Take THAT Epistemology!

The whole theory of knowledge thing can be quite the annoyance at times. Thanks to thinkers like Descartes and his meditations, a whole stream of atheism was spawned by instilling philosophy's greatest enemy: doubt. It's not like doubt is a bad thing, it's actually quite good because it helps us to better know what's true and what is not. But it is not helpful if scepticism is taken too far, and we question the possibility of knowledge at all by setting the standards of "authentic" knowledge too high.

And then my "would-be" good friend, G. K. Chesterton (were he born in the 20th and not the 19th Century) says something so ridiculously intelligent, as always.

So to all you out there who are confused about knowledge, or who think that faith is opposed to knowledge... this is what I call, "the trust of knowledge":

"Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom, before mere authority and the tradition of the elders, superstitiously swallowing a story I could not test at the time by experiment or private judgment, I am firmly of the opinion that I was born on the 29th of May, 1873, on Campden Hill, Kensington; and baptised according to the formularies of the Church of England in the little church of St. George opposite the large Waterworks Tower that dominated that ridge."

That's from his autobiography. Paul Sanders pointed me to it. But I think it's good for us to think about trust in authority, because we seem to think that we figure everything out all on our lonesome, yet it really comes down to being at least formed under the tutelage of a good master. You just gotta know who is worth trusting.

Do old ladies find you charming?

So Andrew pointed out today that apparently I am charming to older ladies.

I was in Harvey's today with him, and we were standing in line, and ahead of us in a curved portion of the line were 3 older women (by that I mean, probably in their 40s or so, Andrew thinks one was in her 60s). I was playing around with my umbrella and it slipped and fell to the floor. Not flinching, I simply looked down at the fallen umbrella, bemused, and one of the women remarked in a playful manner, "well now you got everybody's attention". I smiled, picked up the umbrella and announced to the lineup, "well I just wanted everyone to realise that I am here, and I have an umbrella!"

I thought nothing more of the matter other than being kind of amusing, but Andrew was astonished and asked me afterward what happened. Apparently, the very moment I dropped that umbrella, before any commentary happened, these three women looked at me as though in love with me (in the sense that they connected and enjoyed me as a person, not in the romantic sense). I said, "oh, well maybe that's 'cause of my comments" and he said, "no! no! it was before all that. They were all totally responding to you! What did you do?"

ha ha ha ha ha!

What makes this more amusing is that this isn't the first time. A few years ago, to give an example, when I worked at the newspaper publisher, the women often made remarks about how I was only getting away with certain things I said or did because I was "too cute", or something like that. I remember I once was blanking out when a woman was explaining something she wanted me to do because I just didn't understand it, and, well I'm not proud of it, but I do that sometimes. Well she looks at me and says, "you know if you don't understand, you could just say so, but don't just ignore me" and then I must have reacted visually somehow to what she said, and I don't know if I smiled or was embarrassed or what I did, but then she reacted to me, as though defeated by something I did and said, "oh alright..." and started to walk back to her desk, "you know Steve, you can't expect to keep getting away with these things because of your charm and those looks". I was in total shock. What the heck was going on? More importantly, if I have this power over older women, then how on earth am I doing it? I want to exploit it!

Ha ha ha, I'm kidding of course. Though it is a tangled mystery to me and I would really like to know what this is I'm doing, and why it's only older women and never (or rarely) the younger ones!
This would have also been a really useful gift to have when I was actually looking to pursue women. Well... that is... if I worked out the kinks with the whole "older" women issue.

ah well. Onward! To priesthood! Huzzah!

This Is My Body - The Devil Mocks God With His Own Words

Here's a little article by Fr. Frank Pavone which I saw someone on facebook posted. I wanted to share it with you all.

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Did you ever realize that the same four words that were used by the Lord Jesus to save the world are also used by abortion advocates? "This is my body." Simple words spoken from opposite ends of the universe, with meanings that are directly contrary to each other.

