|
[05 Feb 2006|10:05pm] |
|
So Denmark is thinking of punishing the newspaper that printed the cartoons with blasphemy. What, is Denmark going to become an Islamic state, punishing anyone who is blasphemous against Islam? Absolutely ridiculous.
|
|
|
[25 Jan 2006|10:38pm] |
|
I was watching the CBC today, and they showed Harper walking his two small children to school. When they reached the gates, the two children turned around to face their father- this is the part where the kids will usually get a hug or a kiss goodbye. What does Harper do? He shakes both of their hands! LOL. I have never heard of a parent shaking hands with their kids, as if they have completed a business transaction. I know he's socially conservative, but C'MON!
|
|
|
[08 Jan 2006|01:14am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 tired |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Thinking about you- Radiohead |
] |
I just don't like politics these days. I don't like any of the parties. I dislike the Liberals more than the others, but I don't even know which political system I like in theory at this point, let alone which party I like in practise. Oy. I have switched from socialist to capitalist. .. now I think I'm switching to Leave me the Heck Alone. I want to move out in isolation where I don't have to hear about politics ever again.
(Except I might miss it just a teensy bit . . . I guess it is mildly entertaining, when it isn't frustrating and confusing)
|
|
|
[21 Oct 2005|09:06pm] |
|
Does Jesus actually say that He is the son of God? All I have seen him say is He is the Son of Man. Do any of the prophets actually say that the Messiah will be the son of God?
|
|
| I don't understand how it is possible to not fall in love with the psalms- they are so healing |
[19 Oct 2005|10:31pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 sad |
] |
Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
|
|
|
[03 Sep 2005|08:28pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 crazy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Nuisance- John Reuben & Matt Theisen |
] |
After the huge gas price hikes (and with the news that it's only going to get worse), my parents decided maybe it's time to buy a truck and sell our sensible gas- efficient car. If only it made any sense at all. Crazy Albertan ambitions.
|
|
| From Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias |
[30 Aug 2005|11:40am] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Foreign Language- Anberlin |
] |
Some years ago, I was having dinner with a few scholars, most of whom were scientists. [...] At one point, our discussion veered into the conflict between naturalism's starting point- nature and nature alone- and supernaturalism's starting point, which is that God is the only sufficient explanation for our origin.
I asked them a couple of questions. "If the Big Bang were indeed where it all began, which one can fairly well grant, at least to this point in science, may I ask what preceded the Big Bang?" Their answer, which I had anticipated, was that the universe was shrunk down to a singularity.
I pursued, "But isn't it correct that a singularity as defined by science is a point at which all the laws of physics break down?"
"That is correct," was the answer.
"Then, technically, your starting point isn't scientific either."
There was silence, and their expressions betrayed the scurrying mental searches for an escape hatch. But I had yet another question.
I asked if they agreed that when a mechanistic view of the universe had held sway, thinkers like Hume had chided philosphers for taking the principle of causality and applying it to a philosophical argument for the existence of God. Causality, he warned, could not be extrapolated from science to philosophy.
"Now," I added, "when quantum theory holds sway, randomness in the subatomic world is made a basis for randomness in life. Are you not making the very same extrapolation you warned us against?"
Again, there was silence and then one man said with a smile, "We scientists do seem to retain sovereignty over what we allow to be transferred to philosophy and what we don't."
[...]Chandra Wickramasinghe, professor of applied mathematics at the Univerity of Cardiff, Wales, reminded his readers that the statistical probability of forming even a single enzyme, the building block of the gene, which is in turn the building block of the cell, is 1 in 10 to the power of 40 000. The translation of that figure is that it would require more attempts for the formation of one enzyme than there are atoms in all the stars of all the galaxies in the entire known universe.
So "impossible" is this event that Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize winning scientist who helped crack the code of human DNA, said it is "almost a miracle."
In short, this forces one to wonder who has to have more faith.
|
|
| The softwood lumber dispute is getting interesting |
[24 Aug 2005|11:39am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 amused |
] |
It looks like Canada is finally willing to defend ourselves in the softwood lumber disputes. After realizing that crying to NAFTA and the WTO wasn't getting us anywhere, the government has decided to take the matter into their own hands.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale, Industry Minister David Emerson and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said the government plans to impose penalties on some U.S. imports as soon as it is determined what retaliatory tariffs will be most effective as a wake-up call to the United States.
"Any means to get their attention as far, as I am concerned, would be fair at this time," Pettigrew said .
I just wonder which goods they will impose the tarrifs on, and what this will start. Who knows, maybe this will be the end of NAFTA! Or maybe I'm being a bit dramatic ;)
|
|
| Monday night, contemplating the origins of evil (as usual) |
[22 Aug 2005|10:14pm] |
The service yesterday really got me thinking about evil. The pastor started with a light hearted story about how a few weeks ago he was preparing for a bible study, but right before it started he spilled all the juice and coffee all over himself. He blamed this on "evil spirits," and continued on about how *everything* that happens, no matter how coincidental it may seem, is either evil or good. My initial reaction was "This is the biggest BS I have ever heard
This brings me to my first question: how much in life do you think is chance? I know one kid who says there is no such thing as luck, and *nothing* is chance, even spilling juice on yourself as my pastor did in his story.
