This isn't actually all that much of a post, but I did want to refer you to some reading.

So anyway, this thing is mostly about female modesty, but it is mentioned that guys should be modest too. I believe that. It is a somewhat different affair, but worth remembering.

Anyway, here's the thing. Pastor Tollefson preached on Proverbs 7 a couple of weeks ago and I think that reminded me of seeing this mentioned on Covenant Eyes' blog and going to check it out. It's The Rebelution's Modesty Survey.

The Modesty Survey is an anonymous discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty. Hundreds of Christian girls submitted their questions and over 1,600 Christian guys (of all ages) submitted 150,000+ answers—including over 25,000 text responses.

source

I think sometimes it bugs me when people give these general, Sunday school, perfect summary answers to spiritual questions. Yeah, those are good, and sometimes they are helpful. But sometimes specifics are a lot more helpful and maybe more personable. I like the Modesty Survey because it some of both. Some good general answers about Christian modesty and some very specific questions. I have to admit it was somewhat disturbing how specific some of the questions are and what they might make you think about. But, as Christians, keep your mind out of the gutter.

I think it's a good read / browse-through for guys and girls, I think. It might give some insights to the female side and let guys see what a sampling of other guys think about all this stuff, maybe learn that they might be thinking about the issue wrongly, or see other perspectives on it, or get some good clarification on it, or what you will.

Anyway, I found it interesting. As a technical aside, the questions and answers are loaded up with AJAX, so it's not so easy just to hit up a bunch of links in new tabs for later reading (plus there's often a read more responses link).

P.S. Not to be immodest myself, but…

This is our 100th post.

They weren't all big, intellectual, meaty posts; some were actually a bit trivial. But hey… two people, 100 blog posts, 1 year and 17 days. Not that bad, is it?

And…

…hopefully sometime in the soonish future, there will be a post up about us seeking some new bloggers. Also hopefully in the next few months, I can get a sweet WordPress setup all made and get a proper domain for a broken mold… either abrokenmold.com or abrokenmold.net, I would think. I'm just not digging .org for the name. I'm thinking we can get hosted with the awesome NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. It should be rather affordable with the low traffic I'm expecting (at least at first… if it ever picks up, I'll probably be able to afford some decent fixed price hosting by then).

Two common maxims are: "Familiarity breeds contempt," and "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

While there is latent truth to be found in these statements, one might conceive of a scenario where proximity to an object brings one under some some degree of influence of that object, causing one to take a more favorable view of said object. In this case, distance from the object in question and the resulting objectivity could in fact engender contempt. In this way, the proverbial dynamic may be shown to not always hold true.

Just by way of sharing one of my more interesting trains of thought...

So I just thought I'd put fingers to keyboard, so to type, since I had a couple thoughts...

(Yes, that was a not-so-subtle parody of Nat's post here.)

-Part 1-

Well, over the course of our vacation/trip, we've been staying at the houses of various friends and relatives (similar to Linux distro-hopping, I daresay) and one of the features that varies between locations is the reading selection. At one of my uncles and aunts' house, they had a number of Frank Peretti books; I've read several of his: The Oath, Hangman's Curse and Nightmare Academy, some from the Cooper series, and also Piercing the Darkness. However, I had not read Monster or House, a book he co-authored with Ted Dekker, nor had I read This Present Darkness, to which Piercing the Darkness is a sequel. They had all three of these books, and I read all three last weekend.

This, I imagine, puts me in a somewhat qualified position to review and comment on Peretti's literary offerings, and that is what I intend to do.

Peretti's books might be generally described as supernatural thrillers; he gives angels, demons, and spiritual warfare a very real place in everyday life. In addition, he provides insight on modernity and culture from a biblical perspective; his plots depict the consequences of fallen human nature in a gripping and lively fashion. His simple and unrefined dialogues and almost over-the-top vivid descriptions combine to create an urgent, driving story.