Scripture tells us that on the night before he died to save all people, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given up for you." He was pointing to what would happen the next day, when he would give up that same body on the cross. He sacrifices himself so that we may live. He gives up his body so that he can destroy the power of sin and death. As a result, he welcomes us into his life, into his kingdom. He makes us members of his body.

On the other hand, abortion supporters say, "This is my body, so don’t interfere with it. It’s mine, I can do what I want, even to the point of killing the life within it. All is secondary to my dominion over my body." In fact one abortion supporter has written, "I say their [pro-lifers’] God is worth nothing compared to my body" (Michelle Goldberg, "Rant for Choice," University of Buffalo, New York, student newspaper, 1995). This attitude accounts for the ability of a growing number of abortion supporters to admit that the procedure takes a human life and yet to defend its legality anyway.

"This is my body"—same words, opposite results. Christ gives his body away so others might live. Abortion supporters cling to their own bodies so others might die.

"God did not make death," Scripture tells us, "and he does not delight in the death of the living. . . . But through the devil’s envy death entered the world" (Wis. 1:13; 2:24). Notice the envy. Human beings were made in God’s very image and likeness, and, since the devil knows he cannot destroy God, he is content to do the closest thing: destroy God’s image—that is, human beings.

The devil does this by mocking God. Satan knows his dark kingdom has been robbed of its power (see Heb. 2:14) by the very words our Lord spoke, "This is my body. " Therefore, the devil therefore takes particular delight in using those same words against God. It is as though he says to Christ, "You used those words to give life to the world—I will use them to take life away!"

A wise man was once asked, "If you could do anything, what would you do?" He answered, "I would restore words to their original meaning." The word "love" is perhaps most in need of such restoration, for it is the most misused, abused, and confused word in the English language. We use it to indicate vastly different types of good things ("I love ice cream," "I love my dog," "I love my wife," "I love God"). We also hear the word distorted to apply to evils such as adultery, homosexual activity, euthanasia, and even abortion.

We find the authentic meaning of the word "love" in the Word of God. John writes, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). In giving his body, Christ teaches the meaning of love: I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person. Abortion teaches the opposite of love: I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself.

Understanding the significance of these four words enables us to answer those who admit that abortion kills a baby and say it should be legal anyway. The abortion controversy is, indeed, deeper than the controversy over when life begins or whether or not abortion destroys a living, human child. The controversy is also over what the meaning of our freedom is, why we have our bodies, and why we have our lives.

The answers to these questions lie in the mystery of freely giving away our lives, our bodies, ourselves in love to one another and to God. Christ declares, "Do this in memory of me." He calls us to do what he did, and that is precisely how we reverse the dynamic of abortion. Mom and Dad must say to their child, "This is my body, my life, given for you," rather than, "This is my body, my life, so go away!"

It has been said that the false god transforms suffering into violence, while the true God transforms violence into suffering. The false god takes the fear and confusion that can arise from a pregnancy, or from a terminal illness, and uses it to tempt a person to the violence of abortion or euthanasia. The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, teaches us to stand in the midst of the culture of death and to be lightning rods, ready to absorb violence and transform it by the power of love into personal sacrifice and suffering that gives life.

Human happiness and fulfillment are never found by pushing other people out of the way. They are found when we push ourselves out of the way. Living the words "This is my body" in a self-giving way enlightens not only the abortion controversy but also the teachings of the Church regarding contraception, divorce, adultery, and many related problems.

As the Holy Father has often pointed out, the human body has its own language. What happens in the body matters, because the human person is not just a spirit. (That is the heresy of gnosticism.) Good intentions and a "good heart" are not enough. Rather, the Christian recognizes that he is (not merely has) a body, accepts that bodily life, possesses it as a gift which is guarded by self-control and virtue, and then in giving himself away in love allows that aspect of self which is the body to express that gift.

Therefore, the words "This is my body, given up for you" summarize—in different but related ways—what spouses say to spouses, what parents say to their children, what priests and bishops say to their flocks, and what we all are called to say to each other.

