Friday, November 30, 2007

LAFinginKambara (5:52:46 PM): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNSlpftizbE&feature=related
wlgeng (5:52:58 PM): oh man i can't stand him
LAFinginKambara (5:53:10 PM): wow, the people who write comments are idiots
LAFinginKambara (5:53:17 PM): neither can I
LAFinginKambara (5:53:23 PM): that's why you'll like this video
wlgeng (5:53:40 PM): i do think he's not as bad a guy as he tried to make ppl think
wlgeng (5:53:51 PM): i think he's 80% showman
LAFinginKambara (5:54:13 PM): His showmanship is not journalism though
wlgeng (5:54:07 PM): err
wlgeng (5:54:09 PM): i'm tired
wlgeng (5:54:10 PM): lol
LAFinginKambara (5:54:24 PM): that's why it's so frustrating
LAFinginKambara (5:55:10 PM): it serves no other purpose than to entertain stupid republicans
LAFinginKambara (5:55:47 PM): it asks no questions
LAFinginKambara (5:55:54 PM): raises no worthwile debate
wlgeng (5:55:53 PM): ya
LAFinginKambara (5:56:03 PM): generates no ideas or solutions
wlgeng (5:56:12 PM): basically he's an overgrown toddler
wlgeng (5:56:20 PM): "NO YOU"
LAFinginKambara (5:56:43 PM): It doesn't even teach polite and congenial behavior
wlgeng (5:57:11 PM): heh ya
LAFinginKambara (5:57:21 PM): Whoever is louder wins the argument and O'Reilly turns up his mic

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

TGD commentary 3

Pg 78: About God and omniscience and omnipotence:
God exists outside of time. He sees all of time at once. If time is a conveyor belt with us on it gliding along, then God is the foreman watching the belt move. God not only created the universe and everything in it, he also created time itself. He knows “the future” in the sense that we perceive “the future.” But to him, really he is already there, yet existing outside of it. He is powerful to do whatever he wants at whatever time he wants to do it. He has a higher understanding, a higher observation and a different experience of time than we do.

Pg 78: Aquinas is simply asking, what was before the universe?

Bottom pg 79: I think it’s still relevant to ask, “What started it?” And what are the probabilities of the possible answers? What’s the probability that evolution happened?

Pg 85: These “proofs” for God are hilarious! I don’t believe these prove anything, so I agree with the point Dawkins is making. I also then go back to my opening statement of shame over my and my fellow Christians’ display of action, knowledge (or the lack thereof) and intelligence.

Let me remind myself again, that only the Holy Spirit can do any of the convincing. It’s His job, not mine; I am forever humbled if he chooses to use me to speak to anyone. Having said that – I will provide my brief discussion of God’s existence: “God exists far outside of my ability to say He does.” If there were no humans on this earth, God would be. He doesn’t need an argument. He doesn’t need a proof. He simply is.

Pg 88: Sanity in numbers. But why has the number of Christians been so high?

Pg 92: Dawkins uses 1 example of many people observing a supposed miracle, the miracle of Fatima in 1917. How about other observations? For example, I know a man who had an inflamed appendix, then some people prayed over it, and it disappeared out of his body. Hundreds, thousands of these types of things have happened and are happening today. How come Dawkins isn’t explaining these away? If you want to talk probability, it’s improbable that in every situation where someone experiences a “miracle” it was a brain trick.

Pg 93: Actually, the gospels were not written that long after Jesus’ death. They were written within the time where people who knew Jesus personally were still alive. And, the “Chinese whisperers” effect is not a valid argument because we have documents from less than 100 years after Jesus death and we can go and read them right now if we like.

Pg 94: It is likely that people would remember if they were in the lineage of David or not. He was a pretty important person, so important and historically famous that people would certainly know if they were in his direct lineage.

Pg 96: How do you know the gospels are made up? You think they are, because in your mind it seems to make sense that they’re not real. You are doing the same thing that you blame many Christians for doing. You find “proofs” that support your way of thinking and Christians find “proofs” that support their line of thinking. The evidences when compiled disproportionately, unrepresentatively and speculatively can support either side. But when presented wholly and truthfully, disclosing all absolutely known facts (excluding “facts” that are in doubt) which direction does it lean?

