Hiatus
Consider this a late away message. I will be back when I have time to waste.
Crazy J-Pop
I have fallen to the craze that is J-Pop. The music is pretty cool, and the video is simple yet interesting >_> …. You know what, I like it lol. She has such conviction while washing those dishes, rofl.
Watch the video here .
Geneva Bible
Bob: Hey Bill, I’ve really wanted to get back to my Reformation Roots.
Bill: Yeah, Bob, me too.
Bob: How can we go about that, Bill?
Bill: Mayhap pre-ordering your own Geneva Bible, complete with easy-to-read type, modern spellings, and contributed by Gary DeMar himself!!!!
Bob: =O WHAAA!!!!! Such a book exists?!?!?!??!?!
Bill: Yes!!! Read this article. Oh, yeah, and by the way, the calf skin leather Geneva Bible is a rip-off.
Saxomaphone
Today I had my first saxophone lesson I’ve had in my life (I’ve been playing for about seven years now). I really like this guy; he’s won a grammy and seems to really know his stuff. He knows sooooo much, and I expect to learn a lot lot lot lot. He also expects me to practice at least 2 hours a day O_O… I really don’t wanna get him upset at me, so it looks like I’m going to do it ^_^. Plus he’s really known for jazz, and it looks like I’m going to learn some, and that’s WICKED SWEET!
Romans 9
The other day I was playing one of the best video games on the planet — Civilization 4. This “megalomania” game allows you to research technology, take over the world, and listen to the wonderful voice of Leonard Nimoy, Civilization 4’s narrator. Well, I start playing and I suddenly discover pottery; a little window for pottery pops up and Nimoy says to me “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour”?
And I said to myself, “Whoa,” and I started thinking about the whole Romans 9 passage:
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
This clearly shows God’s election of the believers. Although it may sound harsh to us, He wills whom He wants into His kingdom. God choosing one group to save and the other to exclude is in no way unfair, unless you think that God is under the obligation to provide salvation for sinners — a position that the Bible rejects. Who are we to question God? We deserve nothing and those who were chosen should be thankful.
I may thought as someone who thinks free will to be “overrated,” but I’m going to stick to this. I do not like the whole idea of election, but it is stated so clearly in Romans 9 that I’d be a fool not to believe it. Who am I, the clay, to question God, the potter.
Art… “stuff” — this, that
Why are Christians too afraid to do what they want with art? Why are they too concerned if it is too “Liberal”? Why is it that they are afraid to use all the colors from the palate that God gave them to use and enjoy? Why is it that I see little to no Christian artists, actors, directors, writers, and musicians in the mainstream? We need to bring in people through our gifts. We will not be able to bring in people by sitting back and being bland and “conservative” with our art; it needs to be elaborate, aesthetically pleasing, and at the same calibre as the mainstream. We need to be hip. We need to be fresh.
Here’s and example: I watched a movie called The Single’s Ward, a romantic comedy made by the Church of Latter-day Saints in Utah about mormonism; it is a hilarious movie. I consider it one of my favorite movies, and believe it or not, if I were not a Christian when I saw this movie, I might have become a Mormon. Why don’t we have any movies that make people want to be Christians?
Why is new music such as jazz, new age, and rock so frowned down upon in today’s christian circles? Bach’s music at one time was considered revolutionary and even atonal. What exactly is wrong with syncopation (many hymns with a compound meter are quite syncopated), or a guitar making a certain sound, or a piano playing a certain chord, or even how these chords are arranged in a piece of music? Why do we sing hymns composed by Mozart, a pervert? Why do we enjoy listening to the 1812 Overture or Russian Orthodox Chants composed by Tchaikovsky, a homosexual?
We must break out of our shell and be amazing artists; we should be at the top of our field. God did not create art so it can be limited; He created it so we can use it in a way that there is no doubt that God exists.
This discussion was inspired by this article by James DeMar, a son of a really really cool dude.
Greater Miami Youth Symphony
I love being in the GMYS. I get to play all these cool songs I dont usually get to play at school and I meet really cool people. For example, we were playing Beethoven’s Fifth symphony — very very angry music. My conductor screams at us throughout our rehearsal “YOUR DEAF!” to make us think like Beethoven, ha!
“Limited Atonement”
A quote from one of my favorite theologians — C. H. Spurgeon: “We are often told that we [Calvinists] limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do not. The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men? They say, ‘No, certainly not.’ We ask them the next question — Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer,’No.’ They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They say, ‘No. Christ has died that any man may be saved if’ — and then follow certain conditions of salvation. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as infallibly to secure the salvation of anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ’s death; we say, ‘No, my dear sir, it is you that do it.’ We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of it.”
I’m not really crazy of how he seems kinda unfriendly here.
Reformation T-Shirts
I came across these shirts the other day while just browsing around. They’re pretty cool. Check out these reformation homeboy shirts. BTW, C. H. Spurgeon is my Homeboy!!
Let's be Frank... 