Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Very quick blog here, cause study and assignments are plentiful! :P
in fact point form sounds good.
- sorry for not posting in peoples blogs recently! :(
- Work/Study/Life getting quite insane
- Decided after much deliberation over several months to become an instrumental teacher as opposed to a classroom music teacher
- therefore every single day of holidays =4-6 hours practice. Piano/Viola and Organ at least 2 hours a week. All holidays cancelled. :( but in the long run ill thank myself for it?
- Dont ever read Shounen.. its gets you all emotional! (ask Mike what that means! or any other Anime fan!) Ah... Love Hina.. *sniff*
- Why every time i consider a relationship do i have to go through the pain of asking what it will do to my spiritual life. :(
- Man im turning into a girl! :P
- I like Tuning forks. A constant in a post modern world! HAH! YOU HEAR THAT YOU POST MODERN PHILOSOPHERS? YOU HEAR THAT NIEZCHE? A TUNING FORK IS A CONSTANT! MINE IS 440MHz A!
- love you all brothers and sisters and friends and EVERYONE! (in a manly, macho kinda platonic way of course! *grunt*
SAM
in fact point form sounds good.
- sorry for not posting in peoples blogs recently! :(
- Work/Study/Life getting quite insane
- Decided after much deliberation over several months to become an instrumental teacher as opposed to a classroom music teacher
- therefore every single day of holidays =4-6 hours practice. Piano/Viola and Organ at least 2 hours a week. All holidays cancelled. :( but in the long run ill thank myself for it?
- Dont ever read Shounen.. its gets you all emotional! (ask Mike what that means! or any other Anime fan!) Ah... Love Hina.. *sniff*
- Why every time i consider a relationship do i have to go through the pain of asking what it will do to my spiritual life. :(
- Man im turning into a girl! :P
- I like Tuning forks. A constant in a post modern world! HAH! YOU HEAR THAT YOU POST MODERN PHILOSOPHERS? YOU HEAR THAT NIEZCHE? A TUNING FORK IS A CONSTANT! MINE IS 440MHz A!
- love you all brothers and sisters and friends and EVERYONE! (in a manly, macho kinda platonic way of course! *grunt*
SAM
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Sunday, October 10, 2004
Me=Buggered.
I am slack. Sorry especially to Reuben and to Andrew, i am reading the stuff you guys are posting, but every time i come to comment something i seem to lack the effort to post. I dont know why. Even posting here is taking effort-age! :P sorry! i promise i will comment soon! really! Pinky Promise?
Business end of the semester and things are really heating up here! not just in temperature either (its been boiling a few days this week. already over 30? whats with that!).
I have to complete my Song Folder in two weeks time (around 150+ folk songs, all analysed and indexed as to what we can use them to teach)
I also have a 3000 word Educ assignment due in next monday that i need to do a prac for that the schools have been stuffing me around with.
I have another Aural assignment due in tommorrow, which, due to this unfortunately timed sickness, (achoo) I havent been able to practice nearly as much as i should have.
And Aural end of semester exam looms near too.. have to start practicing for that one!
ARGH! ARGH! and ARGH! again. And once more for good measure. ARGH!
By the way, if anyone is going to the movies anytime soon, i totally reccomend, nay, order! you to go and see 'Shaun of the Dead'. That movie is the funniest movie i have seen in a very long time. I warn you it is a bit gory though, but seriously! you know you want to go see a movie described as: "A Romantic Comedy. With Zombies."
One of my friends from Work said this recentley, that
"If you set out to be sociable, there'll be no end of events that will come your way." (im paraphrasing horribly! but thats ok, twas over 3 weeks ago he said it! :P)
But the point is its true. OVer the last 8 weeks, i have had so many social 'events' that it isnt funny. why is it so many people are born in September? (oh yeh! *counts back 9 months* heh heh.. New Years eh? just try not to think about it that much!)
So many parties. This week, Friday night, Alex's (muso mate) 21st, and on the Saturday, the 20th of one of my old School friend's. Friday night was a big night.