My second question: if an opportunity presents itself which is bad in nature (in other words temptation), is it an evil spirit or is it simply just whatever this temptation is at face value, and is only made sinful by man's sinful nature?
Which leads to my next question! Man was given God's likeness, and with that the desire to do God's will. However, man also has a sinful nature which is where my question comes in. If man is programmed to yearn for righteousness, what is it that causes man to be tempted by evil? Is it simply sinful nature winning over God's image in us? (The Bible claims this is impossible.)Or must there be a disturbing force which causes man to reject his desire to be good?
It doesn't make sense that man's sinful nature is solely to blame for sin. If I sin by fighting with my father, this has not benefited me at all. There is no reason to sin in this way, because fighting obviously leaves me feeling pretty low. I have in no way gained or benefitted from this sin, so does it make any sense that my human nature is what provoked me to sin in this way?
If not, there must have been a tempting force at work, or an "evil spirit" (really just a nice way of saying Satan.) I also think there is a lot of coincidence too. Tripping and getting a bruise isn't an evil spirit.
So what do you think? Do "evil spirits" exist? How prevalant is Satan in our lives, and how much is Satan, and how much does our sinful nature simply create sin? Give me evidence from real life, or give me logic, or Bible verses, just give me your thoughts.
[edit] look at this quote, and you will see why I am so confused! Note the major contradiction within this quote, which is a very common viewpoint: "Evil is a willful turning away from God, but evil is generated by beings, which are inherently good."
How is evil generated by good? Doesn't there have to be something to make good turn evil? But then what about Lucifer! Gah!
|
|
| So what do you think of Jean now? |
[16 Aug 2005|09:50pm] |
It appears that Michaelle Jean may have some explaining to do even before she becomes our Governor General. Already, people were skeptical because of her dual citizenship, and her ties to the CBC. If anyone voiced concern over this, they were without a doubt labelled racist and the debate was closed at that. Now, I don't think Liberals can get away with playing the racist card. Jean's separtist past has now been revealed to the public. You can read about it here:
http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=b71f39b9-ce83-43ed-bee2-d6d1043d7c06
I'm sure many people would like to hear her side of the story. That's a fair thing to ask, is it not? But for some reason, Jean does not want to speak about it until after she is sworn in as GG. Hmm, that isn't suspicious at all. No need for eyebrow raising. Riiight.
I say Jean gets the boot. Let's get an old Albertan WASP in for our next GG, cowboy hat and all. I'm sick of trying to find someone who is a visible minority, a woman, a francophone, and whatever other minority group they can think of. Let's have someone from the west. Let's not do the minority grab, because it is painfully see through. But most importantly, let's scrap Jean. It is *not* racist to second guess a public figure with a sketchy past just because they are a minority. That is also discrimination.
|
|
| After an amazing week of being a leader at bible camp, I found myself at a satanic metal concert |
[29 Jul 2005|07:35pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 hopeful |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
not satanic music (anymore) |
] |
The title sums it up pretty well. Now for the details. Last Sunday, there was an announcement during the service that there were not enough leaders for our church's bible camp, which was supposed to start the next day. Being that my parents were out of town (and therefore not able to object), I offered to volunteer my time. Before I knew it, I was leading a group of 10 kids, one of which was behaviour disordered, through an amazing week of camp. The church field was set up with rows of army tents, forming a marketplace similar to one which would have existed in Israel in the time of Jesus. Each tent had a different "shop", for example carpentry, where the kids would get to saw and hammer and make dreidels and learn about how Jesus was a carpenter, or for another example, basket weaving, where the kids would weave tiny baskets and learn about how Moses was found in a basket on the river. Besides the marketplace, the kids would go to a "synagogue" that we had set up, our tribe tent (we were all in the tribes of Israel ex. Reuben, Gad, Levi, etc.) and then play soccer all afternoon. It was basically a week of fun bible study. The kids were a ton of fun. They were really adorable, and we barely had any problems, except once in awhile the behaviour disordered kid would get out of hand, or another little girl would cry sometimes.
