Apologetics Apologies

2 03 2006

It’s been so long since our last apologetics. I posted on The Blessed X. Go read it.

I keep getting emails detailing the pathetic hit count on the site. Take a look:


The Blessed X

— Site Summary —
Visits

Total …………………….. 556
Average per Day ……………… –
Average Visit Length …………. –
This Week …………………… 0

Page Views

Total …………………….. 813
Average per Day ……………… –
Average per Visit ……………. –
This Week …………………… 0


Pathetic…that was an accurate descriptor, wasn’t it? Well, my master plan is to stoke the apologetics fire and build it back up again. I posted over there at the Bl-X and gave some thoughts concerning it. I want to pay more attention to that site, since it is built to equip Christians.

It’s a tough thing, keeping up on a site like that. If it had more contributors, I think it’d be better. Posting something of meaning there involves study and work. I give thoughts backed with scripture and that takes time to find. I often start with a thought that I know is a biblical principle, but don’t know where my supportive evidence for that thought is, and then I go find that evidence in the scriptures. It winds up taking a lot of time. It’s fun and helps my walk, but it’s almost impractical to think of posting at least every other day. Without the misery of college and it’s accompanying homework, I’d be more apt to go about such an undertaking.

Anyhow, go take a look. Leave some thoughts if you have any.





A Post In German Für Praxis and for Fun

24 02 2006

Ich war krank am Dienstag und Mittwoch mit die Grippe. Es war nicht so gut. Ich war im das Bad alle fünf minuten. Gestern Abend hatte ich meiner deutsche Klasse, und ich ging nach Hause früh. Ich denke, daß ich zu viel meines Abendessens aß. Nach jeder mahlzeit ich fühle zu voll. Ich glaube dass ich werde erbrechen. Ich sprach mit meiner Schwester Leah und sie sagte, daß sie hat demselben gefühlt. Das war schlimm.

Ich beschloß, auf Deutsch zu schreiben weil ich Praxis benötige. Genießen Sie!

If you can’t read German, go here, paste, and translate. It may not be a perfect translation, but you’ll get the idea.





Luther

23 02 2006

I just finished watching Luther and I was impressed. Generally speaking, when a movie that hits so close to the truth of God is made, it usually doesn’t stack up for quality. The Left Behind movie for example: poor acting that makes you feel a little bit sorry for the struggling movie makers and the actors trying to act. It was embarrassing.

The movie, however powerful, was not meant as a vessel for the gospel. Rather, it was meant to tell a story that changed the world forever. It just so happens that the gospel is brilliantly displayed through the recounting of these historical events.

You probably already know the story of Martin Luther and the inspiration created by him that spurred the Protestant Reformation. His 95 Thesis sparked a fire that led to radical change. It not only worked out and into the reformation, but also led Luther to undergo a translation of the Bible into the language of the common man: German. This breakthrough allowed each individual the ability to read God’s word and also set the standard for German language.

The movie’s sets, costumes, and acting were beautifully done. The entire movie keeps you focused on the story and characters, without embarrassing you while watching. It remains captivating and intriguing throughout.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone appreciative of history, a great story, and the Christian faith. I’d also recommend it to Catholics, who, unfortunately, sometimes fall prey to a lack of knowledge about their church history.





Infirmity

12 02 2006

A soar throat and a clogged head. I stayed in my chair under a blanket nearly all day. I didn’t write, but that’s okay. I’m afraid that if I had, it would have suffered from the disconnected head feeling I have. During my day I watched Tommy Boy, Underworld, and Transporter 2. I hope taking all this down time will get me feeling better more quickly. Maggie mentioned that her throat was hurting…I really hope she doesn’t come down with it too.





Written Words

11 02 2006

It is a good feeling when you finally get past a hang up in your writing. I was stumped when I came to how my main character would discover the remnants of antediluvian colonists, and then once he discovered them, why were they the way they were.

I’m actually bringing back pieces of my first large writing of the Nefroidak story, which I trashed long long ago. Unfortunately, Maggie had read the entire thing, and marked all kinds of corrections and made suggestions. She was a little annoyed when I decided against that whole story line.

It’s interesting that I’m coming full circle. In that storyline I had originally had the character become stranded on a planet, doomed to be invaded, with a people that had no concept of war and were lacking in technology. He was charged with teaching these people, very quickly, how to fight for themselves. That story line changed and morphed until I changed everything for the sake of flow. It became a detour and detracted from the rest of the story and warranted being dropped–a difficult decision for a writer.

However, I’ve expanded on my ideas and have given the overall concept serious thought. It’s taken months of mulling over ideas and scenarios, and has actually been approximately five years since I wrote the original stranded on the planet storyline, but I think I’m decided on returning to that concept with some better directed alterations. I’ve also made the decision to write a series of books instead of just one large one. This will make it much simpler to convey every aspect of the storyline.

It’s funny, because originally, I wrote this in first person, but have since, based off the recommendation of Aaron, changed to third person. I don’t write from the perspective of omniscient third person however. I like the reader to wonder the same things as the main character and discover through his eyes. So, I’ve kept the personal structure that I had, but at least I’m not as limited when it comes to details.

I realize that I’ve shared some things here that are pretty major portions of the first book, but I don’t think I’ve revealed enough to spoil it. I think it may take a trip to the dictionary to look up antediluvian. Even then, I don’t think that knowledge will spoil it for you. Let’s just say that I’m planning to write about Christianity and it’s place in a society that’s forgotten about it way off in the future.

Pray for me that the writing continues to flow. For now, I’m off to bed.





Happy New Year!

