posting. settings. layout. monetize?

hmmmmm... so, i'm currently burping up sushi flavoured stomach gas, and it's delicious.

but, thats not the point of this blog. to quote He Is Legend's 'china white": "OH NO!"

the point of this blog is love.

that all encompassing cure-all that gets posted and reposted more than news of justin biebers relationship status. (still single, if i'm lucky)

anyways, love is all everything ever seems to boil down to. reading 'sex god' by Rob Bell really hammers home the point: the bible is just one, long, convoluted and supremely layered love story. albeit in 66 parts.

also, marriage.

life is marriage. of course, since you are you and i am me, you don't understand entirely what i mean by that. (i think this relates to Deconstructionist philosophy, but i've been drifting in philo lately, so i dont really know)

the bible is really a story of God proposing to us and following through.

marriage is just a way that it is explained to us.

of course, marriage has been completely bastardized by modern society, and most societies really, so the statement that 'life is marriage' is even more confusing and meaningless.

i guess to say 'this is that' is misleading. 'life is all about marriage' makes more sense. but, it's too wordy.

hence.

life is marriage.

(i doubt this made much sense, but i hope you understood on some level.)

music to find:

China White

by

He Is Legend.

awesome breakdown at the end.

a weeks worth of silence

so, hopefully something of meaning comes out of this blog update.

nothing was thrown up here last week because i had a life. i was out living. i came home exhausted and very early in the morning.

i loved it.

to me, summer is exhaustion with the option of being able to sleep whenever or wherever you'd like.

nothing to do, nowhere to be consistently, heat everywhere. heaven. or something supremely positive.

but yeah, another reason was, that since it was march break, i didnt have as many youth related things going on, so sadly, less group oriented spirituality to dissect.

however, i did read 'velvet elvis' by rob bell. good book, nice and challanging. some of his theology seems screwed up, and apparently he pisses off fundamentalists, which makes the little anarcho-punk in me happy.

but in all honesty, fundamentalists are people too. they just dont know how to have fun.

i kid.

anyways, he paints a nice analogy about how the christian faith should be more like a trampoline then a brick wall. we can't make the assumption we know everything definitively, because, we don't. not to say that there is no way of knowing anything (because how could we know that?) but being mule-headed and unflexing in your beliefs isnt going to do anything. and if one brick is taken out, the entire thing is weakened.

besides, it's way more fun to bounce on a trampoline then it is to run into a brick wall.

aside from the content, he also had an interesting writing style. he had a habit of saying something in a very wordy way, then going down a line

and reiterating it in a simple sentence.

possibly with the intention of being quotable, which he usually succeeds at.

anyways, it was an interesting read. but, on to more fun things:

homework

the dichotomy of flesh and spirit

tonight at youth they continued with the whole 'stories' theme, and two of the stories had a shared theme of flesh vs spirit(another one referenced ewoks (win) while another said the word l'like' incorrectly 57 times). it's a rather intrinsic idea to christianity, with the eventual conclusion being that we sacrifice desires of the flesh to advance spiritually.

i think most christians come to the point where they have to make an actual decision to live up to their former decision to be a christian, and decide on flesh or spirit. for some people it's one 'do-or-die' moment, other people it's a process, but i think it's something everyone goes through.

anyways, one of the stories also talked about love (and misused 'like' 57 times).

something that is also fairly basic in christianity is the commandment to love God. it's an interesting concept, to love God. once again, it's something we've grown up with, but, to realize that God is God, and He does love us and wants us to love Him is rather staggering.

let it sink in.

breathe.

so, how to love God? i was thinking about how we express love for other people. there are, of course, the 5 love languages, which is a point that just occurred to me that i'll have to meditate more on.

but i guess for me, when i want to be better friends with someone, or when i care about someone, i want to know. i think desire for knowledge of someone or something is a form of love. i have a voracious and insatiable love of personality theory. it fascinates me to no end how people can be classified, but simultaneously break free of those classifications easily and still fit into them.

yes, that last sentence makes no sense, but this is life; get used to it.

so, i think away to love God is to know as much about Him as you can. obvious source: the bible. it would be, to use super-duper smart terminology, a primary source.

there are other ways to learn about God though. there is introspection, to see how He is working in your life. there is extrospection (new word coinage ftw) which is to see, or discuss how He is working in other peoples lives. there are also other 'supplementary' reads, people like Donald Miller or C.S. Lewis who write things to help clarify God. but, being God, the picture is still indiscernible on a certain level.

so, my original point was that love seems to be the point where flesh meets spirit. it's a basic, human need. arguably the most basic. i'm not sure if there is scriptural backing for this, but it'll make for good conversation in the future.

things of the spirit are more eternal, ethereal and existential.

things of the flesh are more immediate and intoxicating on a shallow level.

love seems to fit into all these categories.