In Monster, for example, the story begins with a handful of people taking a weekend retreat into the wilderness, but an ongoing thread of perplexing hints and puzzle pieces races through the building tension to form an entire web of intrigue that involves Sasquatches, hair-raising hunts and gruesome deaths, and the ruthless advance of Atheistic science. House deals with a deadly game of manipulation and greed, fueled by fear and Satanism, and ultimately exposes our bondage to Sin in our own hearts, and liberation through Christ and sacrifice.

"Light came into the darkness, but the darkness did not understand it."

This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness vividly depict the struggle of the Remnant against the onslaught of Humanistic (and ultimately Satanistic) agendas, power struggles for the education system, government, and even entire towns. But beyond this superficial picture, the awesome conflict between angels and demons, good against evil, is beautifully portrayed. These books are a powerful testament to the efficacy of prayer, with the prayers of the saints providing "prayer cover" for angels to carry out maneuvers, and strength to meet demons in battle. Finally, the assurance that shouts so gloriously from the pages is that God IS ultimately in control, and "light will always pierce the darkness." Shades of C.S. Lewis's deeper magic. I get goosebumps.

So, as the angels say, "For the saints of God and for the Lamb!"

-Part 2-

Now, a bit on mewithoutYou (mentioned of course in many previous posts), arguably my favorite band. To be perfectly honest, my estimation of mwY may have been somewhat lowered by what I've recently learned. Then again, maybe I've just *altered* my preconceptions, while still holding their work in the same esteem. I think that really is the key word-- preconceptions. Not to flood this post with C.S. Lewis references or anything, but I think there is something to be said for his (if somewhat Universalist) account in The Last Battle of the dialogue between Aslan and Emeth (a Calormene), where Aslan explains that, while Emeth thought he had been worshipping Tash, he had in fact been serving Aslan, "For I and he [Tash] are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him." Okay, so it isn't just Lewis's idea either... maybe that's what Paul was getting at in the Areopagus, eh?

The point I'm trying to pose for consideration is the possibility that, despite maybe not holding the correct understanding/belief of Scripture, it is still possible to worship and obey the one true God. That does seem to be validated by Paul's speech. Of course, you don't yet know what I'm referring to, do you? Sorry...

*deep breath*

Well, being on vacation and all, I was able to take some time to do a bit more research on mwY, the band philosophy and background, etc. And I came across a few things that I found a bit unsettling. First there's the fact that their lyrics and philosophy are influenced by Sufi Islam teachings (Aaron was raised in a Sufi household before he converted to Christianity; his father converted from Judaism and his mother from Episcopalian). Then again, it isn't as if such beliefs are *necessarily* in contradiction with a Christian aesthetic. However, it does indicate to me that they aren't on the page I thought they were, at least not nominally, and sometimes nominally can be important. More on that later. Next, I found a couple of interviews with lead vocalist Aaron Weiss found here and here. From the first interview, we find this excerpt:

It’s not like I’m offended if someone says we’re a Christian band. I just don’t think it’s true. I don’t think we live up to that calling, so I’d be reluctant to go saying that, and God knows the truth. Our hearts are very far from Jesus.

Now that concerns me somewhat. However, if you take that in perspective with their lyrics, what do you end up with? They certainly don't seem "far from Jesus" in the many references to Jesus in their songs and the story that they tell. Eh. Hmm.

From the second interview:

I'm trying to understand the Bible, and um, but I definitely don't put it on the same pedestal that I used to. You know, where I'd say, "this is the word of God that I'm holding in my hand and this is infallible and perfect, and there's no contradictions and is scientifically accurate," and all the rest...

And then he goes on to point out reasons he now regards it as more of collection of holy Jewish stories and poems. In this list he cites various "inconsistencies," and how he just wasn't convinced by efforts to sustain their validity. I'm glad, however, to see that he goes on to say, "There's just some things that I pray to God to guide me in the right way and to guide me to the truth in the best way." He's evaluating things that the Bible says by what is written on his conscience, and I hope God will grow him that way.

