In a way, i am thankful that i didn't do a thankful post yesterday, because today, it would have felt like blasphemy.
Not saying that there was nothing to be thankful for...but all that is just dimmed by the fact that Michael Jackson is dead.
I cannot process that. Michael Jackson and dead in the same sentence is surreal. I'm reading words and i'm hearing sounds, but i'm in a trance.
So...i will be thankful for his life...HE ROCKED! and i will be thankful for the fact that he will live on through is music forever.
But for now? i am in mourning.
He's in a better place, and i am selfish, but i'm only human.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thankful Thursday: Great Expectations, bells and whistles.
I believe that this Thankful Thursday Thing (LOL at my alliterations...reminds me of an SCL post...fun stuff) has evolved to hold a message as well as my thankfulness...
The bells and whistles thing. I believe that God is simple. God is so uncomplicated that we as humans refuse to accept Him that way. Like, when you see this really easy question on your exam sheet...and you're like naaaah, it must be a joke, or wait..maybe it's super duper complicated..and then you go ahead and give the most complicated answer you know, and promptly fail. Just the other day i read something about Christians and the Bible...i wish i saved that quote..wait, hold on..lemme find it..in summary though, it says that the Bible isn't complicated at all...it's just that "Christians" choose to make it out to be so because they fear that the moment they accept that they understand it as-is,they will have no choice but to conform to it. I can understand how that is a scary thought. If, however, you do not admit to entirely understanding it, that is a huge fertile field (alliterations!) of loopholes to exploit... What will the Law proffesion be without loopholes?
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
Yes, i even shrunk it in an attempt to fool you minions into thinking that it is a nice short quote :P
Human beings seem to crave ceremony and great mystery before they accept that a thing is credible. If it doesn't shoot fireworks and arrive in a cloud, it must be substandard.
This, however, creates problems for those of us who realize that maybe, just maybe, it isn't as hush hush and secret society as "they" make it out to be. Once i read a book about how to angle your church floors and dim the lights just so, so that people will be in "the mood". It just can't work without the bells and whistles eh?
I do not need to be told about seas being parted, and bones being made human again. I believe God is Awesome. He proves this to me with every breath i take. It is the way it is, i do not need a fairytale woven around it to make me awestruck. Reality itself is magical, it's beautiful. I do not need all these "extras".
Too often we make God out to be Human. We ascribe our human characteristics to Him. We make God out to be petty and egotistical. God is not human, He is above the emotions and characters we exhibit. This, however, is difficult for us to grasp, because we cannot compare something to another thing that we know NOTHING about, so we drag it down to our level and break it into bits of our reality. Just like when people were convinced the earth was flat. They could not conceive the concept of it being otherwise.Like explaining the colour red to someone who has only ever seen blue. My best bet is that they would conclude it's some shade of blue... This is how we know God. As one other quote said, to paraphrase, we see God as some sort of Cosmic Grandfather.
Grandfather. Human.
Why should God be man or woman or black or white or yellow? God is God. But that sort of God is abstract, so we make Him into a handy Cosmic Grandfather ( i love this expression btw!), one with Whom we can relate.
This other joke goes; Do not argue with an idiot, because they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
The beat you with experience part is irrelevant, but the down to their level part seems to be exactly what we've done with God. We've made Him a super human. He is great and all, but He's just this Mighty Human. That upsets me sometimes. Sure, it's easier to relate to and all that, but we then begin subconsciously giving Him these oh-so-human add-ons, ones that we understand.
Human beings are the ones who love feeling "big" and having their egos stroked, and yet even among humans, those who are truly "big" somehow rise above the banality that is demanding for their ego to be stroked.
So yes, it's still about religion, and even the Bible in this. They are so full of grandeur, and stories designed to make your jaw drop and all these overly awesome things. What the writers/spreaders didn't seem to see, imo, is that there is/was absolutely no need for all the frills. If they had looked around, they would have seen that the truth of what is is more fantabulostical than any sort of tale they come up with.
They've gone and left us with a dilemma now. You don't seem to be allowed to appreciate both versions. It's Tales Vs Reality, and you are on top of everything threatened with a lifelong BBQ, you featuring as the main meat, if you refuse to believe the Tales version. It sucks.
God is simple, uncomplicated, and wise beyond human understanding. All out wiseness and insight must be the most hilarious thing God watches.
Understand if you understand.
I am thankful for life
I am thankful for the way He looks out for me
I am thankful for the little packets of joy He places in my path. He has designed the funnest obstacle course for me.