Pope John Paul II says as much in Evangelium Vitae:

"He who had come ‘not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mk. 10:45), attains on the cross the heights of love: ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15:13). And he died for us while we were yet sinners (cf. Rom. 5:8).

"In this way Jesus proclaims that life finds its center, its meaning, and its fulfillment when it is given up. At this point our meditation becomes praise and thanksgiving and at the same time urges us to imitate Christ and follow in his footsteps (cf. 1 Ptr. 2:21).

"We too are called to give our lives for our brothers and sisters, and thus to realize in the fullness of truth the meaning and destiny of our existence" (EV 51).

"This is my body." It is no accident that the same words are used for such different purposes. A spiritual conflict rages here. We win, in our own lives and in the world, by living these words in self-giving, life-giving love.


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Fr. Frank Pavone is the national director of Priests for Life (P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, New York 10314; phone: 888-PFL-3448, 718-980-4400; fax: 718-980-6515; e-mail: pfl@priestsforlife.org; web: www.priestsforlife.org).

The world is in our home

I must confess, I've been reading G. K. Chesterton on the side in addition to my sudden piling up of studies. So I wanted to share a bit about that, and my reflections of it in my own life.

In his book, "Heresies", Chesterton talks about the importance of family, as well as neighbour. It is interesting how many people flee from their homes to get away from their problems. It's different altogether to move on because we feel called to move in that way, or that there is some need we can be used for, which is often the excuse I suppose we would often make. What I mean, however, is the way in which we might desire to start anew, elsewhere, because we cannot deal with the immediate and local problems at hand. We flee. But it's not that we flee because, as Chesterton writes, we don't find home to be very exciting, but because we find home to be a great deal too exciting. Out there, elsewhere, wherever it is that we go to "get away from it all" and "experience something new" we are looking to discover the world, but it is precisely this world that is directly in our very own home, and indeed all we are doing is precisely that: "to get away from it all"—to get away from reality. Life is challenging. Because we are so prideful and often deem ourselves of a greater value than any other person, we seek to not even bother with such complications and "find ourselves" by seeking out comfort, ease, and avoidance of difficulty. But, again, as Chesterton writes: "It is exactly because our brother George is not interested in our religious difficulties, but is interested in the Trocadero Restaurant, that the family has some of the bracing qualities of the commonwealth. It is precisely because our uncle Henry does not approve of the theatrical ambitions of our sister Sarah that the family is like humanity. The men and women who, for good reasons and bad, revolt against the family, are, for good reasons and bad, simply revolting against mankind. Aunt Elizabeth is unreasonable, like mankind. Papa is excitable, like mankind. Our youngest brother is mischievous, like mankind. Grandpapa is stupid, like the world; he is old, like the world."

It is through difficulty and struggle that we are crushed like wheat, kneaded and pressed and made malleable; that our fibres are broken down so they are no longer tough and resistant. It is by these pressures, sufferings, dying to self and giving up to the Infinite Will, that we are made ready to become prepared as an excellent bread and fitting meal. There's a reason why family is the institution under which we learn and grow. We are born into a social setting we did not choose, that we did not ask for, yet are compelled to love, in spite of the battles, the harsh words, and the disagreements—that is, we learn unconditional love. This applies also when it comes to neighbour. It is the same with neighbour. Although we do choose where we live, our neighbour is who is much more immediate than the wideness of the world. There's a good reason God talks about having love of neighbour. He made our neighbour and to avoid them, again, is to avoid our problems, and to seek out only those with whom we are more comfortable.