NOTE TO SELF. AVOID PORT AT PARTIES AT ALL COSTS. you think id learn the FIRST time. On a brighter note, that was the first all-muso party ive ever been to! I can just remember some of the convos going on! It was incredible. i mean, normally social commentary and gossip is exchanged. but the number of times composers and orchestra experiences and instruments were mentioned... insane! quite funny. but then again, nearly everything becomes funny after a few drinks. (I will re-iterate (have i done this before?) How i really love Bundaberg 'Dark and Stormy'. That is a mixture of Ginger beer and Rum. mmmmm.... Bundy...
ELECTION FEVER! Little Johnny is back in office! I will freely admit here that I voted Liberal. For various different reasons, which i argued on Friday night (4 labour supporters vs 1 Liberal supporter! fueled by alcohol. Some good points raised :D) I really didnt like Mark Latham. but once again, i argued that on Friday so no need now! moving on to UNI ELECTIONS and the socialists. well, we are prepared this year!
The socialists and anti-socialists are everywhere this time of year, handing out flyers and shoving their opinions down your throat. We are always trying to find ways to get them riled. Payback! for all the trees destroyed by making leaflets! (does anyone else see the irony of the Green party handing out copious amounts of Leaflets?) Last year Clay (see below w/Hat) Came up with an idea. Myself and Matt helped put it into practice, and it turned out to be quite successful. here for your viewing pleasure, is that idea.
The Front: attacks them when they try to give you a leaflet
The Back: Kicks them when they're down!
Ah tis going to be a good election week! beware socialists! beware! ^_^ last year we made about 30 of these and managed to sell all but one. We sold them at cost price ($15 each) beacuse our aim wasnt money, just to annoy the hell outta all the socialists! :D
ANYhoo
i could go on but ive been ranting long enough!
This is SAM signing out once again!
SAM
I am slack. Sorry especially to Reuben and to Andrew, i am reading the stuff you guys are posting, but every time i come to comment something i seem to lack the effort to post. I dont know why. Even posting here is taking effort-age! :P sorry! i promise i will comment soon! really! Pinky Promise?
Business end of the semester and things are really heating up here! not just in temperature either (its been boiling a few days this week. already over 30? whats with that!).
I have to complete my Song Folder in two weeks time (around 150+ folk songs, all analysed and indexed as to what we can use them to teach)
I also have a 3000 word Educ assignment due in next monday that i need to do a prac for that the schools have been stuffing me around with.
I have another Aural assignment due in tommorrow, which, due to this unfortunately timed sickness, (achoo) I havent been able to practice nearly as much as i should have.
And Aural end of semester exam looms near too.. have to start practicing for that one!
ARGH! ARGH! and ARGH! again. And once more for good measure. ARGH!
By the way, if anyone is going to the movies anytime soon, i totally reccomend, nay, order! you to go and see 'Shaun of the Dead'. That movie is the funniest movie i have seen in a very long time. I warn you it is a bit gory though, but seriously! you know you want to go see a movie described as: "A Romantic Comedy. With Zombies."
One of my friends from Work said this recentley, that
"If you set out to be sociable, there'll be no end of events that will come your way." (im paraphrasing horribly! but thats ok, twas over 3 weeks ago he said it! :P)
But the point is its true. OVer the last 8 weeks, i have had so many social 'events' that it isnt funny. why is it so many people are born in September? (oh yeh! *counts back 9 months* heh heh.. New Years eh? just try not to think about it that much!)
So many parties. This week, Friday night, Alex's (muso mate) 21st, and on the Saturday, the 20th of one of my old School friend's. Friday night was a big night.
NOTE TO SELF. AVOID PORT AT PARTIES AT ALL COSTS. you think id learn the FIRST time. On a brighter note, that was the first all-muso party ive ever been to! I can just remember some of the convos going on! It was incredible. i mean, normally social commentary and gossip is exchanged. but the number of times composers and orchestra experiences and instruments were mentioned... insane! quite funny. but then again, nearly everything becomes funny after a few drinks. (I will re-iterate (have i done this before?) How i really love Bundaberg 'Dark and Stormy'. That is a mixture of Ginger beer and Rum. mmmmm.... Bundy...
ELECTION FEVER! Little Johnny is back in office! I will freely admit here that I voted Liberal. For various different reasons, which i argued on Friday night (4 labour supporters vs 1 Liberal supporter! fueled by alcohol. Some good points raised :D) I really didnt like Mark Latham. but once again, i argued that on Friday so no need now! moving on to UNI ELECTIONS and the socialists. well, we are prepared this year!