So, to conclude, I want to express a few final thoughts about the worship/worldview issue. Looking at Romans 1, we seem to find another indicator of God's natural revelation and the potential to worship Him with the knowledge given. Is one absolutely required to have received the gospel to be included in God's kingdom? I hope not... what about those far-flung tribes who have lived for centuries "without excuse"? Then again, I do think it's important to claim the name of Christ if you've received the gospel. I don't know how that all works out... I realize this is sort of a whole different topic, but it is one that pertains directly to the subject at hand, so I'm trying just to briefly set up a framework. C.S. Lewis (last reference, I promise), in Pilgrim's Regress, outlines such a model, where he describes the heathens as being given a "picture" of "Sweet Desire" by God, and in striving towards that, they were living by His law. The Christians in Puritania, however, have the law without the picture. At any rate, I think it does make sense.

However it may be, I love the poetry and passion of mewithoutYou and believe their theme is in worship to God, and I certainly pray for them and hope to see them in Heaven. Can't wait to listen to It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright when I get home in a week or so.

Bonus material: check out http://improveverywhere.com. Hilarious stuff, but language disclaimer.

-Matthew

It seems to me there was a point when blogging was 'in'. At least with the younger population. It was, well, a fad, and like all of them, it passed (or should I say will pass? passes?).

But why did the young'ns not stick around? I believe the answer to be simple: writing about what you did today gets boring after a while -- for reader and likely enough the blogger, too. And if you're not celebrity, what stranger in the world is going to read your boring personal weblog?

Now that you've figured it out, consider the hundreds of non-celebrity blogs that get a nice chunk of readership. Why do they get readership? Content, content, content. Plus presentation, of course. Your average personal blog might have a terrible template (or just a popular and familiar one), but I think people appreciate good design, whether consciously or subconsciously. It also seems to me that blogs with high readership have a topic, or a category to their posts -- thus a reason for people to come back: more content in that category. Example: Download Squad. Though it covers tech news, they are always talking about software, new and updated. So people have a reason to come back. Unless you are some hot celebrity, your personal life probably is not enough to draw someone back to your blog.

And one note: it seems to me that a lot of popular blogs (at least that I run into) are run by a team. Keeping quality content coming is important, too. Who would get used to watching TV if programs came on randomly, sporadically, and far between?

Enter microblogging, and by the numbers, Twitter. And Facebook*. Why do daily details of your personal life suddenly become hot fodder for the internet masses (OK, maybe just your friends, but I do have random people follow me on Twitter -- it's been spammers recently, though)? Manageability. Or should we put it, digestibility. And the social ties. One can eat spoonfuls, in fact, one wants to eat multiple spoonfuls in a day, but not six whole pizzas.

Check out this article, In defense of Twitter. After you read this quote from it, that is:

Of course you'd like to think that most of your daily conversation is weighty and witty but instead everyone chats about pedestrian nonsense with their pals. In fact, that ephemeral chit-chat is the stuff that holds human social groups together.

So while we post some more personal stuff to the blog (and it can't help bleeding through), I like to think of it as a sort of formal publishing platform. It's information, subjective and objective, and it's there for your taking. And if you feel like coming back because it interests you, do. If not, don't. If you're my friend, you might find such disconnected and random thoughts as Twitter produces to be noteworthy.

Anyway, some interesting thoughts…

*Facebook status updates

Last Tuesday, one of my friends tumbled off a road and down a hill in a crew cab pickup truck. We got news of a rollover on Tuesday night, and not too much later we heard that Isaiah Buck had been life flighted out.

He is in a Lewiston hospital now, and has been in a coma for over a week. The amount of prayers going out really has been explosive. The word went out, and the saints hit their knees. All over the world, really; Sweden, Hong Kong, Africa, US, etc. Really it has been amazing… it has gone out through church networks, prayer chains, word of mouth, many emails.