When we try to avoid other people instead of dealing with them and treating them as equals, we are looking only to be affirmed in ourselves. Here's the tendency: we avoid certain people because we find them intolerable. We then surround ourselves with like-minded people who provide no opposition. We seek out the easy, the comfortable, the unchallenging. Essentially, we're looking to be confirmed in our present state. We're looking for a mirror of ourselves. We live in a world that is altogether too small. With the communication and technological revolutions, it is now easier than ever to find whomever we want in an instant. This is why the social skills today are so incredibly lacking. Because if I don't want to deal with the problems at home, at school, or at work, I simply need to depart from there and travel via internet connection to some remote forum group which agrees with me in everything I say. This is easy, and in this manner, we don't have to try. Being social, and loving others is a difficult task! It would be easy, of course, if everyone also loved, but that is not our present situation, and so if we are not willing to step above this situation, we will retreat from it, retreat from confrontation, from effort, from suffering, and from any hope of producing any kind of FRUIT. It's a spiritual sloth from which absolutely no growth can take place and no fruit can be produced without the effort and willingness that goes into it! Until we meet one another as equals, and learn to stand in the face of opposition and love anyway (obviously by the grace of God, that goes without saying) we will be rendered inactive, spiritually lazy in a sort of atrophy whereby our spiritual limbs are not even so advanced as the baby who flails their limbs uncontrollably. We are as dead.

I speak, of course, in hyperbole, (the most extreme sense) to reflect upon my life and where I have done the same thing, and so that you may also do the same. I have come to realise the instances in which I have retreated from my problems instead of learning to love completely 100%, but only to put in a portion of love, so long as it was convenient to me. So in these matters I have limited myself in growth, until such time that God thrust me into more difficult situations from which I could not run and was, in a sense, forced to deal with. I began by not dealing with it, and retreating, but once I realised it got me absolutely nowhere, I started to understand why dedication and consistency are so necessary and vital in the prayer life, even when it's hard, even when spiritually pressed. God removes His presence and certain familiar graces from us to sharpen our will and make us more vigilant. By making us have to work for the relationship, we grow in love, and thereby in unity and closeness to Almighty God. Thus our neighbour, and our brother, sister, parents, children and relatives, are all there as an earthly sign and reflection of the heavenly relationship. Relationship is hard and must be worked at. For faith without works is barren, and if we do not prove our worth in action, we find that in heart, we really had no faith at all.

Costume Fantastico '07

It's that time again! Though there were not as many costumes this year, good times were had, and I was pleased to go all out for what is likely my last opportunity to really dress up on Halloween.

So with out further ado, CHECK IT OUT!

Andrew and Nicole gut the ginormous pumpkin in hopes to find the hidden treasure! .... pumpkin guts!

You like pumpkin? Well? DO YOU!?!?!

Yes, that is correct, Nicole's head AND arm are actually in that pumpkin.

Wow, I.... I don't think I can say anything this picture doesn't say...

Nicole has never experienced such depth of pumpkin before

Nicole figured she could blast off if she got the angle right

One arm... one purpose.

Now if I can ... just... reach... my pop tarts...

He never speaks... yet "the king" says so much to our hearts...

Spider monkey contemplates the effects of grape crush applied to a stove burner

"..."

You'd think he'd be saying "eeeehhhhhhhhhhhh!"... But no. Still eerie silence.

"the king" is gentle to woodland creatures. Even those with rippling biceps and washboard abs.

Presenting: Pumpkincole! Pumkin hat-lid sold separately.

"Hey Paul, where are we going?"

"I don't know Nicole, but my pecs are flaring up again"

"No... it can't be... is it...?"

"Yes, I think it is. Also this pumpkin shell is tasty when you give it the chance"

"It's Wendy's! We're here!"

Nicole: way too excited to be going to Wendy's with "the king"

As a break from the usual, "the king" stares deeply into your soul.

Nicole thought it was good times.

Well there you go! That's it! Okay, I lie, there's actually a LOT more, but it seemed there were more videos taken than photos, so I'm gonna work on some editing and we shall have some delicious videos when I can get around to it. WITHHOLD YOUR EXCITEMENT!

Back in London!

So I'm no longer in Toronto, though I am still a DSM employee!
I'm actually back in school in London and working on the side via the magical net (the inter one). This is not really recent news. I've just been lazy in "blogging". And why shouldn't I? I don't see YOU doing anything about it! Maybe you should think about that first! Huh?

