So I've been reading three paragraphs before each class of "The Problem of Pain." (makes one really hate a lesson on transitive, intransitive, and linking verbs when they know they have a golden nugget in their backpack). I am starting to see things in a different light. I think I used to have some of these insights, but forgot them in discussing these things with non-believers. Sometimes I need the Christian bubble that I sometimes loathe, to keep my logic on track.

Anyway, check this:

"If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than mere kindness."

Wow... so simple yet so deep. It's a good thing God is not like Bruce Almighty who says yes to everyone's prayers. That would be a kind act, but certainly not a loving act.

Anyway... I am going to keep reading for more insights and logical checks.

Thanks for the comment Mike. "Grief Observed" will be my next book then. Right now I need the "intellectual" book:)

Have you (or anyone) read "The Problem of Pain"? If so, do you understand the whole talk of "numinous." I understand what it literally means, but I do not know how it applies to this text. I guess I am looking for Lewis' logical connection, as he begins the book with a discussion of the "numinous." Maybe I have to keep reading to find the connection:)

Later,

boo

This is a call for help. That book is dense!!! Have any of you bloggies read it before? If you'll remember my post from a few days ago, I am struggling with "the problem of pain" as it presents itself in Christianity.

I think God is trying to teach me something about being ethnocentric because it keeps coming up in my classes as well as in my thoughts and even in IMPACT (which served as the cataylist, as it usually does with big issues I think about).

The tendency is to reason that we *Americans* are doing God's will; therefore, he is blessing us abundently with a good economy, government, etc (in comparison). I think that is a faulty assumption because I think one can achieve worldly wealth and have nothing eternally substancial. Too often people reason that worldly wealth is a blessing from God.

But is it? I think that sometimes worldly wealth can be a plague. Clarissa and I were talking about this last night and we concluded that wealth is an added responsibility. When one has a warm bed and a bank account, shouldn't it be hard to sleep at night knowing that so many do not have these things?

The problem seems to stand on limited resources. If I had the wealth of Bill Gates, I could give to many people; but there would be a point where I would have to choose which people to dispense my wealth to. I think this question is especially important to those of us have little more than time to give. Where can we spend our time helping those who need help from somewhere?

Am I not trusting in the Lord for these people? I dunno. It seems as though God has laid this on my heart for some reason. I do think it is a lousy excuse for one to reason that "I am trusting that God will take care of Ethiopian children." Yes, we can trust in that, but we also have to trust (and be open to the fact) that God may use us to reach out to those Ethiopian children.

I am especially influenced by stories about a professor with a disability who was given a Bible from her church and how it changed her life. Or stories about missionaries doing really great things overseas. However, I don't even know how to support endeavors such as these. Should I even feel obligated?

I don't know if I should be, but I am especially peeved that we aren't doing service to non-believers or those in need for a Ministry I participate in. We constantly taut evangelistic catch phrases but do little to help those in need or reach out to them for Christ. I spend so much time building into a body of believers, while doing so little for those outside the Christian circle. I'm not blaming the Ministry for that because I certainly could be seeking out ways to give on my own.

But why do we not get together as a body of believers and help the poor, sick, elderly, etc? I am sorry to be wishy washy, but I am tired of being so individualistic. This goes back to a post I did awhile back. I know that, as college students, we are at a "individualistic" time of our life and therefore some would argue that it is okay that we are selfish to some degree.

But do we necessarily have to be? The argument is that by building up the individual now, we will be "strong enough" (in our reasoning abilities, teaching skills, writing, etc) to aid the weak when we graduate. But what kind of epiphony are we supposed to have as we walk across the stage?

"Here's your diploma. Now forget all of those selfish tendencies you learned in college. You are not number one anymore. No more teachers to pamper you, no more Ministries to build you up and make you feel confident, no more security you find in your dorm; but, here is a piece of paper that will give you a salary to compensate for these losses."

Tess probably remembers the stories that Dr. K talked about in Moral Principles, about law students with intentions to represent the poorest of poor and the most innocent of innocent. However, with that salary in our pocket and our collegues around us rising towards the "American Dream" how are we to turn down that car, expensive home, individualistic family life that we've all been dreaming of throughout our college career?

Where is the measurement for what we should give? How much does God call us to keep for ourselves, and should we feel guilty for buying that dream car? Of course we have worked hard enough for it. Land of the free and home of the consumer. Bad combo-- what about the American ideology teaches us to give? What about the Church calls me from the Christian bubble? Maybe this is a calling, but how does one get others to join the fight?