The socialists and anti-socialists are everywhere this time of year, handing out flyers and shoving their opinions down your throat. We are always trying to find ways to get them riled. Payback! for all the trees destroyed by making leaflets! (does anyone else see the irony of the Green party handing out copious amounts of Leaflets?) Last year Clay (see below w/Hat) Came up with an idea. Myself and Matt helped put it into practice, and it turned out to be quite successful. here for your viewing pleasure, is that idea.
The Front: attacks them when they try to give you a leaflet
The Back: Kicks them when they're down!
Ah tis going to be a good election week! beware socialists! beware! ^_^ last year we made about 30 of these and managed to sell all but one. We sold them at cost price ($15 each) beacuse our aim wasnt money, just to annoy the hell outta all the socialists! :D
ANYhoo
i could go on but ive been ranting long enough!
This is SAM signing out once again!
SAM
(0) comments
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
DOOM! THE END IS NEAR!
To distract just for a second from the 'big' issue below, id just like to show you the face of true evil:
True Evil comes in many forms
To explain.. it is yet another reason why Trees are evil. (see post for 01/08/04)
I drove to Uni the other day, and this site greeted me.
The only time Jacaranda trees blossom is when it gets near to exam time! REPENT! FOR THE END IS NIGH! THE JACARANDA TREES ARE IN BLOOM! DOOOM! DOOOOOOM!
SAM
To distract just for a second from the 'big' issue below, id just like to show you the face of true evil:
True Evil comes in many forms
To explain.. it is yet another reason why Trees are evil. (see post for 01/08/04)
I drove to Uni the other day, and this site greeted me.
The only time Jacaranda trees blossom is when it gets near to exam time! REPENT! FOR THE END IS NIGH! THE JACARANDA TREES ARE IN BLOOM! DOOOM! DOOOOOOM!
SAM
(0) comments
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Shh! dont tell my assignment, but im cheating on it! I felt guilty about not having posted this yet, so ill do it now! ^_^ procrastination after all, is the aim of this site! So, without further ado, I present:
"Help, I've Fallen and I can't get up!"
We are a fallen race. There are no two ways about it. Humanity as a whole, and each individual has sinned, and fallen away from the perfection we were created in. Ghandi sinned. Mother Theresa Sinned. EVERYONE sins.
This fallenness is absolutely essential if we are to call ourselves Christians. If we believe that we arent fallen beyond all hope, then we totally undermine everything we stand for. Ill elaborate.
When I say Fallen, I mean REALLY fallen. first there was only one sin, one original sin.. but it introduced sin into an otherwise perfect creation. From then on in, everyone has sinned, and as such, falls short of perfection, falls short of the Glory of God. There is no way we can redeem ourselves, or as some suggest, work off their sins. The Wages of Sin is Death. Ask yourself. Have you sinned? how many times? can you even count them? If you say you can then add another few cause youre lying! ^_^
What is a Sin? Is it only a Judaeo/Christian 'thing' that makes us feel bad about doing certain things? no. For the purpose of this here, i will define sin as: "Any thought, word or activity that harms (directly or indirectly) yourself or others." This is a very humanist way of looking at Sin, but this is a perfect way of describing it to those who arent Christian, and will think you are Bible bashing. Even humanists will agree with you there (at least on the harming others part). Atheists wont like to admit it, but they'll know you're right, and Agnostics..well it'll give them something to think about! :)
Im sure everyone's heard people say: 'Im not perfect, but i try to lead a good life.' yep definately admirable! eveyrone should be trying to do that! Christians and Humanists, Other religions and atheists alike. But the danger in this is, that some people believe that this is all that is needed. Some say that we arent really fallen beyond all hope. Some believe that there is a purgatory, where Everyone will go after they die, and stay there till they atone for their sins.
I wont get into the whole Works Vs Faith debate here because the answer is quite simple. Works can never make us holy, can never atone, because of the simple fact that we have sinned. There was only one person in Human history who did not Sin.
Jesus.
And here we come to the cruncher.
