-Apple software.

To share your library and use other shared libraries, simply go to the "Sharing" tab in the iTunes preferences and select "Look for shared music" and "Share my music." Then you're set! Make sure everyone in your house does the same, that way you can share with everyone on your network. If you want to download something, all you do is select it/them, Blue Coconut shows what you've selected, and then you click the "download" button. That's it. It adds them to your Library automatically when they're done downloading.

It's a beta, so it still has a few quirks, but it gets the job done. To download Blue Coconut or read more about it, go to http://husk.org/apps/blue_coconut/beta.html.