The System is Down

So I'm at work.

NOT working.

I've been here all day, currently it is 1:40pm, and the server's been down and when it's not down, then the database is down, and when it's not down, something else is probably down. In conclusion, nothing... nothing works. So I'm just sittin' around here, visiting random websites, complaining to my co-workers, and now writing in my blog. (That is, after a short visit to facebook!)
I am just so amazed that I could get so tired from doing nothing. But that's how it is I guess.

On a vaguely more interesting note, we hired John. Yep. He's right here behind me. Lookin.

That's what we do when there's nothing to do.
the end.

Gotta have faith? Yes.

Regarding my previous post, I thought I should clarify something first, just in case anyone gets confused, as I often forget not everyone knows the prelude to the thoughts I write.

Before one can get to servitude, one must start with faith. And to have faith, one must start with prayer. (Prayer being communication with God, in whatever form that might take... not necessarily formal prayers). It is absolutely fruitless to enter into service unless God appoints the service. We can go out and do a lot of "good" things, but God may be saying, "well that's great and all, but it isn't exactly what I had planned for you". And where we make our efforts to serve where it is not God working through us, our efforts will inevitably be fruitless, even if at first they may seem like they have brought forth fruit. So without faith, without an initial love for God, one cannot enter into a service that leads towards a complete sacrificial love.

I guess though that should have been a bit obvious as why would one want to serve to become a sacrifice for God if they didn't first.. well... WANT to become a sacrifice for God. Ha ha. So maybe my words here are unnecessary.

Though I do think it's a good point to ponder, as we often go out doing "good deeds" and do not necessarily think as to whether that is the good deed that God desires us to do. And to serve others, one must first serve God, so that one might see God in others, and serve Him there. We must do God's appointed work for us, not our own. Going back to that passage with Peter and Jesus, we can see that it is Jesus who is appointing Peter with the service before him. It is Jesus who gave Peter the keys to heaven. It was Jesus who gave Peter authority to bind and lose in heaven what he binds and looses on earth. And clearly Peter is not given an authority that supercedes God's will, but rather one that fulfills God's will. This is why the Pope cannot declare something and change God's will. But rather through the Pope, God's will for us is revealed, since that office is only one of servitude of God's appointed tasks.

in conclusion, good morning everybody!!!

Servitude leads to sacrifice

I was meditating today on.... wait... what was I meditating on?

well the point is, here's what I got out of it that I'd like to share.
If you're like me, it's hard to offer yourself like a true sacrifice to God. By this I mean, that completely within, to make a sacrificial offering, surrendering entirely to the Lord's divine will in ALL things. Ha ha.. okay, I guess those who are truly there are few and far between.

But I was thinking about Peter, and his response to the cross. If you recall Peter's denial of Christ, we can see he was not accepting of the cross. The people asked him if he knew Jesus, and his denial was to protect himself, because he was unwilling to accept the sacrifice required of being identified with Jesus.
He did not yet love Jesus sacrificially.
This doesn't mean he did not love Jesus. He most certainly did, just like many of us do. We love Jesus, but only to a point... are we really willing to give absolutely everything, or is there a point at which we say, "that's enough"?

Fast forward to when Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved Him. This is a twofold situation... First, this was an opportunity of reparation for having denied Christ 3 times. Secondly, by looking at the original text we see something deeper. In the original Greek there is more than one word for love. When Jesus asked, "Peter, do you love me?" the word love meant "sacrificial love". Peter replied, "yes Lord, I love you", but here Peter used love in the "brotherly love" sense. Peter said he loved Jesus as one loves a human, but not as one that loves God in the sacrificial way. Another time Jesus poses the same question and Peter gives the same response, but the last time, Jesus asks if Peter even so much as loves him in a brotherly sense. This is why Peter is upset in response and says, "of course you know I love you" (in the brotherly sense). Jesus wants Peter to go further, to have the sacrificial love he lacked when he denied Jesus 3 times. But there's another important thing to notice here. Every time Peter replied that he had a brotherly love for Jesus, then the Lord's reply was always, "feed my sheep". Jesus seems to be telling Peter that because he does not yet have this sacrificial love, the way to have it, is to serve—to feed God's sheep. This means that for anyone who really wants to go all the way and give their lives to God, the way to grow in love is to serve. Then service will grow into sacrifice, and we may be like Peter by the time of his death, who was also crucified.

