real men talk about God

HAHAHAHA
This is both sad and hilarious.

Read the Newsweek Article

open forum with alister mcgrath, who makes dawkins look like child's play

You will be hard-pressed to find a more brilliant man than Alister McGrath. Last night was one of the most high-stimulating intellectual experiences in my life. He's one of the greatest scholars of our time.

The lecture is the big thing. You might be interested in the questions afterward, but he generally makes his point in the lecture prior to that. It's really, really intriguing. His focus is not necessarily on why Christianity is the answer, but rather a critique on Dawkins' The God Delusion, which is perhaps one of the most influential works of our time.

McGrath's book is called Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and I am already starting to read it. Let me know if you want to borrow mine, though I would encourage getting a copy for yourself (it's worthy of ownership, in my opinion).

Hopefully some of you will be able to make it to our next event. Enjoy!

Click here to download the lecture for your own listening enjoyment.

fasting

The computer has been the cause of most of my problems lately. I spend way too much time on it. Every time I get on, thinking I'll just quickly check my email and get on with life, I always get sucked into other activities, like wasting time in the iTunes Store or logging on to AIM or myspace or whatever. Enough is enough.

I'm not fasting from the computer indefinitely. But I will be off for the next two weeks. I need get myself back into reality again, because right now my reality has been hours in front of this screen. I'll spend time doing useful things, like doing homework, studying, practicing instruments, and reading. I need a break.

I've stocked up my iPod with tons of new music to go through, so that shouldn't be a problem. I actually may need to get on tomorrow to complete an assignment given by Mr. Shapiro (he makes us turn our things in to TurnItIn.com), but after that there's nothing on his schedule. Any other essays that pop up in other classes will just have to be written. If you absolutely must contact me (and you can't wait until you see me next), ask me for my cell phone number and I will give it to you. I'll probably check my email once or twice at school, when I deem it to be necessary.

So I bid you all goodbye for a while, but don't worry, you'll still get to see me in person like you usually do! I'm hoping this break will help me get a bit more balance into my life. I'm publicly announcing this so that there is some accountability involved, because if I just make a private resolution I'll have no problem breaking it. The only time I'm allowing myself to use a computer is at school, for newspaper/yearboook purposes. I'll post my reflections on October 29th. Ciao!

stephen colbert on the morning shows

miserable day

Today didn't go so well. I had high hopes of releasing the newspaper today, but it looks like it'll be at least another day or two before we can get this thing out there. Not too thrilled about that. It's not looking good in the sports department either, since niether of our sports columnists can write. I'm thinking we're just going to have to axe that section, because I can't really get a reliable news source about sports from anyone, the game times are always changing, and it seems like every time I ask about when something is or what the stats are, no one knows the answer. Who does?? Someone PLEASE tell me. That's how I feel sometimes.

We need someone to do sports who can write well and knows what they're talking about. Fat chance on that one, I guess.

I'm pleased with most of everything else, though. The articles we have are well-written, including a couple from our very own Sir GHC Think. We don't have any comic strips or poems, but we have a movie, music, and game review. I doubt the game review will be published, because it's a MA-rated game (Splinter Cell, I forget which one it is). Joe's working on a review for a cleaner game today, I think. Also, the music will have to be screened by Mrs. B. All this sensitivity is understandable, but I think it's an unnecessary hassle. If I select an album that has one single swear word in the entire thing, does that mean I can't do a review on it? It's an interesting dilemma, but that could go far in another direction that I don't really feel like talking about now.

I made a mistake in titling the Boys' Soccer section "Men Kicking Balls." In a moment of stupidity and boredom, along with the fact that the article itself was hastily written and had no title, I thought of it and chuckled to myself. Foolishly, I submitted it thus to Mrs. Bernson for proofing and was returned with the some scolding remarks. Mr. Davies even told Mrs. Bernson that whoever wrote that title should be put on probation. Ouch! I will admit that what I did was immature and unnecessary, but I also thought perhaps that people would take the joke. I didn't really think it would be published that way, but I stuck it in there mainly as a filler. I was wrong, but I think the teachers' judgement may have been a bit harsh.

I feel like Mr. Davies is bothered by me. Every time I'm around, he seems to treat me like I'm some immature complainer who whines about things to him all the time. I will admit that I can be quite critical about things, and often express that criticism loudly and vocally. I can't really be friendly or informal with him like I can with most teachers. Of course, I understand that he is my teacher and Principal, which merits a high degree of respect. But I think maybe he needs to loosen up.

I had a critical outburst today in our student council meeting when I adamantly opposed the idea of having Pajama day as part of our Spirit Week. To me, that day is boring, stupid, and uncreative. It's just an excuse for people to roll out of bed and come to school instead of having to come up with something wild and unique. We might as well have "Uniform Day" where everyone wears black shirts! Yay!