Pg 96: Not a good logical progression. This just points out Dawkins’s personal musings. Phrases like “perhaps,” “are as factually dubious” are not warranted when in Biblical canon they took works that were already verified by history. It wasn’t whimsical. Read history of the canon to find why. You say authors of the gospels “almost certainly never met Jesus personally.” Please back that statement up with facts and evidence. Also you state a translation of Joseph’s occupation should read “craftsman” instead of “carpenter.” What’s the difference? This is not a flagrant mistake in translation. If that’s the best “mistake” you can come up with, then my trust in accurate translation only deepens.

If the Bible’s all made up, why has it survived and thrived? Why are there so many Christians today? And it’s not a cultural phenomenon- there are true Bible believing Christians in almost every culture. Why were and are so many people willing to die for Christianity? Why would the authors of the Bible risk everything and subject themselves to constant beatings and finally execution for something contrived? Each author would have to have been exceedingly intelligent to make sure everything they wrote about Jesus lined up with previous writings predicting what he would do. How was the canon committee able to find all these texts that just happened to agree with each other?

Here’s the basis of everything:

We were created for communion with God. In the beginning God created a perfect world where we (humans) had perfect communion with him. And we were to praise him and bring him glory because he is. That is still what we are to do today. We are intended for perfect communion and to give him glory and recognition and praise simply for the reason that he is.

On this globe we perverted that. We decided to do something other than what he would have us do: we chose communion with something other than God. So now perfect communion cannot be achieved until after we die. (This world is but a passing shadow.) This has led to all problems, all confusion, all misgivings, all doubts and all outright denial of God’s existence. Our struggle on Earth is to try and commune with a God on our own merits, which we have found impossible. Jesus then provided the way to do this so that we are now redeemed and found perfect and no longer accused. The experience of perfect communion with God will not be fulfilled, however, until life in this sin-filled world passes.

Lord, it is such a struggle! And all a result of my own rebellion and yielding to temptation. Bending, giving in, kowtowing. Hebrews 11:7, 10, 13-16, 26, 38, 40. “God planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

Pg 104: Dawkins asks, “What’s so special [to Christianity] about believing?” – here Dawkins demonstrates that he does not understand or even know the basics of Christian doctrine. I would hope that anyone considering dismissing Christianity would at least have an intellectual understanding of what it is.

Pg 121: Dawkins keeps pushing natural selection as the cause of life and everything. Natural selection is a fact. It’s observable. But any move from micro- to macro-evolution is faith-based. There is no proof or suggestion or observation that natural selection over thousands and millions of years produces evolution. Don’t confuse those 2 terms.

Also to address “If the world is designed by a creator, then who designed the creator?”: Why does this question need to be asked? If a god designed all that is physical, the physical realm and even time itself, then why are you subjecting him to the rules we observe in the physical realm? It does not “regress to a problem.”

Pg 122: Again, in Dawkins metaphor of evolution being a long gradual climb up a softly sloped mountain, he’s assuming that natural selection = evolution, which it doesn’t.

Pg 123: Your dealing with the smooth gradient of evolutionary change with a wing or an eye is not logical. I quote: “The thought experiment of trees of different height, from which one might fall, is just one way to see, in theory, that there must be a smooth gradient of advantage all the way from 1 percent of a wing to 100 percent.” This is not a sound or scientific statement. There are many things that need to develop for a wing or an eye to be even slightly useful. A human with 25% of the necessary biology for an eye cannot see ¼ as well as a human with a complete eye. Every piece must be in place for the eye to work at all. The human eye will not just be fuzzy without an optic nerve, it will be completely useless. Or substitute 1 of hundreds of biological intricacies found in the eye. It is not a “smooth gradient.” Not to mention the thousands of processes within a body that must develop (“evolve”) simultaneously for any one of them to be useful to the species.

Saying that a human eye is more developed than a flatworm’s eye, thus proving gradients, is an illogical statement as well because you have to compare the eye against that species parent and its parent and its parent, etc. Take 50% (or whatever percentage) out of a human eye and you don’t get a flatworm eye.