Let us never run from the cross. It is painful, of course it is, but it is the path of the truest love... and if we want to live forever in love, it is the cross where we must run toward, and not away from. And we can do this by serving one another.

Dead bat! I mean... um... something else!

So I saw a dead bat for the first time today. On the side of the road.

What a note on which to start my first blog entry in a long time...


SO!
As many of you already know, I have been working in Toronto for the past month, programming and designing graphics and the like. So far I have not succeeded in mastering space and time, just posting dinosaur comics around the office walls.

I've also been having a lot of ideas for my website which you may have noticed. I've added a "slightly orange account", which is not too different from the user profile for the forum, aside from the fact that the template has changed and it will soon extend to allow for posting comments on the animations. Also I've added a section for listening to some of my music, and I'll get that up and running soon.

OH!

and I'm reading a most excellent book! For those of you wanting to learn more about Christ or to deepen your faith, totally go pick up "Life of Christ" by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. What a brilliant man, he totally just opens up the scriptures. Quite marvellous.

Way to go, Adam and Eve

Today is Ash Wednesday. It's a time where we recall the fall of man... the time when Adam and Eve decided to pluck the forbidden fruit from the tree, eat of it, and usher sin upon the world. Good work you two. Well done. From dust to dust: we were made from dust, and because of that sin, we return to dust, unless we enter into the resurrection of Christ and are born into the life of the New Adam (Jesus).

So I got to thinking... to all you vegetarians out there who think that eating animals is wrong, if only Adam and Eve had just feasted upon suckling pig instead, then they would have never got into this mess! I mean come on! Delicious roasted pig, mmmmmmm tasty. But no, let's go eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. That sounds like a larf.

The previous is simply a farce, and should not be taken seriously or literally. I love vegetarians, even though I think they'd be a lot happier with a big steak on their plate, but please don't try to read this post as theological, except for maybe the first paragraph. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Those who cannot read this clause should get glasses or copy and paste this text into an editor and increase the size. If that's what you did, then kudos to you.

Unexpected Suffering

It's been a long time since I've posted. I sort of forgot about this blog, got busy with exams, got busy with life in general. Oh well, it's not like this blog is a necessary aspect of my life.

So, I just wanted to share a little of what's been happening with me, by sending it out into the vast void of the internet where it may or may not be read by anyone. I feel as though the closer I come to joining a religious community, that the further from God I become. I never imagined things to become confusing in this sort of a manner, and has resulted in a rather unexpected suffering. I suppose the more I try to give my life to God, it is as though I have grown far further from ever achieving this. My whole being rebels against me, and the interior battles have turned me towards some level of hopelessness, which is bizarre, because hopelessness is not really my style, and it's not something I thought I'd ever feel compelled towards. Yet here I am, experiencing it to some degree, despite knowing full well intellectually that my feelings are not grounded in truth. Feelings are a funny thing... I didn't imagine such peculiar battles of emotion/disposition versus intellect.

So what am I saying? Well, mostly I feel like a giant hypocrite... I know many of the things I OUGHT to be doing, yet it at the very least feels like I am not following at all what I ought to be. I don't know what to make of this, as I'm having trouble reconciling how I simply feel and how things actually are, so I am in the dark on the subject. And I know... I know that the devil is behind this and is trying to destroy me, but the difficulty is I can't really see whether he is succeeding or not, making it very hard for me to know how to fight him.