Anyway, I'm going to end this blog post and in doing so end what has been a very long day.

open forum with alister mcgrath

Anyone who reads this is invited to come to what is promising to be a great Open Forum. Alister McGrath is brilliant guy who is a Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford and has PhD in molecular biophysics. He'll talk about how science and faith interact, focusing mainly on his book Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life. He is an acclaimed lucid writer and compelling speaker.

He'll give a lecture, followed by an interview which will involve taking questions from the audience. This isn't really a church service, just an educational experience, and is great for those who are either unfamiliar with Christian faith and/or have scientific reasons not to believe. This would be a great opportunity to bring your friends (both Christian and non-Christian). While this isn't exactly going to be an evangelistic outreach, it will (hopefully) make us think a little more, as well as give a fresher insight into the Christian faith for those who have misconceptions of it. Christians will be greatly benefitted by this as well. Most of the time, people who don't go to church (or don't like to go to church) attend these forums.

It'll be on Sunday, October 22 (two weeks from now) at 7 pm, and usually doesn't go past 9. The location is the Russian Center (2460 Sutter St., between Divis and Broderick). I'm sure I'll see ALL of you there ;)

Click here to check out the Open Forum website.

blogger beta

On a completely different note, I've switched my blog over to Blogger beta today. The Blogger navbar is different, and seems to be working only when it feels like doing so, though once I caught it displaying the top row of my Flickr badge. Weird.

The new features in Blogger beta are very cool. My favorite is the instant and automatic publishing. Gone are the days where you have to remember to republish after you change so much as a character of code on your template! Gone are the waits as the percentage uploaded slowly increases. Now, the uploads are instantaneous, and it automatically saves changes you make to your template or settings without having to go through the republishing process. There are also some new template customization tools (which I haven't used, because I've worked too long on mine) that seem pretty cool and could potentially be useful. Also, the user interface is just slightly different, and a bit more intuitive in my opinion. If you want to make the transfer, go to the Blogger beta homepage, beta.blogger.com. The only catch is that some third parties won't be able to integrate with the beta (Flickr, Digg (?), etc), along with the usual quirks and oddities that are to be expected with any beta.

deficiencies

Deficient. I used this word to describe the limiting factor in a chemical equation today. Mr. Ogden has been trying to explain some of these concepts to us for days, and today some things clicked for me. In a gasp of discovery, I exclaimed "So the limiting factor is the one that's deficient!" Mr. Ogden looked quizzical, and responded saying "I guess saying that 'it's the number that runs out first' is too simple for you!" Chuckles and giggles.

Rachelle told me that I'm more of an artistic person than Mathematical or logical. I think she's right. Some words are just fit better in situations like the one in chemistry. If Mr. Ogden had used the word "deficient" early on to describe a limiting factor, I probably would have caught on earlier. "The number that runs out first" is a very general expression (especially in math).

Speaking of deficiencies, how about that message in chapel today? I literally shuttered with disbelief at the climax of the sermon, when I distinctly remember Pastor Markham--while discussing the problems Christians have when they are stuck in a slum of no motivation or desire to grow--telling us that "the only person who can change that is YOU! Are YOU up for the challenge?" You can say that in a synagogue, in a mosque, in a temple, or whatever religious edifice you can think of. The heart of the message we heard today was "try harder, REALLY focus on God, be good, and you'll start to get better." No pastor, teacher, or preacher should EVER deliver a message without relating it to the gospel that makes Christianity unique and true. Otherwise, it is simply not a Christian message. What we heard today was not a Christian message. Plenty of other religions teach you to try harder and do better and serve a god. And that's exactly what we learned today. Is anyone else bothered by this?

The more we talk about how we need to improve ourselves, the farther we drift from Christianity. The more we talk about our need for God's grace as the driving force in growth, the closer we come to Christianity.

People know they're supposed to be good. They get it.

People don't know why, and they have a twisted view of how (by our own efforts).

I'm not saying that we have absolutely no responisibility in our growth. But I am saying that we are hopeless unless we realize the why and the how.

WHY: because I love God. He has filled me with thankfulness and a desire to embrace my freedom and live life as he would have me live it: to the fullest. It's not because I'm under some kind of obligatory contract.

HOW: by His sustaining grace, and by daily recognizing my need for it. Not by relying on my own efforts to get me through the day, or by weighing my own performance with God's standards, but by daily seeing that righteousness comes not from me but from God.

This was not preached in our message today. Pastor Markham, though undoubtedly a Christian himself, did not preach a Christian message. He gave us a pep talk on how to be moral.

I pray that God will send wise speakers our way, who teach not only the moral implications of the law but also the application of the gospel of grace to that law.

new sidebar addition

Just thought I'd draw your attention to the new sidebar addition, "This Week's Sermon". I'll try to make sure I update it every week, and would encourage anyone to listen. Right now we're in a series on the Apostle's Creed. Enjoy! Feel free to comment if you feel the need to do so.