Ironic Ethics

I am studying Ethics at a coffee shop for my online course.

I watched 'Thank You for Smoking' the other day and still have the movie with me.

In fact, my CD lectures for Ethics are inside the DVD case for Thank You for Smoking; the irony seemed noteworthy.

'Tis Quality Art

After singing a collection of Christmas songs, I was highly disappointed with the lyrical quality and frivolity of our seasonal favorites. Even the most popular songs offer limited poetic, musical or intellectual beauty. Hymns remain among the highest quality of art while ‘seasonal’ music reminds me how easily marketable poor quality items can be. Even when only excerpts are compared, the disparity in quality is painfully obvious. Praise the Lord for hymns!

Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ, the everlasting Lord.
Late in time behold him come;
Offspring of the Virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the God head see:
Hail the incarnate Deity.
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la. T
is the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Don we now our gay apparel,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la.
Troll the ancient Yule tide carol,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Juxtaposition of Values

Mark Driscoll on pride and humility:

1. “Pride is our greatest enemy” –John Stott/
2. Pride is demonic and satanic in its origin/humility is a miracle that can only come from God
3. Pride is the encouragement to compare ourselves to other people/Humility continually compares us to Jesus.
4. Pride covets the success of other people/Humility allows us to rejoice in people’s successes.
5. Pride is about me: what I want and deserve/Humility is about Jesus and other people.
6. Pride is about what I’ve done/Humility is about the glory of Jesus.
7. In pride, I am god: I expect to be obeyed and served/Humility is about obeying and serving God.
8. Pride leads to arrogance and is repugnant/Humility leads to confidence.
9. The point of pride is independence/Humility is about dependence on God.
10. “Pride is the mother of all sin. Pride is pregnant with sin” –Augustine/humility is the root of all joy.
11. Pride is something we can achieve in this lifetime/Humility is something we must pursue throughout our lifetime.

Shackeless

Today I was asked to recall a verse for a friend; any verse of my choosing. The first verse that came to mind was Gal. 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," and I was again amazed at this truth.

We were created to be free beings, but we are born enslaved and contrary to our designed nature. Christ then came to free us, return us to our intended statues, simply because that is how He made us.

The reason Christ set us free is because were are supposed to be that way.

Winter Formal

As promised, I put up some pictures from Winter Formal. All I can say is that it was amazing...

Depraved Reaction

When obtaining new knowledge, there must be a response. The two primary responses are physical application or mental separation: the new information forces a change of some degree, or the knowledge is consciously ignored so the status quo may continue.

This is especially true on the subject of Man's depravity.

Most people arent truly aware of it.

When recognition of corporate and personal depravity is made evident and individual must respond or choose to disbelieve it as true.

Therefore, those who cannot deny their spiritual circumstance must carry out their reaction to its fullest logical extent:
1) The intentional pursuit of gratification within this depraved state, or
2) The absolution of their depravity; which only comes through Christ.

Ah, truely, how should we then live?

The Cost of Learning

While pondering paying for college I realized this:

Knowledge is free;
Instruction is not...