So yeah, essentially I'm just in some sort of a mess, and I feel so unworthy to give advice to others because I always feel at the same time that I'm saying, "here's what you should do... I'm not doing it, and I feel hopeless in my ability to succeed, but you go do what I'm not doing and what I ought to do". I hope that in this time I do not disillusion anyone else, or pull someone else away from God because of my mess. It's hard not knowing what's going on.

Prayers please?

True Devotion

I'm so very excited in many ways to have returned to school. I was in a bit of a rough spot there for a while, and I'm very thankful for others, because I find myself to be rather destructive when I'm going solo.

The good news is, I'm back into the swing of things and I'm hunting for a job again. Also, I'm glad to be back together with the bible study group at King's, and I've actually decided to start a new group that will study more Marian doctrine since our bible study is protestant, and, quite frankly, I really want to delve into the good stuff and not pussyfoot around on all this "halfway there" theology. (No offense to protestants, I love you guys, but there's just such a wealth of knowledge in the Catholic Church and I'm mighty hungry!)

So our new group (which I definitely won't put in conflict with the previous bible study) will essentially be reading over St. Louis de Montfort's book, "True Devotion", which explains how to have a rightly ordered and wholly good devotion to Mary, and consequently, to Christ as well. It's fantastic and I can't wait to go over it with my friends because it'll bring us closer together, bring us all closer to Mary and thus closer to Christ, and it will keep me out of trouble and force me to do something active and useful outside of class.

I also find it neat because this will be the first thing I've ever completely organized and run by myself and instigated by myself (well, inspired by the Holy Spirit of course, I just mean there was no one else pushing for it or trying to convince me to do it). So this'll be a learning experience for me too.

And um... why might you all care about this random piece of my life? I really don't know... I'm just excited and writing about it... you're the one reading it!

Trinity - Family

I got into a bit of a debate lately with people who don't actually debate, but ignore the previously discussed information and continue to declare their correctness in the matter. Kind of like children saying, "nuh-uh!" and feeling satisfied that this is proof enough.

So I thought I'd share with you all a little bit about the Trinity, because I've been reading up more about it lately, and well, it's just so cool!!!

Okay, so God is three persons, but one God, right? What do these terms mean? A person is the individual substance (essence) of a rational nature. Okay well actually that's a bit of an insufficient explanation because it breaks down in some fundamental ways (I still need to learn more) But it'll do for now, since I'm speaking very simply. A human, for example, happens to be a type of being that is a person.
What is a being? Well anything that exists as a whole, essentially. A human, for instance, is a being, a dog is a being, a rock is a being, etc...

God is also a being. But has 3 persons. If it sounds like this makes no sense, consider that we know of beings that have no persons, such as a rock, and a being that has one person, such as people, and so we know beings and persons are not synonymous.

Furthermore, the Trinity (God) is a family, in and of Himself. This is how it can be that God is love itself. Think about it... how can God be love, unless He has someone to love? Because we surely didn't always exist, and so if God created us out of love, He could not have created us so that He MAY love, because that would make Him dependent on our existence for His essence.
So God is, in the 3 persons, the Lover, the Beloved, and the Fruit of that love. (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). That's why we are created in God's image! When we come together as a family, the parents are the lover and beloved, and the two become "ONE FLESH" (see Genesis 2:24, echoed also in Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:31, etc..) from which is produced a new life that came from the love of the couple—the child also physically made up partially of the parents. So the three, in the family, are reflecting one being, yet they are 3 persons!!! Doesn't that set your heart on fire???

...oh, and also, for those of you who may be at all like my so-called "debators", God does NOT have a sexual relationship with Himself. I thought it was a given that our families are a REFLECTION of God, but not a replication. *cough cough*

What have YOU been up to all year?

Well I can't believe it... thus far I've spent the majority of the year 2007 driving to pick up pizza and writing in my blog! And in 2007 they put bacon STRIPS on the Hawaiian pizza! What's going on? 2007 is a creepy year thus far!