If you want the story and aftermath of the rollover, this Chieftan story does a fairly good job; I don't feel like fully recounting it here.

We Providence people (and then some) had a prayer meeting in the school chapel this morning at nine. It was good to have another group prayer; there was a more general gathering (less school specific) at the Hurleys' place last Wednesday. I think it would be good to have a prayer meeting every Wednesday somewhere until the end of the matter, which we do not know when that will be.

We shall not stop praying, but we have many things to thank God for already; that there was only one fatality, that the rest of the young men are doing relatively well (broken bones and Jaymz has a fever), that there is the means to care for them, especially Isaiah, that the Lord has been upholding Mr. and Mrs. Buck in an amazing way, that we can come together freely and pray, that we are never alone, that Isaiah is alive (it was iffy that first night… shallow breathing and that stuff), and many more praises. But do not stop praying, in the faces of either good or bad news. The woods are thick yet.

I'm compiling a list of public stuff on the internet concerning Isaiah. It's under the tag isaiahbuck in my Delicious bookmarks. Feel free to comment about stuff that's now on there and I will probably add it. I am adding Mrs. Bakker's blog posts about Isaiah to the list as they come… she is a pretty active blogger, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more to come.

This truly is a new experience to me; never before have I been in danger of losing a friend, never before have I had one in a coma like this. It's something new, and it's something that's stretching us. And that is good. Good things already are coming out of this, praise God for that. And I pray that more may yet come; we are connected here in this little county, and this is rocking the boat a bit, I should think. Well, let's walk on water.

The Changing of Times by UnderOATH, by the way.

Since I wrote my last post about this, I read some stuff and thought somewhat shortly after the post about writing another one, but never did.

However, I don't remember exactly what it was that I read for sure, so I'll talk about what I've been thinking about recently.

Last time, I talked about three types of 'bad language' (and that is such a wide phrase to mean something much narrower): profanity, obscenity, and cursing, the last of which may bleed into the first two. Like I said before, profanity is disrespecting the sacred with language, obscenity is making that seen which should not be seen (vulgar; it comes from Latin meaning "the common people", which is where such things should not be talked about; they are out of context), and cursing is calling, wishing, or commanding something bad or evil upon a person or thing.

I must say that I have already become somewhat numbed to some offensive language; I see and hear it enough that it begins to bother me less. And that seems a bad thing.

The thing with this group of 'bad language' I call offensive is that it is offensive. Nobody likes pooh in their face for real, so why would they like it in their face with words? Sexuality is meant for marriage, and there is a shame in bantering about it in a public and common manner; thus comes the offensiveness of such words. Furthermore, who likes to be cursed? Do we really have the right to proclaim such things upon people anyway?

Now, this is not to say that every time these words appear in print or are spoken that it is evil. I mentioned before the dynamic nature of language and also the intent of the heart. These both come into play. Not always when people say "damn" are they cursing someone. Not always will people consider words to mean the same thing. Different things are offensive in different cultures.

It seems to be one of those Christian liberty things and one we should be very careful with. These words obviously carry some meaning that at least to some, is offensive or evil. Some seem to me to be universally evil; these would be those that profane that which should always be sacred (such as God's name), and those things that should not be seen by those they are communicated to (such as talking about sex in a dirty way). If we are to be different from the world, and these are the worlds vulgarities, some explicitly wrong, some not loving to our neighbor, shouldn't we not use such language?

Don't get me wrong; I am not declaring this group of words absolutely evil, but I think as Christians we need to be careful and discerning in this area; for some of us, perhaps it is better to forego them completely as we can, for others it may not be so. Using any words to intentionally and maliciously hurt others is obviously wrong, so let us keep that in mind.

I personally steer clear of common words considered offensive ('swear words', obscenity, profanity) in my speech, because it seems safer to me, and there are other words in this language to express my feelings. Don't let me dictate how to live your Christian life, though; that is the job of God's word, so pick it up and read.