As you can imagine, it was quite the startle to find myself at a satanic concert just hours after bible camp had ended. My friend told me she had two tickets to this concert, and needed someone to go with her. Being exhausted after a long week of bible camp all day and work all evening, I probably should have said no, but I felt generous with my time so I agreed. As soon as we walked up to this building, we saw a bunch of people in viking costumes, others who had painted their faces (and shaved heads) completely black except red eyes, others wearing "Jesus is a cunt" t- shirts. When we went in, there was a huge banner over the stage that said "God has left generations terrorized" and the singer had just come on stage and was addressing the crowd as his "minions." These people were complete idiots, just cheering on this singer who was raising himself on a pedestal by mocking them as his stupid minions. The insults he came up with were hilarious (I seemed to be the only one to realize this, as everyone else was cheering and found it normal). The best one by far was "You postulant slimeballs!" I was killing myself trying not to laugh, because I was sure if I laughed I would be beaten up by everyone around me who were really into being called postulant slimeballs. HAHAHA. He continued "We fucking hate you. Buy our shirts but don't even FUCKING try to talk to us after the show because we fucking hate you! Just buy our stuff and get the fuck out! You fucking suck! And the irony of the situation is that we love you!" That one was equally hilarious. I wonder if he knows what irony is. Heck, I wonder if he knows the meaning of postulant. Band after band came on, and every song and every band sounded exactly the same. The lyrics (if they were even saying anything or just screaming gibberish) all sounded like random screams, not actual words. The whole time I was there, I was pretty scared because people kept punching each other, and I missed bible camp. My friend actually wants to go back to another concert like that and she wants to go into the fight pit, which in case you don't know, is this big gap in the middle of the mosh pit where everyone beats the shit out of each other. I am quite worried for her, but I don't know what I can do because she's pretty set on it.
Anyhow, I got the full deal. I got some satanism, but also I gained an understanding of child-like faith.
Matthew 18: 4-5 "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."
Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
|
|
| Anyone know anything about cars? |
[22 Jul 2005|03:57pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 worried |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Love Rhynes With Hideous Car Wreck- Blood Brothers |
] |
My car broke down! Like I turn the key and nothing happens. No sound of grinding, absolutely nothing at all! I try to press the lock to lock the doors and not even that works! It just won't start so now I'm stranded because my family is away :(
Does anyone have any idea what the problem can be or how I can fix it?
|
|
|
[21 Jul 2005|01:08am] |
“Philosophically, you can believe anything, so long as you do not claim it to be true. Morally, you can practice anything, so long as you do not claim it to be a 'better' way. Religiously, you can hold to anything, so long as you do not bring Jesus Christ into it." - Ravi Zacharias
I'm reading Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias. It's an amazing read (minus the first chapter, which is an emo recount of his attempted teenage suicide, so it pretty much should have been left out of the book because everyone hates emo kids.) He pieces together parts of the Bible in ways that I have never thought of, and offers a different perspective for me because he contrasts many aspects of Christianity to other religions.
There was an interesting section about how Muslims view Christ. I never quite understood the Muslim perspective until I read this book. Zacharias has a great style which makes it all pretty clear. I'll definately have an easier time at interfaith next year ;) I always come out confused about Islam because all of the muslims constantly fight amongst themselves over the Koran because half are asmilies (sp) so the other half of the muslims don't take them seriously, and so on so forth. Kinda like if the Christian sect of interfaith was made up of Catholics and United Church goers ;)
And completely unrelated, I just got back from southern Alberta, so I'll have some pictures to post sometime in the near future :)
|
|
| Women priests? The Vatican says no. |
[14 Jul 2005|01:56pm] |
The Catholic Church has finally cracked down on some Canadian priests who want to ordain women as priests. Once again, I agree with the Catholics on this one. There is clear biblical evidence to support this viewpoint:
1 Timothy 2:11-14
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Why would anyone who wants to serve God decide to "serve" by breaking a rule? That makes absolutely no sense to me, and I'm glad the Catholics are not allowing it. If there's one thing the Catholics are good at, it's staying true to the Bible. And don't give me BS about "but they allow people to eat shellfish" or "but they allow women to enter the Church without veils!" There are reasons for all of those apparent "contradictions." (People can eat shellfish because Jesus told the Pharisees that it is not important what you put in your mouth, rather what comes out; we don't have to wear veils because that verse was directed at the women in Corinth who still had shaved heads from their days of feminism and rebellion so that they could turn a new leaf).
Here is the article:
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2376d045-7da0-4d51-a574-10b3d8f65c63
|
|
| Canada adrift |
[28 Jun 2005|12:30pm] |
The big businesses are saying the government is making it too hard for Canadian businesses to compete. Personally, I don't mind giving corporations tax cuts. Stronger businesses= more jobs= stronger economy. That helps everyone, not just the big corporations. It's highly doubtful that the Libs will take this message to heart though. And good governance? That's asking for a lot. The one thing I think that we have a chance at getting is the skills training, which would definately be a good thing.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=b6220009-682c-4c5c-8682-7cbe039c3652
x-posted to canadiantories
|
|
| And everyone becomes a liar once they have something to lie about |
[03 Jun 2005|06:58pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 crushed |
] |
I'm quite disappointed in the Conservatives that the Grewel tapes were doctored. Problems while transferring the tapes, my ass. The Liberals have lied to us (not surprising), and now the Conservatives? My optimism has been trampled and spat on.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
comraderabbit's journal
curious
cynical