My testimony

I first wrote this down in note form and presented it at a Navigators meeting the beginning of April this year, 2007. So the time references are based on the time of presentation, 8 months ago. I finally now got this written down in paragraph form, and am generally happy with the accuracy of everything, thought I think it made a better speech. Anywho, it's down now on the internet, so no fire or bout of amnesia will erase this true and accurate testimony.



I testify that God is real, that God is truth, and that this universe operates under his design and his direction.

As I was asked to give my testimony, I really tried to think about what a testimony is. So naturally I went to a big, fat dictionary propped open on a library podium. Here I found 2 things: 1. A testimony is a firsthand authentication of a fact, and 2. A testimony is something that severs as an outward sign.

Let’s notice something about that first definition: My testimony is an authentication of an already existing fact. God is real. He is the fact; He exists. Completely and wholly outside of me saying that he does. My utterance does not create his existence. If there was no one on this earth to think about God, he would still exist. “In the beginning, God…” My purpose through this testimony is to provide first hand authentication of the already existing fact.

I testify that God is real, that God is truth, and that this universe operates under his design and his direction.

His Design: Romans 1:20 states, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” His Direction: Hebrews 4:12 states, “The word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thought and attitudes of the heart.”

I have felt that double-edged sword pierce into my soul and my marrow so much over these past 9 months, and it is for 2 reasons: One, God calling me and drawing me in, and Two, My decision to seek after him with reckless abandon.

There are several passages that speak to this. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” And lastly here, Philippians 2:12-13: “Continue to work out your salvation (that is, work out your obedience) with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” In this third passage we see both dynamics of God calling me, drawing me, working in me as I strive to work out my salvation.

Ok, so here’s the story of the past 9 months:

Last year I lived with non-Christians. I was living off campus for the first time, and it really wore on me. I am a person who can be easily influenced by my surroundings, so I saw my obedience slip and wane. Drinking increased. Swearing increased. God as my joy and delight faded down my list of priorities. So second semester came around and I met this girl. This wonderful, funny, talented, beautiful girl, who, for those simple reasons quickly became the joy and delight of my life.

Now I’m not saying that it is wrong to delight in your boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife. Ephesians 5 as well as many other places in the Bible tells us quite the opposite (read Song of Songs for example!). The problem with me was that I was making this relationship my all. I could honestly say to myself and to others, “God. Yeah, he’s number 7.” Or “God, he’s number 8.” I had this surface elation but inside I was dying, decaying really. And I knew this; I knew this.

So finals week last spring we broke up because we knew we weren’t seeking God. And I truly was broken. I had lost what I thought was giving my life purpose and joy. So I decided to turn to God. At first it all felt cheapened, because when I had what I wanted I wasn’t seeking God, but now that I needed something from him again, I was turning to him. But I decided I’d go to him anyway, because I really did need him. Every day I spent talking with him. I started praying through the Psalms, one a day from mid-July. I had many conversations with my sister on the phone and with my new Christian roommates. Through this and during this I heard God say to me in no uncertain terms, “Luther, you fool. You think you initiated our relationship? I put my hand in your life…to stop you, to redirect you, to move you.” God afflicted me, affected me, rushed to me, showed me he was there, and called softly in my ear. Acts 17:26-27 is now taped to my desk. “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is hot far from each one of us.” God placed me, God called me, and he waits for me to run to his voice.

That brings me to that second definition of testimony; something that serves as an outward sign.

Does my life give testament to God’s existence and God’s truth? Is my life an outward sign or proof that God is real? I desire this to be so every day of my life. I know I’m not perfect, but I am striving to be like Jesus. And here’s the real important part: I have discovered that, the more I draw near to God, the more I seek him out, the more He becomes such a natural outpouring in my life. I can’t not talk about Him. I can’t not give him the credit.

I’ll end with this:

I had the opportunity to talk with Jared Wass recently. During this conversation the verse Psalm 37:4 came up: “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I used to think that this meant, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you a wife, a new car, a good job, etc.” But Jared showed me, if I delight in the Lord, what is the desire of my heart? It’s the Lord!!! God is promising that if I seek Him, he will give me himself. What better joy is there than that?