Actually, I won in the Judges' Choice student category and tied for second in the People's Choice category with Samantha Robbins (who also took second second Judges' Choice with the same picture, it seems, and also tied for third in People's Choice with Ashtin Olsen). In the second annual Chieftain photo contest. To be specific.

Here's the Judges' Choice winner (yes, that's Matthew):

And here's mine from People's Choice second place:

I am told there might be monetary prizes, but I don't remember for sure and nothing has appeared in the mailbox yet.

Battered. Whispered screams from every side. Hissing failure. Preaching darkness, emanating it, killing you alive. Reach for hope and knives at your throat. Fall back, hope fades, the end seems pleasant, a tree of refreshment, yet somehow, somewhere, knows it is false.

About to give in, pushing away what light you saw, for it surely cannot bring rest… surely not. Sink down, beaten down, fallen rose. Where is anything? Where is where I was? None of this can be… why not a story, yes… this isn't me… is it? Curse, rise again, to fall. To fall… what? This too, unbelievable.. is this the way out? You really came to me? Surely not… for look at me… I couldn't be worthy. Yet I'm picked up and lead back… and now know what seemed right was false and what seemed impossible was true. And I never was there… this is somewhere new… Still not standing on my own… but finally I have risen. Turn eyes and thank him who did the impossible. And make the choice.

end

I wrote that last July… it talks about deep despair but then hope through the sacrifice of Christ, He who makes the crippled walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, the dead alive. It's somewhat poetic, but I wouldn't call it a straight poem, perhaps artistic prose. Maybe it means something to somebody out there.

Because of the ever expanding world of social networking some people complain about just another thing to update. I quite concur… if you have say five different services you want to post the same message to, it can be a bit of an annoyance. Or a drag. Or whatever you care to describe it as. However, I think that that problem could be at least partially solved by the use of services such as Ping.FM, an online tool that lets you update many services at once (though I have never used such a service… yet).

But, that's not what I do. I have a few services I have joined over the years, and in my mind I have a purpose for each. And here they are:

• Blogs (my current platform is Blogger): for posting longer stuff… sort of textual works of art sometimes: discourses, arguments, current events, reviews, etcetera. Also, questions to the masses, guides, longer write-ups on personal life and experiences, and so on. Or sometimes, just less formal stuff and perhaps shorter stuff.
• Twitter: for microblogging, as the service is described. Short things I want to say or just whatever I want to say; sometimes randomness or seemingly such. Also, it's good for plugging in updates and notices from stuff, like twitterfeed (pulls feeds to a Twitter profile). Also, I like that it's microblogging… it's limited to 140 characters, so it can make you be creative. It can be the art of brevity.
• Facebook: a great all around social utility for me. Text, images, and video are supported, so any such things may be posted. And what's alluring about this is that it is a sharing just within your circle of friends, not public (though I think you may choose to do so… I doubt many users do). It's very pluggable-in, which I like. You can post and link to your heart's content, and it's really popular with some people, which can make for perhaps the most effective means of communication to some people. Also, it has a community aspect within the privacy; many interactions between can be publicly seen by their circle of friends, who can easily join in. And, back to the pluggable-in aspect, there are many, many Facebook Apps, some of which plugin in to other services, or let other services plug into Facebook. And by the way, if for any reason you got confused, it's Facebook, not FaceBook.
• Delicious (previously called Del.icio.us): It's social bookmarking. Personally, I'm not too into the whole see what's up on Digg or Delicious thing, but it works good for putting a linkroll on my blog, so people can see what I've recently bookmarked, thus I share it with them. I use the bookmarklet, which works great for bookmarking pages I want to share. Also, it can create a record of where you've been on the web of sorts… not a strict statistical or analytical record, but a sort of what-I-thought-the-best-then collection. And you can add your comment to stuff you bookmark, which works with the collection idea. Not to mention if something isn't any longer in your browser history and you want to find it, maybe you bookmarked it on Delicious (or Digged it, for that matter). As I said at first, I'm not really too much into the see-what-floats-to-the-top idea, but maybe I would be if I had a better internet connection. I guess we might see in the future.