"My ear is twisted in all the thoughts
a glimpse of truce just because
It's always almost never close
I close my eyes to hide the distance."

Bah humbug..... What is one to do?

Hope you guys like the Relient K tune. There's a link to the site at the bottom of the page that gives you codes for tons of different songs. I thought you all would like this one, but it doesn't really go with the look of my blog so well:)

anyway... back to Ann Bradstreet... woo hoo:)

I'm outie,

boo

Okay... so I haven't figured out if this is a spark from God or not but I have just realized that I [i]could[/i] go to seminary and get a degree in... well anything I want to.

Dr. Browne just asked me if I had thought about grad school... and I haven't really. The other day Becca and I were talking about seminary and I was thinking, wow... I wonder if that is an option for me?

So I just looked up a few seminary schools, one of which sounds extremely appealing. Talbot is located near Los Angeles and has a masters program in Christian Education. Christian Education!!! That is what I originally wanted to do when I chose my major, but throughout my time here at BG I have forgotten that pursuit. In addition, one of my favorite authors, J.P. Moreland, teaches at Talbot. If I went into Christian Ed I probably wouldn't have a class with him though. But it would be cool just to bump into him one day:) Oh and the campus is a half hour from my Grandma and Grandpa. How cool is that?!

Well, I just had to let out that joy somewhere... I don't know if my parents would be too happy about my moving to Cali for a couple years... but hey.... it'll be okay;)

Back to biased journalism.

Yours truely, God's especially,

Boo

So IMPACT just got back from Ann Arbor and I found it superb again. We spent most of the day yesterday in the huge Borders downtown, and the rest of the day waltzing around the town. At Borders I finally got the Sixpence CD that I rated as #1 on my 2003 Review. I have listened to the album many times on their website, but I now finally have the CD and the beautiful artwork that comes with it.

The artist that did their CD cover is featured on this blog (the background) and his name is [url=http://www.artbooks.de/4AD/wa...]Darren Waterston[/url] . Very cool art...

Speaking of art, I went into this really cool Mexican art shop while in Ann Arbor. It was amazing stuff; however I have a feeling that the guy that runs the place rips off the poor Mexican artists. There was this awesome cougar that was carved and beads were individually placed (using beeswax to make them stick) all over the thing... The guy at the store was selling in for $400 when I am sure he paid a whole lot less.

Afterwards Dr. Browne took all of us to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was soooo good and so different. They had these sombraro looking things they put the food on and you shared a platter with 3 other people. The table came up to my knees and we ate with some triangular pancakes.

When they first brought everything out we were all wondering where our forks were. Dr. Browne pointed to the pancakes and was like, "use that as a utensil." Some of the meat was really spicy, but surprisingly I liked it. I guess it is one of the only Ethiopian restaurants in the country. It was very cool.

After dinner we all went back to the hotel and watched a movie. We knew Dr. Browne was picking, so we started downing some caffenee immediately. Tess was rather smart and stayed behind. We all voted on the happier movie with Johnny Depp in it.

The movie was far from happy and was very confusing. It was about a Cuban poet and his struggles to publish his work in Communist Cuba in the 60s. Johnny Depp only had a minor role and he brought out the homosexuality theme to the movie in some wierd ways.

The discussion afterwards was what was sooo depressing. We talked about being oppressed and how beauty is a threat to any oppressive system. Dr. Browne used examples in Christianity, how some denominations will prohibit dancing because they are afraid that people will see what they are missing.

Then our discussion transfered to suffering in the world for some reason. We talked about the holocaust and Dr. Browne started telling us stories of places he's been. He told us that one time he and Dr. Kubasek were in Bombay and that they had to hide in their hotel room because people would ransack them for money and for entry into the U.S. He was telling us how tough it was, because you have something you can give, but you cannot possible give to them all. He also started rattling off statistics about how 30,000 children die of starvation each day and how we made such a big fuss over 3,000 on 9-11 or 15 in an earthquake.

I dunno... when one thinks about such things it makes one realize how unimportant some things are. It also makes me feel helpless because what can I do to help anyone? I suppose that is where Christian love comes in. I have the power of prayer, but it is hard to know if one is being effective. I need to read C.S. Lewis' "Problem of Pain" because it is such a strong argument when one says, "Have you seen all of the shoes at the holocaust museum?" "Have you heard about the 30,000 children under 11 that die a day from starvation? If there is a loving creator and soverign God, why does he allow such things?" Is it enough to say that there is evil in the world as well?