God has become so real and active in my life because God is a real and active God and I have been seeking him with my all.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Daidoge and Yamanashi

Which means, street performances and biking to a new prefecture! It wasn't far...

http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2109197&l=b13ac&id=59501063

Monday, November 5, 2007

I was coming home from work today and I had a couple of errands to run so I decided to swing into the "city" part of Kambara and stop in a konbini for a quick snack. I walked in, purused the aisles for a bit, then nonchalantly chose an onigiri, paid for it and stepped outside the store. I stood there to eat it like a good Japanese boy before moving on, and that was right where it hit me: I had just chosen and purchased a snack made out of plain rice and dried seaweed. And I was eating it. I was shocked- it was like a spell had been lifted and my vision cleared revealing to me once again the world.

I'm really happy here, and I revel in those moments. I like breaking from the mundane; I like smiling, I like wistling, I like the little diddy that gets played on loop at the grocery store. Maybe that's mundane to a Japanese person, but to me it's dripping with life. When my eyes are open I see the animation in every object around me, the world is dancing, my surroundings are putting on a show. I haven't sung so clearly in a long time. Tonight I took a shower and forgot my towel in my bedroom, so I just shook off like a dog and walked out into my house, laughing.

These past 3 Monday nights I've been playing soccer with my fellow teachers against other teachers from different high schools in the area. Tonight we won 1-0 and I scored the only goal! I had about 4 shots on goal, and this particular one was almost saved by the keeper, but he didn't get there quite in time so the ball just barely crossed the line. The ref didn't catch it at first so I started pointing and yelling, then the wistle blew and I couldn't tell what was going on, then I started jogging back thinking they didn't call it, then the ball came rolling past me on it's way to the center because it had been seen as a goal! I was pretty pumped, but didn't know how to show it or what to say- (is it ok to rub a goal in a sensei's face?) Anyway, my teachers seemed pretty happy, and I got lots of happy comments after the game. I say "happy comments" because they were all trying to translate things into English, and that kind of slows down the celebrating, so one teacher just patted me on the arm, jumped up and down and said "yea!"

It's frustrating to not be able to make all my usual comments and be understood, but as I've been getting more and more comfortable here I've been more and more myself in my mannerisms and even in using English- if no one understands me, oh well, they can listen to the tone of my voice and I'll understand me. Luckily I think I'm sorta funny and clever, so it's entertaining. And my mom thinks I'm pretty neat so if nothing else, that's one person in the world.

Well, I should probably get to wrapping this up- I ate an entire 90g package of Tohato kyarameruko-n (caramel corn) while writting this and I'm afraid I'm about to move on to something else. I have not forgotten the TGD commentaries I promised I'd write, so next post I'll put a lot of time into doing that.

じゃあ、ね。

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Lime Juice

I bought a Corona at the Konbini today. It came with its own little ketchup like packet of lime juice. I popped the top as a reward for picking up my apartment this evening and took a swig. Suddenly, I was whisked back to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I'm not sure why the taste of Corona brings me back there so suddenly, but maybe it's because that's what Eau Claire tastes like if you were to take a big slurp with your tongue. Or maybe it's simply a little too telling of the kinds of activities I partook in whilst I was gracing that city with my presence.

I do dearly, dearly miss that place. I miss popping out of the wigwam on a sunny, fall afternoon with crisp air in my lungs and the tragic beauty of dying leaves spread across my pictoview. I miss walking 3 blocks to my choice of 13 bars, packed onto one avenue, doors open and windows polished waiting for the crowd to trickle in. I miss throwing a football on Chippewa Street. I miss getting caught up in the college life and being surrounded by thousands of my peers. I felt something then. I felt like somebody then and somehow in that small world I felt like there were endless possibilities, if I was only willing to swallow my pride, forgo my inhibitions and take a step in any direction.

And now I've stepped out into the world. I've stretched my legs across ocean and continent to a place where I have no previous feeling. What am I building here? What am I finding? When I reflect on this time in the future, what will I feel? And what popped beverage will bring me back?