So that's what I use. How about you? What's your social networking philosophy? Or do you even have one?

This is it, the last day of eight years of Bush. And I honor him for his service to our nation; even thought he made mistakes, he still has stood up when it was right but not fun.

And today we remember Martin Luther King Jr., a black man who dream that one day his children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Well, I think you'd be proud today, Mr. King.

And, it really is amazing, a country that 40, 60 years ago still had a lot of segregation between whites and colored people. And now, a black man becoming arguably the most powerful man in the world.. tomorrow?

It's just… blowaway amazing, really.

And I ask that God will protect President Obama, shield him from those who would harm him, give him great wisdom, and turn his heart. I think it's really great that such an event could actually be happening, with a host of supporters in the nation, but after all, he was either one of the most or the most liberal congressmen in our nation. And we will certainly see his radical views affect our nation in big ways.

But, this is just crazy. It's almost hard to believe it's happening… both for the part of life that I've paid attention to politics (or most of it), Mr. Bush has been our president. I haven't really known anything else. But now, a Democrat, a very radical one at that, a black man, and a fairly young-ish President-elect, about to take power.

Puh-retty amazing.

Not to mention how much the inauguration… like $150 million or something like that. Insane. I can understand security and safety costs, but a bunch for partying, too? (I don't actually know the breakdown). Seriously, Mr. Obama.

So, I just have to say today, wow. Like, really wow. A new year and likely enough we're about to launch into probably one of the craziest times in our history. So hold on tight and pray like crazy.

You know what? I don't think rock music is going to die, to fade back to folk and classical… if we still have the skill and complexity of classical music (and the style is still alive… neo-classical, anyone?), we shall still have that of rock.

Viva la rock!

Dare to disagree? Say on.

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Really it's all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my father's before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Matthew sent me an email with this poem. It was requested that it was sent on. I liked it pretty well, so I decided to post it here. It is important to remember those who serve to defend our freedoms.

Also, this was the address at the end of the email:

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Alright, I know. I opened a can of worms just by saying that. But I'm prepared to put them on the hook.

I wanted to blog about this a while back. In fact, what started it all was me asking (or was it telling) a friend (OK… an internet friend) was cussing on IM. And he said 'why?' So that got me Googling on it, which dug up… previous cans of worms. Specifically, some of the stuff I turned up, for reference:

Grudem and Piper on Profanity :: :: A Reformed, Christian Blog
constantly..in need of grace...: Glorious Biblical Profanity
Profanity and Christianity « JP’s Mind

And that post, by the way, was when I ran into JP's Mind, in case you ever noticed the link to it on the blog.

So, the argument rages on.
"Swearing is wrong."
"It's the only way I can adequately express myself."
"Hey, even Paul used profanity."

Each argument, each opinion, we could follow on a network of its own, but this is what I have to say. It's not about walking the line. Something I have learned is that righteousness isn't a line; it's a direction. That being said, we would want to be walking in righteousness. Which brings us back to the question, does profanity belong on the road of righteousness?

I see this is going to get a little more involved…

First, we have to know what profanity is. The Encarta® World English Dictionary (eh, it's on my laptop) defines the verb transitive as "to treat something sacred with disrespect." Using God's name as a swear word would fall under this description, I think. The other word that comes to my mind is obscenity. And what is an obscenity? Merely something that you are not supposed to see. So when we make things that should not be seen visible, it's an obscenity. What's not supposed to be seen? Check the Bible for answers on that one. One other angle we might hit on is the word cursing. Wishing or commanding something bad on someone. Really, we can't do that except what we ourselves would do or influence others to do. Still, I don't have as good a handle on this one. In the back of my mind, it seems I remember someone saying when we curse, it does have an effect. Maybe I should ask around.