I am thankful for emotions. Happy and Sad, tears and laughter, love and heartache. Life would be so vanilla without them!
I am thankful for wisdom...i don't claim it, but i am thankful that i have access to the works of those who are blessed by it.
I am thankful for my family
I am thankful for my friends
I am thankful that the things i call problems are really so insignificant in the big picture
I am thankful for His reminders
I am thankful that He has taught me to be thankful instead of giving in to despair
I am thankful that i went to church last Sunday! Honestly, the service was jokes, the message was...*crickets* why is this man even talking? BUT! you could feel the goodness radiating...so that was nice..and i met the nicest Swedish Missionary lady..she was hot life fire, btw :P..just added that because Missionary conjures up the strangest images of unattractiveness for me :P
be good ya'll...and find the awesomeness in the simplest of truths!!! God's magnificence is not in a magic trick. Know this.
The bells and whistles thing. I believe that God is simple. God is so uncomplicated that we as humans refuse to accept Him that way. Like, when you see this really easy question on your exam sheet...and you're like naaaah, it must be a joke, or wait..maybe it's super duper complicated..and then you go ahead and give the most complicated answer you know, and promptly fail. Just the other day i read something about Christians and the Bible...i wish i saved that quote..wait, hold on..lemme find it..in summary though, it says that the Bible isn't complicated at all...it's just that "Christians" choose to make it out to be so because they fear that the moment they accept that they understand it as-is,they will have no choice but to conform to it. I can understand how that is a scary thought. If, however, you do not admit to entirely understanding it, that is a huge fertile field (alliterations!) of loopholes to exploit... What will the Law proffesion be without loopholes?
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
Yes, i even shrunk it in an attempt to fool you minions into thinking that it is a nice short quote :P
Human beings seem to crave ceremony and great mystery before they accept that a thing is credible. If it doesn't shoot fireworks and arrive in a cloud, it must be substandard.
This, however, creates problems for those of us who realize that maybe, just maybe, it isn't as hush hush and secret society as "they" make it out to be. Once i read a book about how to angle your church floors and dim the lights just so, so that people will be in "the mood". It just can't work without the bells and whistles eh?
I do not need to be told about seas being parted, and bones being made human again. I believe God is Awesome. He proves this to me with every breath i take. It is the way it is, i do not need a fairytale woven around it to make me awestruck. Reality itself is magical, it's beautiful. I do not need all these "extras".
Too often we make God out to be Human. We ascribe our human characteristics to Him. We make God out to be petty and egotistical. God is not human, He is above the emotions and characters we exhibit. This, however, is difficult for us to grasp, because we cannot compare something to another thing that we know NOTHING about, so we drag it down to our level and break it into bits of our reality. Just like when people were convinced the earth was flat. They could not conceive the concept of it being otherwise.Like explaining the colour red to someone who has only ever seen blue. My best bet is that they would conclude it's some shade of blue... This is how we know God. As one other quote said, to paraphrase, we see God as some sort of Cosmic Grandfather.
Grandfather. Human.
Why should God be man or woman or black or white or yellow? God is God. But that sort of God is abstract, so we make Him into a handy Cosmic Grandfather ( i love this expression btw!), one with Whom we can relate.
This other joke goes; Do not argue with an idiot, because they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
The beat you with experience part is irrelevant, but the down to their level part seems to be exactly what we've done with God. We've made Him a super human. He is great and all, but He's just this Mighty Human. That upsets me sometimes. Sure, it's easier to relate to and all that, but we then begin subconsciously giving Him these oh-so-human add-ons, ones that we understand.
Human beings are the ones who love feeling "big" and having their egos stroked, and yet even among humans, those who are truly "big" somehow rise above the banality that is demanding for their ego to be stroked.
So yes, it's still about religion, and even the Bible in this. They are so full of grandeur, and stories designed to make your jaw drop and all these overly awesome things. What the writers/spreaders didn't seem to see, imo, is that there is/was absolutely no need for all the frills. If they had looked around, they would have seen that the truth of what is is more fantabulostical than any sort of tale they come up with.
They've gone and left us with a dilemma now. You don't seem to be allowed to appreciate both versions. It's Tales Vs Reality, and you are on top of everything threatened with a lifelong BBQ, you featuring as the main meat, if you refuse to believe the Tales version. It sucks.
God is simple, uncomplicated, and wise beyond human understanding. All out wiseness and insight must be the most hilarious thing God watches.
Understand if you understand.
I am thankful for life
I am thankful for the way He looks out for me
I am thankful for the little packets of joy He places in my path. He has designed the funnest obstacle course for me.