(i realize i have not articulated what i wanted to say precisely, but i dont really have an issue with that. i've given you the foundation for some introspection. hopefully. that is enough. hopefully.)

a song to leave you with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_E9FoyUsA8

artist: the classic crime

title: the ascent

album: the silver chord

lyrics: none

a parable and a conversation

so, tonight at youth, we discussed the parable in

Matthew 13:31-33

which is

³¹He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³²Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

³³He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount^{a]" style=" line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} of flour until it worked all through the dough."

the general deduction was that the kingdom of God starts small, then explodes and expands exponentially. based on that, i've decided that christianity, is, for the most part, dead in north america. bit of a shocking claim, but really, think about the christians you know. think about yourself. probably not living the way a christian should. sure, there are the exceptions, but they're usually ostracized because they make people feel awkward.

but, fortunately, empires collapse eventually. the hegemonic westernized society that is currently choking the planet, has, tops, 100 years left in it before it must give way to something else. not greater or better, just different. no empire lasts forever, as history has shown us. and, weird as this may sound, i kind of hope the next super power isn't so lenient on christians. hearing about the faith that believers from other countries have is staggering. the fact that they could die for what they believe makes it so much more important. here, we get to become one of a thousand faceless individuals with some sort of spiritual belief.

my cynicism is not really fully explained here, but maybe in a later post i'll expand on this topic.

for now though, i leave you with this song:

song: listening to freddie mercury
artist:emery
album: the question (where were You when i was...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F61B_O3R9SE

lyrics:

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858553204/

excerpt of notice:

You're a Christian/ tell the sinner: "find repentance" "it's your last chance."
You believer, where's your patience?

lyric of the day - mid-day update

song: every thought a thought of You
band: mewithoutYou
album: it's all crazy! it's all false! it's all a dream! it's alright

lyrical excerpt of excellance:

"when we swear, my love is real,

we mean, i like the way you make me feel"

full lyrics:

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858770595/

actual song:

http://www.purevolume.com/mewithoutyou

(it's the first song)

individuality in a copy and paste society

society has skewered the concept of individuality so much that i'm not even sure where to begin.

...

hmm.

lets skip the introduction and just get on with it.

in life, you always have to make choices. whether physical or mental, choices are the basis of day to day life and are arguably the most important part of human existence.

so, in regards to other humans, there is a mental choice that must be made in regards to how you view them.

they can either be senseless clones with no real originality and therefore no objective or subjective value because they are a dime a dozen.

or

you can view them as unique individuals.

thats it. you can't say certain people are one, and others the other. it's one or the other.

i recently came to this conclusion through using my observation skills! inductive logic FTW!

the more i talk to people, the more i see that yes, there are generalities that are connected, hence the usefulness of things like MBTI, but even within there, the possibility for difference is infinite.

i'm starting to come to the conclusion that every person is one in a million. or rather, one in six billion.

and, its exhausting. life is so much easier when you can view crowds as disposable. to realize that everything person in your school, that you pass on the street, that you ignore in an elevator, that each one has objective value as a person, has a unique story, a unique view point, the ability to bring you to tears with a story from their lives. well, thats an incomplete sentence, but thats how i feel whenever i think of that. incomplete. knowing that there is such a myriad of connections to be made, to be had. it is tiring.

friendships, strong friendships, lasting friendships, take a lot of work. getting to know one person well is oftentimes a struggle. but, getting to that layer, getting under the epidermis and into their innermost chambers is always worth whatever frustration or trials were in the way.

so yeah, this lacked an introduction and any real supporting facts or such. it's just me, stating whats been on my mind. a relevant verse that comes to mind is psalms 136:13-15 (NIV)

for you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

i praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

i know that full well.

my frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

the innermost being... such a titillating concept.

and, the song of the day:

desolate earth; the end is here -by- underoath

link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbJaPDZH7cQ

lyrics:

You said there was nothing left down here
Well I roamed around the wasteland
And I swear I found something
I found hope, I found God
I found the dreams of the believers

Oh, God! Save us all

(best part of the song is around 3 minutes in where the violin carries it into the drums... guh. beauty)

life or something

i swear, somewhere in my mind, a truly awesome blog is forming slowly like a monster out of miry clay.

but in the meantime, real life is getting in the way and i can't focus enough to pour it onto the page.

so, for now, i will re-edit my english essay.

listen to:

forever young

by

youth group

(no link available)