And a quote from my fav. Sixpence song,

"Feels like I'm fiddling while Rome is burning down,
Should I lay my fiddle down and take a rifle from the ground?"

Hey all,

So I haven't blogged in awhile, but that might be because I am getting back into the swing of things here at school.

Yeah so this semester might not be as intellectually interesting as was last semester. I remember the beginning of this year thinking, "I am taking 4 English classes. I am going to regret this." Yet those 4 classes have been some of my favorite at the University thus far. (perfect semester= Brit. Lit, Lit and Crit, Linguistics, Shakespeare, and Guitar- wow)

So I [b]am[/b] looking forward to American Literature even though I am not too sure about the prof. Tess has had her and says she's really nice, and a Christian! However, I also know that she's new and I hear she has some pedagoical problems. I think I am going to like the content well enough to get past any disaray in the classroom. (Wow... I just read all that and think about what a nerd I am... I just take my education seriously ;) )

In addition, I am looking forward to my Education in a Pluralistic Society class. The Prof seems really cool and I couldn't put down our first reading.

Most of all, I am looking forward to the C.S. Lewis class because by it, my mind should grow intellectually as well as spiritually- a dichotomy I too often make, for what is intellectual can be spiritual and what is spiritual is certainly intellectual. I rushed to the library yesterday after I realized that I had purchased all the wrong readings for the class. I picked out a huge "complete" C.S. Lewis anthology; but, the book is not so complete. It has most of his non-fiction works, so I assumed "Surprised by Joy" would be included. Well, it wasn't so I got it from the library and read half of it yesterday. I also got the Narnia series and am about half way through them as well. I don't know if this is true for my blog readers, but I can feel it when my mind is being transformed in a new way, like when it feels as though your mind is getting shoved into a playdoh fun factory and comes out in a totally different shape. So I am walking around in a state of mind unlike another I've ever experienced because of the transformation from the Narnia books.

Anyway, so the classes I am not looking forward to as much,

Acting (ha-- i love theatre as long as i don't have to participate)

Grammar and Writing (err-- grammar is one thing that i need to learn but am not so excited about learning)

Journalism - Something about international media (Tess is in this class with me and we didn't even plan it. However, I resent that I am a junior and I have to sit in a lecture hall. Yesterday we had to draw a world map and label as much as we could. Provided, I was thouroughly ashamed of my map, but the girl next to me put Mexico where Africa should be and the girl on the other side labeled what should have been China (more like an Eastern blob), Alaska. I have a bad feeling about this class.

So now that I've got all that off my chest, maybe I should let my reservations go and just try to get into some of these less interesting classes. Hmm... okay... I think I've done it...

Later,

boo

Internet rumors suck, because they get your hopes up and then crush them faster than I can say "iPod mini."

It was a couple days ago that I caught wind of a $100 iPod. The same day my Wal-mart mp3 player died so I took it back and got my Dad's $80 back. One could see stars in my eyes as I dreamed of only having to earn $20 in order to obtain the rumored iPod mini.

So today I find out that there IS such a thing as an iPod mini!!! And not only is it smaller than a regular iPod, but it comes in the very serene color, GREEN. It only holds about 1/10 of the songs of the formally basic iPod though. Then again it's only the size of a business card.

Oh and then I find that one key part of the internet rumor was very wrong. The new iPod mini costs a small fortune as does the rest of the iPods. iPod mini list at a mere $249, only $50 less than the 10G iPod. Geez...

I guess I will have to keep dreaming and hope my Dad saves that $80 I gave back to him...:(

(p.s. see my 2003 Review below if you haven't checked my blog lately)

later,

disheartened boo

So here again, I jump on the bandwagon and supply my Review of 2003. Take it for what it's worth, oh precious readers of my blog. I tend to sample many genres of life but don't get into any one genre too much. More breadth than depth for me.

2003 REVIEW:

Movies Watched in 2003:

1. Frida
2. Chicago
3. Amielle
4. The Pianist
5. X-Men II
6. Pollock

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And that’s all I can think of because I hardly ever watch movies. For those who wonder why LOTR is not on my list, it is because I haven’t seen them yet and I don’t intend to until I’ve finished reading the series. We’ll see if the movies meet my high (or low:) standards in 2004 (hopefully). Even though my 2003 list is lacking, the movies I have seen this year have made an impact on my all time favorite movie list. Here’s the ATFML as it stands right now.