I am thankful for emotions. Happy and Sad, tears and laughter, love and heartache. Life would be so vanilla without them!
I am thankful for wisdom...i don't claim it, but i am thankful that i have access to the works of those who are blessed by it.
I am thankful for my family
I am thankful for my friends
I am thankful that the things i call problems are really so insignificant in the big picture
I am thankful for His reminders
I am thankful that He has taught me to be thankful instead of giving in to despair
I am thankful that i went to church last Sunday! Honestly, the service was jokes, the message was...*crickets* why is this man even talking? BUT! you could feel the goodness radiating...so that was nice..and i met the nicest Swedish Missionary lady..she was hot life fire, btw :P..just added that because Missionary conjures up the strangest images of unattractiveness for me :P
be good ya'll...and find the awesomeness in the simplest of truths!!! God's magnificence is not in a magic trick. Know this.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Oh dear...
I missed a Thankful Thursady post...and i did not notice until just now. Does this mean something? In my defence though, i was busy all day. I trekked like i have never trekked before, and it's a wonder i didn't drop dead on the street. Okay, so maybe i exaggerate a little. I did have a VERY tiring day, and the fact that it was Thursday did not cross my mind. Once.
And i was a bundle of nerves...yesterday AND today. Perhaps it's PMS? i want to cry and scream and punch people.
I guess i'm thankful that i'm alive, and that i have family, and that i have a roof over my head and can afford school and food and fun and going home when i need it. Some people don't have that.
I am also incredibly thankful for the weather this night/morning...yay rain!
and i'm reading SCL, and it's kinda cheering me up and making me feel "in the spirit" which is a way i haven't felt in a while...and then i click this link and end up at this other site and then there's the evolution/creation-in-a-heartbeat arguement, and then it reminds me of all the issues i have :(..one really good argument i saw was this (i never actually considered it!) the guy was like, how come "christians" will go on arguing about if the earth is millions of years old, or 6000 years old, and yet nobody seems to question how light was created before the sun.
My stance on creation/evolution? They are both correct. People should learn to stop this either/or nonsense. God created the earth and all that is in it, yes. Is God a God of no logic and order? NO. Patterns, processes...this is the evolution that science describes. Even if there wa big bang, God caused it so there. psh....i do not mean to infringe on anyones beliefs. If the version where God claps and it appears appeals to you, by all means, stick to that belief; i am not seeking to convert anyone.
People need to come to the conclusion of what they believe by themselves, only then will it be genuine and real to them. Being force fed is a placebo. You think you're doing all right..but you really are not, just getting by on an illusion. I should know, been there, done that.
Anyways, thats that. I am thankful that i am breathing and blinking.
be good.
And i was a bundle of nerves...yesterday AND today. Perhaps it's PMS? i want to cry and scream and punch people.
I guess i'm thankful that i'm alive, and that i have family, and that i have a roof over my head and can afford school and food and fun and going home when i need it. Some people don't have that.
I am also incredibly thankful for the weather this night/morning...yay rain!
and i'm reading SCL, and it's kinda cheering me up and making me feel "in the spirit" which is a way i haven't felt in a while...and then i click this link and end up at this other site and then there's the evolution/creation-in-a-heartbeat arguement, and then it reminds me of all the issues i have :(..one really good argument i saw was this (i never actually considered it!) the guy was like, how come "christians" will go on arguing about if the earth is millions of years old, or 6000 years old, and yet nobody seems to question how light was created before the sun.
My stance on creation/evolution? They are both correct. People should learn to stop this either/or nonsense. God created the earth and all that is in it, yes. Is God a God of no logic and order? NO. Patterns, processes...this is the evolution that science describes. Even if there wa big bang, God caused it so there. psh....i do not mean to infringe on anyones beliefs. If the version where God claps and it appears appeals to you, by all means, stick to that belief; i am not seeking to convert anyone.
People need to come to the conclusion of what they believe by themselves, only then will it be genuine and real to them. Being force fed is a placebo. You think you're doing all right..but you really are not, just getting by on an illusion. I should know, been there, done that.
Anyways, thats that. I am thankful that i am breathing and blinking.
be good.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Thankful Thursday: Timestamps
Maybe it's tiredness, maybe it's guilt, maybe it's everything, maybe it's nothing...but yes, my relationship with God is now showing red. I am terrible. I am quite sure that He hasn't changed or nuttin'..it's me me me..and according to dogma, i am going to burn in hell, nevermind that my sins are "minor"...we all know that "minor" and "major" don't exist right?