2 01 2006

It’s a rare time, the new year, when usually stubborn people are willing to self examine. It’s called, “New Year’s Resolutions”; the most common of these resolutions being a diet–one that I’m partial to. However, one great resolution would be to start taking faith in Jesus Christ more seriously. It’s a time when people might be a little more open to conversation and the gospel. It’s an opportunity to start making a difference for God.

This last year has been full of ups and downs. Honestly, I’m positive that this year won’t be any easier, but maybe I’ve been letting my attitude down and allowing things, people, and circumstances a little too much power in my life. The new year is like a second chance, a new beginning. Not really a change, just a number and a fresh set of months, but people’s minds make it feel like a change. We hold it up in celebration and then carry out these strange promises to ourselves and others that we’re going to break habits that have followed us for months and years. Unfortunately, the failure rate brings discouragement and many don’t realize that it takes a continual attempt after attempt to truly accomplish what they’ve set out to do.

Well, don’t lose heart. Look to Jesus Christ, our strength. I really mean this. Read your Bible like you mean it, pray with your attention to Him, and live out what He’s teaching you. The New Year’s resolution is inherently weak. It’s not done because Jesus has changed you, but out of ritual. I do believe, however, that it can be a starting point, a groundwork that opens us up for true inspiration to change.





It’s Christmas Time Again!

30 11 2005

Well, for the time being, MySpace is down–I can’t logon and therefore cannot edit it–so I’m putting this video here. My buddy Darren sent me this. Christmas lights on steroids. Turn up your sound and enjoy!

FreeVideoCoding.com
Click here to open this video externally.
P.S. Sometimes this video may not work. This is because Yahoo! has limited my bandwidth, which is the drawback to free webhosting. It takes an hour before it’s back up and running again.





A Writer–Not A Finisher…Apparently

24 11 2005

So, as a writer, I’m quite tormented. It seems that free time is a scarce thing–and when I do finally come by it, I use it for other things, like posting on my blog apparently. I’m actually posting because I saw my mom’s comment and realized that it’s been exactly one month since my last post–my last, incredibly weak, post.

Yet again, I’ve decided to rewrite my book Nefroidak. It is now 16,315 words, which comes out to 61 pages of incredibly unsatisfactory storyline. I admit to being my own worst critic and I’ll also admit to rewriting this story ten or twenty times (lost count), but each time I take a crack at it, I learn more about writing, I learn more about character development, and I become unimpressed with the garbage I’ve written down. Luckily for Maggie, I didn’t make her read this latest version. She gets annoyed, understandably, when she reads part of a story, without an ending, and then I never even get to the ending and, in fact, change the whole thing around.

Pastor Al has told me numerous times that J. R. Tolkien spent an exorbitant amount of time on his works, but C. S. Lewis told him to quit making adjustments and just send it in for publishing, but it doesn’t really apply to me, because I have never actuallly written the entire story out. As sad as it sounds, I have never even written a complete outline. That’s what I’m working on tonight, hopefully. I know the end, but I still haven’t decided on a beginning.

I have written a somewhat lengthy introduction that puts forth the premise. I’ve pasted it below. Let me know what you think and please pray that this story eventually gets written.

What happens when man finds himself being looked upon as a god? He forgets that he once had a God and his mind becomes clouded with the illusion that perhaps his line is responsible for the placement of peoples throughout the universe. The Spanish were seen as gods by the natives of the Americas. Men of this new era have now encountered new worlds filled with vastly different species who remember their creators as being surprisingly human. Man thus is justified by those who went before him believing himself to be of greater stature and importance because he himself is godlike, confirmed by the paintings on the walls of the ancient civilizations littering the galaxies.
Unfortunately, this is the way of man. His imperfection leads him to believe in his perfection. His clouded thinking allows him to ignore his flawed conclusions. This creates the perpetuating error of self exaltation. The beginning came and men fell. They populated the earth and expanded their knowledge beyond the planets of this solar system becoming increasingly filled with evil desires. God snuffed out the growing empire of man on earth with a deluge. It was the end of the great travelers and the beginning of a new line governed by law and then given grace. The men who traveled far off chose to forget earth and their beginnings. Science and knowledge, war and conquest dominated their priorities now.
The changes started with arms races, then moved on to genetic alterations, increasing the quickness of the reflexes, the focus of the eye to see farther, the strengthening of the muscles to wield more power on the battlefield, and the lengthening of life spans in an attempt to cheat death. It soon led down the path to new species, half man, half animal.
Appearances drastically changed, physical structure underwent vast adjustments, and segregation, misplacement, and war resulted, creating new civilizations of people. The fast paced war moved on, amnesia prone, leaving behind species of men on abandoned planets. In this manner, original humans were not forgotten, but remembered and revered as gods; esteemed as creators.
Upon the exploration conducted by modern men, the civilizations welcomed them warmly, and worshiped them as creators. This power gave men the impression that they were superior. They considered all others beneath them. Division between races continued.
The love for self drove away the memory of God. Wars were waged against Christianity and man chose to turn from their only hope. It was not by the will of God that this happened, but by the will of man, for God so loved men that he gave them over to free will. Men allude to His existence in speech and in actions in this time, but seldom give it much thought. Amnesia and self-indulgence fed the desire to remain ignorant. Men cooperated with their sinful freedom, despite the evidence written on their hearts. Because of this, they were allowed to wander from God completely. Their hearts were hard and unmoving. Hope, it seemed, was lost. The gates of heaven grew quiet, in wait for a great change in the hearts of men.





The Terrible Flood!

23 10 2005

Maggie found this online. It’s really funny. Click Play.

Download Windows Media Player if the

video is not playing above.





The Blessed X

3 09 2005

The Blessed X was recently updated. Check it out.