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Empire Records
3. Frida
4. Chicago
5. Save the Last Dance
6. Little Women
7. Ten Things I Hate About You
8. Romeo and Juliet (Baz Lurhmann)
9. The Princess Bride
10. Superstar


Music:

Favorite New Albums of 2003:

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1. Divine Discontent- Sixpence None the Richer
2. Who We Are Instead- Jars of Clay
3. Heavier Things- John Mayer
4. Professional Rapper- John Reuben
5. Afterglow- Sarah Mclachlan
6. Folklore- Nelly Furtado
7. Closer- Josh Groban

Favorite New (or old by the billboard standard) Songs of 2003:

1. Paralyzed- Sixpence
2. Tension is a Passing Note- Sixpence
3. Melody of You- Sixpence
4. Amazing Grace- Jars
5. Trouble Is- Jars
6. Show You Love- Jars
7. Daughters- John Mayer
8. Clarity- John Mayer
9. Move- John Reuben
10. Fallen- Sarah Mclachlan
11. World’s On Fire- Sarah Mclachlan
12. Powerless- Nelly Furtado
13. Song of Love- Rebecca St. James
14. You Raise Me Up- Josh Groban
15. You’re Classic- Defending Legacy
16. Running- Defending Legacy
17. Baby Hot Dogs- Trippin’ On Shrooms
18. Fullness- Michael Edwards
19. Part of Your World- Michael Edwards
20. Flake- Jack Johnson
21. On The News- Jack Johnson
22. Bring Me to Life- Evanescence
23. Heaven- The Fire Theft
24. Where is the Love- Black Eyed Peas
25. Scientist- Coldplay
26. Why Georgia- John Mayer
27. Your Body is a Wonderland- John Mayer
28. My Stupid Mouth- John Mayer
29. All That Jazz- Chicago
30. Cell Block Tango- Chicago

Next are the songs that are cheesy yet make my list of songs my Romeo will sing to me. (Ha.) The Female readers might be the only readers of my blog that can relate to this one, so all Males can skip if they are not into all the “romantic fluff:)”. 2003 has impacted this list, therefore I thought I would add it to my 2003 review.

Favorite “I Heart You Songs” of 2003 and Beyond

1. Melody of You- Sixpence None the Richer
2. I Promise- Jaci Velasquez
3. Eileen’s Song- Burlap to Cashmere
4. These Are the Moments- Edwin McCain
5. I’ll Be- Edwin McCain
6. Your Song- Moulin Rouge
7. Wait For Me- Rebecca St. James
8. You’re Body is a Wonderland- John Mayer


Texts:

Here are the books I’ve read this year (besides the Bible) that have most impacted me in some way or another and that have made it to my bookshelf or barnesandnoble.com cart.

1. Love Your God With All Your Mind- J.P. Moreland
2. Order of the Phoenix- J.K. Rowling
3. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion- Dr. Cialdini
4. Everything I read in Literary Theory and Criticism
5. 1984- George Orwell
6. Fellowship of the Ring- J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Paradise Lost- John Milton
8. Aeropagitica- John Milton
9. Surprised By the Power of the Spirit- Jack Deere
10. The Great Divorce- C.S. Lewis
11. Antony and Cleopatra- Shakey-baby
12. Merchant of Venice- Shakey-baby
13. Ways of Seeing- John Berger
14. The Gnostic Gospels- Elaine Pagels
15. Ascent of Mount Carmel- Juan de la Cruz

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Artists I’ve Learned to Appreciate (more) in 2003:

1. Frida Kahlo
2. Diego Rivera
3. Jackson Pollock
4. Kandinsky
5. Van Gogh (nothing like being close enough to breathe on those blobs of paint at the Met to make one appreciate Van Gogh)
6. Calder
7. Guggenheim
8. Tess K-houry (:) The wire horse being my favorite of 2003, oh and the HP art:)

Places I’ve Loved to Travel to in 2003:

1. New York City
2. Las Vegas
3. yes… and the many campgrounds on the way to Myrtle Beach, S.C.:)

2004 PREVIEW:

Books and a movie that almost made it to 2003, but will have to wait till 2004 (because I am read or watched them over break after the ball went down)

Books:

1. Problem of Pain- C.S. Lewis
2. Chronicles of Narnia- C.S. Lewis

Movies:

1. Mona Lisa’s Smile
*prediction: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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So there it is.