Anywho...I am thankful that i am leaving and breathing
I am thankful that i still have amazing friends and family
I am thankful that my grandpa has jokes...he always says some ridiculous thing that has everyone laughing
I am thankful that one day at a time, my exams are coming to an end and...HOLIDAY TIME!!! woohoo
I am thankful that i was delivered from superficiality...better put, i was never afflicted with it...there are so many more inportant things in this world than being preoccupied with benefitless stupidity...grow a soul1 cultivate a conscience! KNOW SOMETHING...psh...lol..i'm under impression from a show i saw yesterday...the term "airhead" is apparently not derived from thin air...
I am thankful that my little sisters are not airheads :P
I am thankful for all my friends and brothers of friends and cousins of friends who lived to see their birthday today
I am thankful again for kindness from unexpected sources..my classmate called me like three times this morning to let me know when we had classes...he saved me unnecessary waka...now, he might have been doing this out of selfish interest but i choose to see it otherwise
I am thankful for Utorrent and all the wonderful old movies i've downloaded..memories!
I am thankful for the silver lining, i am thankful for realism...lol..i am not a fan of optimism :P
I am thankful for Philosophy...deep ish...fascinating ish...makes you think, makes you realize, makes you understand...
Thankful that despite the fact that i am finding it very hard to "get right"...a clean page awaits me the moment i commit....
Thankful that...i am breaking free of the bonds of Dogma and am more or less becoming okay with my theories on God...God is not a meanie who will smite the living daylights out of you for saying "fcuk" (:P had to misspell), God is not a wuss who is crying and begging and being helpless at the doors of your heart. If your neighour behaved in any of the aformentioned ways, you'd steer clear of him/her. God is not petty..although that has been so engraved in my mind it's hard to move past it..God is God, and surely He is capable of having the understanding that we require as the norm from our fellow man...just saying...because sometimes, guilt will wreck you...guilt over what is really nothing at all even...bleh
Thankful of my Lappppppptop! i love it..it is trusty, it is kind to me, and it is my larlin :P
Thankful for summer
Thankful for rain
Thankful for sweet sweet sleep
Thankful that i have some freaky memorising skills....which i need to put to good use like NOW...instead of typing this :P..have a literature exam tomorrow..I have to recite a poem from memory..in Ukrainian
be good people!
Anywho...I am thankful that i am leaving and breathing
I am thankful that i still have amazing friends and family
I am thankful that my grandpa has jokes...he always says some ridiculous thing that has everyone laughing
I am thankful that one day at a time, my exams are coming to an end and...HOLIDAY TIME!!! woohoo
I am thankful that i was delivered from superficiality...better put, i was never afflicted with it...there are so many more inportant things in this world than being preoccupied with benefitless stupidity...grow a soul1 cultivate a conscience! KNOW SOMETHING...psh...lol..i'm under impression from a show i saw yesterday...the term "airhead" is apparently not derived from thin air...
I am thankful that my little sisters are not airheads :P
I am thankful for all my friends and brothers of friends and cousins of friends who lived to see their birthday today
I am thankful again for kindness from unexpected sources..my classmate called me like three times this morning to let me know when we had classes...he saved me unnecessary waka...now, he might have been doing this out of selfish interest but i choose to see it otherwise
I am thankful for Utorrent and all the wonderful old movies i've downloaded..memories!
I am thankful for the silver lining, i am thankful for realism...lol..i am not a fan of optimism :P
I am thankful for Philosophy...deep ish...fascinating ish...makes you think, makes you realize, makes you understand...
Thankful that despite the fact that i am finding it very hard to "get right"...a clean page awaits me the moment i commit....
Thankful that...i am breaking free of the bonds of Dogma and am more or less becoming okay with my theories on God...God is not a meanie who will smite the living daylights out of you for saying "fcuk" (:P had to misspell), God is not a wuss who is crying and begging and being helpless at the doors of your heart. If your neighour behaved in any of the aformentioned ways, you'd steer clear of him/her. God is not petty..although that has been so engraved in my mind it's hard to move past it..God is God, and surely He is capable of having the understanding that we require as the norm from our fellow man...just saying...because sometimes, guilt will wreck you...guilt over what is really nothing at all even...bleh
Thankful of my Lappppppptop! i love it..it is trusty, it is kind to me, and it is my larlin :P
Thankful for summer
Thankful for rain
Thankful for sweet sweet sleep
Thankful that i have some freaky memorising skills....which i need to put to good use like NOW...instead of typing this :P..have a literature exam tomorrow..I have to recite a poem from memory..in Ukrainian
be good people!
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