Jesus, the Christ. Christians are 'those who follow Christ', or 'imitators of Christ' Reuben made a comment on Andrew's blog recentley, saying that maybe the gospel is grossly misunderstood. That We are saved, not by believing in Jesus and the resurrection, by following his example
I would like to say that this is not right. I dont mean to sound harsh here but i believe that this is a very very misleading idea, and i want to qualify why i think that. If we can be saved by following Christ's example, by living a godly life, and worshipping the father, then we are not Christians. We are Jews. The Jews believe that they did not need a spiritual messiah because their sins could be atoned for by sacrifices and good works. They believe that Humanity is not totally fallen.
The whole point of Christianity is that Jesus, the Son of God, sent by the Father, came to Earth for the very purpose of Dying and being raised again to allow us to be reconciled to God. To atone for our sins, because he, being the only sinless human, was the only one who could. Sound familiar? ill phrase it another way:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the World, that He sent His one and only Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Andrew asked, 'what about Abraham and those born BC?: Romans 2:12-16 Talks about those who have not heard about the Gospel, and how they are justified by their adherence to the law. This is ok. But if someone has heard about Jesus..about God, there is no excuse. As for the OT people:
Andrew quoted the 'justification by faith' verse but missed the implication therein. If one was justified by faith, why cant another be justified by faith? If Abraham, why not Joseph and his brothers? Why not Jacob? Why not Elijah? why not Elim Kalish Isab, a levite who is faithful to God? why not N'tuku, African Chieftan who obeys the law, They were born Before Christ, and since they had faith and obeyed the law, God would likewise have credited it to them as righteousness. For what is a righteous person if not: "Morally upright; without guilt or sin" (www.dictionary.com). Faith=righteousness in the OT. Even though all were fallen, they could be made righteous by their faith and obedience to God.
Put very basically, here is my point.
If we are not totally fallen. If by living up to the example set by Jesus, if by spending a period of time in eternity being purified (as Origen suggests) that anyone can be reconcilled to God, if all of this is possible, there is no reason for Jesus to have come to earth at all. In fact, Jesus Death and Ressurection mean nothing. If we weren't totally fallen, then..well, thanks anyway Big J, but we can save ourselves! thanks for showing that you are willing to die and sacrifice yourself, but why did you do it? just to prove you could rise again?
The whole point of the Ressurection is that sin and death were defeated, that the veil was torn in two and people could now be reconcilled with God. If we believe even remotely that there is any other way (other than putting our faith in Jesus as our risen Lord who reconciles us to God) that we, or anyone can be saved, then Jesus' death is meaningless, and Christianity becomes "How" instead of "why".
One of the Biggest difficulties I see with Spreading Christianity today is that it involves telling people that yes, they are sinful. this is a hard thing to swallow for anyone. Even more hard is that the sin can never be made up for on its own.
Its hard to accept that we arent good. That we have to rely on someone else to make it up for us. but its something that everyone has to face up to sooner or later. everything else in the meantime is a distraction. When all that ends, the truth still remains.
So! After writing all that and re-reading it, im worried it might come out as an attack aginst you Reubs and Andy! But really its not! You guys are cool! Im just pointing out some stuff that i think may be very helpful. Feel free to nitpick my argument (which is hardly airtight yet..) so that i can improve it, and clarify any points! ^_^
Okees! Off to do some Assignment now! Good old Maori Warfare! we need a Haka! Take it away Mike! ;)
SAM
"Help, I've Fallen and I can't get up!"
We are a fallen race. There are no two ways about it. Humanity as a whole, and each individual has sinned, and fallen away from the perfection we were created in. Ghandi sinned. Mother Theresa Sinned. EVERYONE sins.
This fallenness is absolutely essential if we are to call ourselves Christians. If we believe that we arent fallen beyond all hope, then we totally undermine everything we stand for. Ill elaborate.
When I say Fallen, I mean REALLY fallen. first there was only one sin, one original sin.. but it introduced sin into an otherwise perfect creation. From then on in, everyone has sinned, and as such, falls short of perfection, falls short of the Glory of God. There is no way we can redeem ourselves, or as some suggest, work off their sins. The Wages of Sin is Death. Ask yourself. Have you sinned? how many times? can you even count them? If you say you can then add another few cause youre lying! ^_^
What is a Sin? Is it only a Judaeo/Christian 'thing' that makes us feel bad about doing certain things? no. For the purpose of this here, i will define sin as: "Any thought, word or activity that harms (directly or indirectly) yourself or others." This is a very humanist way of looking at Sin, but this is a perfect way of describing it to those who arent Christian, and will think you are Bible bashing. Even humanists will agree with you there (at least on the harming others part). Atheists wont like to admit it, but they'll know you're right, and Agnostics..well it'll give them something to think about! :)
Im sure everyone's heard people say: 'Im not perfect, but i try to lead a good life.' yep definately admirable! eveyrone should be trying to do that! Christians and Humanists, Other religions and atheists alike. But the danger in this is, that some people believe that this is all that is needed. Some say that we arent really fallen beyond all hope. Some believe that there is a purgatory, where Everyone will go after they die, and stay there till they atone for their sins.