Anyway, neither profaning things nor making visible that which should not be sounds like something Christians should be doing. When it comes down to that, it's easy. The answer is, it's wrong.

Really, the whole thing revolves around three things in my opinion: the dynamic nature of language, the intent of the heart, and stumbling blocks.

So, we should first realize the dynamic nature of language. Some of the things we say today that don't seem offensive at all might have been highly offensive 200 years ago. Language changes. Definitions change. Keep that in mind. But also keep in mind, God was holy 200 years ago, and he still is. Respect his name. Also, what was obscene 200 years ago is still obscene today, though our culture seeks to define it as acceptable.

Secondly, the intent of the heart; it can be good or evil. If you say "son of mutton chop" but mean "son of a ***" in your heart, that's wrong. That's not to say we can't express anger. I was reading something in my Googling that said it well (indirect quote, click for original): 'When I say "Damn!" after hitting my thumb with a hammer, it doesn't mean I'm calling down eternal damnation on the hammer. It means "ouch!"' In that situation, the intent of the heart isn't cursing somebody, it's saying "I hurt!" Or "I'm annoyed!" On a personal level, this seems agreeable, but I think it could be a stumbling block, and people could also get the wrong idea if you're saying "Oh ***!" every time something irks you.

Back to the stumbling block. I think a person can be a stumbling block in two ways: by doing something that is definitely Biblically wrong (which might encourage others to do the same, both those who know it to be against God's law and those who don't), and by doing something that would violate the conscience of a brother or sister in Christ (in their presence, or such), e.g., Delbert believes it's wrong to eat hamburgers, and Bob walks into the break room with a quarter pounder, plops down beside him, and starts chomping away (to take it a little further… Bob: "Oh, hey, Delbert, man, you gotta try this. Oh, yeah, I know you don't believe in hamburgers, but one little bite won't hurt. C'mon man, yur missin' out!").

Alright, I think I've gotten my thoughts expressed. I welcome yours.

I congratulate president elect Obama on his success.

I also say to the conservatives: don't freak out. Especially not right now. We have over two months until Obama takes office, and when that time arrives, still don't freak out. Just obey your leaders and work with President Obama, and appreciate his service. And pray for him a TON. Dead serious. The Bible says to pray for your leaders, and we can especially pray for his protection. He has indeed achieved the status of being the first black person to take this office. And I might add with such overwhelming approval. I am proud that America can overcome racism in such a big way. It's radical application of overcoming evil with good.

Regarding the two months: Barack Obama has already started the transition process to the position, and we should be ready, too. One of the things that I am most troubled about is Obama's wish to make his first act as president the signing of the Freedom of Choice Act.

This will be a huge step in favor of abortion, and that's not good at all. Let us pray that such a thing will not come to pass. Let us pray hard in this time of transition, both for our new president and his policies and for our current president, who has endured great unpopularity for his consistency with what he believes and who must tie up loose ends and finish his job in a two months, that to him, may seem altogether too short.

The day is almost upon us. And then we find out what direction we have chosen to take… what is in out hearts will be reflected upon our ballots.

Well, of course, a substantial amount of us have already voted. But anyway, yeah, tomorrow is the day… the showdown. I plan to listen to the radio (KMBI/NPR Spokane) and be online to monitor the results live and hot!

One could say a lot about this election. I'll try to keep my thoughts concise, but we'll see what comes.

First of all, one thing we can certainly be sure of in America is there is a reason why this place is so messed up: we reap what we sow and we sowed sin. And now we have a mess. Go figure.

The other thing we can be sure of: we can should repent, and there's no time like now (alright, well… earlier, actually).

But these issues do have realities, specifics and not just generals; meaning there are certain problems.

