Before Apologetics

Well, it's 6:15 and nobody's arrived just yet. I had a great day today. I worked hard and got to talk with the new guy all about the differences between Catholosism and Christianity. He disagrees a great deal with a lot of the things the Catholic church believes. I tried to give him clarification on the things he wasn't sure about and he seemed to see the Christian point of view.

I just bought him a Bible to study. He said he has a Bible, but he has no idea where it is and doesn't like the fact that it's in Spanish. He speaks Spanish and his family is Spanish, but he comprehends written English better. I told him I'd buy him a Bible, so I just ordered an NIV. That's an excellent version in my personal opinion. He's not going all scholarly yet ( in which case I'd go for NASB), so the NIV is a better translation. The reason I think that is because it translates in such a way that the sentence structure and wordage is more aligned with the way we speak it and read it today, whereas the NASB is word for word with the Greek, which sometimes leads to a little confusion when not made aware of its method of translation. An example is as follows:

Luke 21:25-28 (NIV)
25"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21:25-28 (NASB)
25 "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 "(22) Then they will see (23) THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. 28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because (24) your redemption is drawing near."

Not a huge problem, but it could create a little confusion without the sentence breaks and so forth. I studied the Greek in this small exerpt and presented it to my Greek class. In my findings, the NIV translated it very well, whereas the NASB translated it very well, but the order of the words was left intact. This creates a little bit of a challenge. Anyway, I need to go pick up Mike now. Talk to you all later.

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Butterfly Effect & 13 Going On 30

Butterfly Effect


This movie was incredible for its premise, but terrible for its vulgarity and sexual crudeness. I'm glad to have seen it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Leah recommended seeing it, but she did so without memory of the reasons for the R rating. I don't blame her and I'm not upset by it because the movie was very impressive in many aspects.

The idea goes like this: The main character is plagued by inexplicable black outs during his life. They occur during the most traumatic moments in his life, so he's deprived of the emotional damage that his friends experience around him.
As the story begins he begins writing from day to day into his journal. When the story becomes interesting instead of confusing, you are shown his amazing curse. Upon reading his past journal entries, a thing he'd never done before, the world around him begins to shake and change. Suddenly he finds himself experiencing that moment in time over again, which happened to be during what he remembered as a black out, but now he had the complete ability to do as he pleased. I thought that it would certainly be some sort of dream at first, but when the memory ends, his life has changed significantly. This leads to an ever worsening alternate reality each time he tries to change his future.
It's a radical ride, but I was unimpressed by the overusage of harsh language and sexual references. It really subtracted from the movie in a way that finally reduced its ability to redeem itself. I've taken from it what I enjoyed and prefer to remember it that way, but, as I've already said, I could never recommend it in good conscience.


13 Going On 30


13 Going On 30 was actually a very enjoyable movie. There wasn't much about it other than some language and a few innuendos. I don't condone those things, but the movie redeemed itself overall. It was very funny in a great many ways and actually reached a real level of emotion instead of a completely cheesy movie. In other words, the movie had some good meaning to it. I'd recommend it, so I don't want to give too much away.

Shots Fired

Winchester 1300 Defender

Well, I've recently been out shooting lately. Until two weeks ago, I'd never shot a gun, but thanks be to Scott, he took me out. I've now decided that I need to buy a gun of my own, so after looking around a lot and learning about the different guns, I think I'll probably be buying the one you see here.

I've wanted to go shooting since I was young, but things never worked out. Time passed and I told different people I'd never shot a gun and finally Scott set up a time and a place. I was there. My first shot I hit my target, which was a clay pigeon (they look like mini frisbees and are thrown into the air as moving targets), but, after stunning everybody with my beginner's luck, I didn't hit my next five. It was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a while.

Now that I've gotten a taste for it, I'm very excited to purchase my first gun. I'm still considering a hand gun as a first, but the shotgun is the less expensive of the two and I found one I liked right away. We'll see what becomes of it.

In case you hadn't noticed, I haven't been updating a lot lately and others, which I badgered to post in the beginning, have. Out of guilt and a desire to come back to the blogger world, I've returned with a new and improved style and a kick butt return post. (It's kick butt because it has a picture)

Look forward to more frequent posting. L8z.

Update bud.

Encouragement

Philippians 4
¹³ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
2 Corinthians 12
⁹ And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Lee Stroble

One of the biggest obstacles for the faith is suffering.

The question is as follows: Why would a loving God allow such suffering in this world?

I’ve been reading a book called The Case for Faith by Lee Stroble and so far it’s impressed me intellectually and spiritually. Lee Stroble, who started out being an atheist, was faced with a struggle when his wife became a Christian. She dragged him to church at one point after many failed attempts and he walked out with a few questions on his mind. Being a journalist for the Chicago Tribune gave him the inquisitive edge that led him to write The Case for Christ, a powerful book that addressed the burning objections that the skeptics throw in the face of Christians, the same objections that Lee himself shared. His book was originally intended to disprove Christ’s existence. He assumed that this crutch for the weak, this springboard for indoctrination would fall apart under the microscope, but his search for the truth left him utterly beaten—and a believer.

In his second book The Case for Faith, Lee comes back with his skeptical edge and attacks leading Christian Philosophers with his deep cutting questions. He demands full and complete responses rather than simple generic answers. All too often Christian teachers and even some pastors are intimidated by the tough issues and discourage young Christians and skeptics from asking. Unfortunately this leads some to think that there are no answers, but there are.

I love the direction that Lee took when he asked the aforementioned question. He went to the once right-hand-man of the famed Billy Graham, Charles Templeton. Charles explained to him that he couldn’t understand how a loving God could allow starvation, drought, death of innocent children, and even Alzheimer’s disease. Templeton himself was suffering from Alzheimer’s. These things finally ripped Templeton’s faith away from him. This quickly personalized the debate and hit Lee hard. He wasn’t just speaking to a skeptic, but a suffering individual. This entire section is very touching and I sympathize with his struggle. I also have struggled with these concepts.

Lee finally sits down with Dr. Peter John Kreeft, a Catholic writer and philosophy professor. Here Kreeft argues his points magnificently and tactfully. His answers are not simple ones that leave the inquirer feeling short changed and unfulfilled, but instead were deeply insightful and colorful. His language was articulate and ultimately yielded a web of philosophical, logical, and understanding thoughts that tied up in the end to present a rock solid argument from the Christian perspective. I was stunned to read his responses and find his conclusions. They seemed familiar, but refreshingly new. His speech finally wound up pointing to suffering as having at least the potential for good. It would seem that suffering can lead to both atheism and strengthened faith. Those looking in from the outside often question why God would allow such suffering which leads them to close up and take up atheism, while those experiencing it are forced to place their trust in God and then realize that Jesus is there every step of the way with them. Of course my summation here leaves much to be explained, but I think the book does a fine job of that, and I’m not here to give you the whole story, but to share about something that is impacting in my life.

At any rate, I’ve come to the conclusion that God’s master plan is unknown to us, and why he allows such terrible things may not be fully understood, but the fact remains that God has a plan for this fallen world, and that will be done.

James 1:2-4 ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴ Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Well, I'm going to create a new web site. It's called Blessed X. I'm going to post Christian stuff on there. You can check it out now, but I JUST put it up and it's pretty bare.