I wont get into the whole Works Vs Faith debate here because the answer is quite simple. Works can never make us holy, can never atone, because of the simple fact that we have sinned. There was only one person in Human history who did not Sin.
Jesus.
And here we come to the cruncher.
Jesus, the Christ. Christians are 'those who follow Christ', or 'imitators of Christ' Reuben made a comment on Andrew's blog recentley, saying that maybe the gospel is grossly misunderstood. That We are saved, not by believing in Jesus and the resurrection, by following his example
I would like to say that this is not right. I dont mean to sound harsh here but i believe that this is a very very misleading idea, and i want to qualify why i think that. If we can be saved by following Christ's example, by living a godly life, and worshipping the father, then we are not Christians. We are Jews. The Jews believe that they did not need a spiritual messiah because their sins could be atoned for by sacrifices and good works. They believe that Humanity is not totally fallen.
The whole point of Christianity is that Jesus, the Son of God, sent by the Father, came to Earth for the very purpose of Dying and being raised again to allow us to be reconciled to God. To atone for our sins, because he, being the only sinless human, was the only one who could. Sound familiar? ill phrase it another way:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the World, that He sent His one and only Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Andrew asked, 'what about Abraham and those born BC?: Romans 2:12-16 Talks about those who have not heard about the Gospel, and how they are justified by their adherence to the law. This is ok. But if someone has heard about Jesus..about God, there is no excuse. As for the OT people:
Andrew quoted the 'justification by faith' verse but missed the implication therein. If one was justified by faith, why cant another be justified by faith? If Abraham, why not Joseph and his brothers? Why not Jacob? Why not Elijah? why not Elim Kalish Isab, a levite who is faithful to God? why not N'tuku, African Chieftan who obeys the law, They were born Before Christ, and since they had faith and obeyed the law, God would likewise have credited it to them as righteousness. For what is a righteous person if not: "Morally upright; without guilt or sin" (www.dictionary.com). Faith=righteousness in the OT. Even though all were fallen, they could be made righteous by their faith and obedience to God.
Put very basically, here is my point.
If we are not totally fallen. If by living up to the example set by Jesus, if by spending a period of time in eternity being purified (as Origen suggests) that anyone can be reconcilled to God, if all of this is possible, there is no reason for Jesus to have come to earth at all. In fact, Jesus Death and Ressurection mean nothing. If we weren't totally fallen, then..well, thanks anyway Big J, but we can save ourselves! thanks for showing that you are willing to die and sacrifice yourself, but why did you do it? just to prove you could rise again?
The whole point of the Ressurection is that sin and death were defeated, that the veil was torn in two and people could now be reconcilled with God. If we believe even remotely that there is any other way (other than putting our faith in Jesus as our risen Lord who reconciles us to God) that we, or anyone can be saved, then Jesus' death is meaningless, and Christianity becomes "How" instead of "why".
One of the Biggest difficulties I see with Spreading Christianity today is that it involves telling people that yes, they are sinful. this is a hard thing to swallow for anyone. Even more hard is that the sin can never be made up for on its own.
Its hard to accept that we arent good. That we have to rely on someone else to make it up for us. but its something that everyone has to face up to sooner or later. everything else in the meantime is a distraction. When all that ends, the truth still remains.
So! After writing all that and re-reading it, im worried it might come out as an attack aginst you Reubs and Andy! But really its not! You guys are cool! Im just pointing out some stuff that i think may be very helpful. Feel free to nitpick my argument (which is hardly airtight yet..) so that i can improve it, and clarify any points! ^_^
Okees! Off to do some Assignment now! Good old Maori Warfare! we need a Haka! Take it away Mike! ;)
SAM
(0) comments