On the presidential candidates--

Neither Obama nor McCain are, in my opinion, an ideal person to be leading our nation. I would vote for McCain if I could, but I don't think he's perfect. His healthcare plan is expensive enough, I'd say. And his mortgage idea is also another staggering amount, following up on the recent corporate bailout. And frankly, we deserve someone like Obama, but I pray that God will be gracious to us.

Barack Obama is in fact, the most liberal senator in our nation at this time. This is based on his voting record, I would believe, but I'm not sure. In any case, even if he was the most perfect candidate in every other way, I cannot support a man who condones the murder of our unborn. It's murder, plain and simple, and I don't support those who support murder. His other policies aren't that great either; his healthcare keeps with the socialistic trend the US has been seeing. I have to give a McCain a point here… well, at least a partial point; his healthcare plan is more market based, which is good, because the government shouldn't really be involved in healthcare at all… so let's wean the American people off of it. On the other hand, though, McCain want to give tax cuts so people can buy their own insurance. Good or bad? It's not direct healthcare, but I don't know, their might be rules on what you could do with the money you save… I really don't know.

The US and world economies, healthcare, and environmental issues certainly might be hot button right now, but they are not the only issues (and I got issues with those issues anyway.. lolz). Some of the more important things to me right now, though, are easing off with governmental control, a huge reality check on environmental issues (as in, stop the idiocy, please!), and big black and white sin issues like abortion and homosexuality. A candidate who will state his intentions, hold a Biblical and conservative view, have some backbone, and not cave in to political and public pressure is one that would get my vote. And the presidential candidate that fits this description is not Barack Obama. But it's not John McCain either. Still, it's ignoring our duty to not vote and not take a stand. My ballot would have a bubble next to John McCain not because he's perfect, but because he best represents my beliefs as a Christian.

I urge the people of America to vote according to their convictions, not their feelings.

I got up around 5:00 AM today… it felt like the middle of the night. We left around 5:30, bound for the city of Fruitland, Idaho, which is quite close to Ontario, Oregon. I think we got there at about 11-something, our time. Fruitland and Ontario are in the Mountain Time Zone, which is an our ahead of us.

After a relatively brief wait in the front room, I went back into a room and got asked some of the usual questions (allegories, prescriptions). I got x-rayed too… kind of interesting, I stood sort of under/inside the machine, bit down on this thing, put my hands onto a couple of bars, and closed my eyes. The machine, scanned around my head to get a complete view of my teeth. You could see the wisdom teeth pretty well in the print, and you could see my eye sockets, too. A little creepy…

After that, Doctor Hillam came in and had a consultation with me and the parents. He told us what to expect after the surgery, what I could eat, what to do, and what not to do. He said it was the perfect time to get them out, and I agree. It's a four day weekend, which means time to recover and do homework, and I still live at home, which means people to take care of me. =^)

Anyway, after the consultation, I went to the lavatory, and then went to the surgery room. The nurse, or assistant, or whatever she was, who was in there, hooked me up with some monitors: blood pressure, heart, and some sensor that went on my finger which I do no know the purpose of. Mom suggests that it may have been a blood sugar monitor.

The doc came in and I got hooked up with an IV. Either before or after that, I don't remember which, they gave me oxygen through the nose. I think my vision might have started to go a little weird after they started pumping the sedative… but I don't remember. In fact, it was sort of dreamy after that… and then I slowly woke up in the recovery room. I was a bit dizzy, and my vision a little messed up. After a while, I pulled on my sweater, and a while after that, I walked out to the car with Mom. I think I looked OK compared to some poor girl who walked out shortly after we arrived in Fruitland.

Anyway, I'm on Vicoprofen right now, have an icepack strapped to my head (check out the Facebook pics, LOL), will be taking antobiotics, and doing mouthwash.

I have blown my nose what seems to be a numberless amount of times today (depleting the school tissue supply a bit) and sneezed enough times to expect to have to go chasing after my head the next time. I hate having a cold.