Eagle River Part 3

All right. As of now, I'm on my way home, somewhere in Wisconsin. Just tried out McDonalds' new berry smoothies with coupons we had and they were pretty good. Anyway, Wednesday we went to town and window shopped through all the tourist stores. It was quite boring, especially considering the fact that I didn't bring any money. Basically I read most of the rest of the time, still resentfully wary of any tubing trips. I did go out with an inflatable raft/boat/kayak and suntanned in the middle of the lake while listening to Wheaton College speakers on my iPod. Earlier I had actually kayaked around the lake with it to, and I fell out into the water when I first tried to get in. Thankfully, my Shuffle was clipped to my shirt collar and so was spared from the watery assault. Thursday was more of the same considering reading and iPod listening except that instead of hanging out inside or on the dock, I went out walking. I had a semi-ulterior motive for this as I also wanted to find and photograph deer, nonexistent in the suburbs of my residence but ubiquitous here (that was an awesome sentence...) Because it was midday, I saw only a few deer, including a doe with two fawns. If the deer were alone, they tended to let you get pretty close, keeping still and their eyes locked on you until you got too close. Then they'd lope a short distance away. Once you started stalking them, they would act a bit more skittish.
Friday, we went to Porcupine National Forest in the Michigan UP. In short, it was stunningly gorgeous and as a photographer and explorer, I had a field day. "In long" we went and saw some waterfalls right on a river feeding into Lake Superior, which was about half a mile from our starting point. After going to one waterfall, we went up to another parking lot, then went down the path to the beach. I went up the beach, taking pictures and collecting cool rocks (they were amazing). I then decided to go back upriver on the other side from where we had come, one that had no path. At first, the pseudo-path was okay, as one only had to navigate over numerous dead trees that had fallen over down the hill right near the edge. I was easily able to switch between the upper pat and the rock layers jutting into the river that gave me spectacular views of the river and waterfalls. (Side note, I'll run a slideshow of the trip pictures after I get home, edit them, and upload them to Picasa Web Albums). Later, the trail became non-existent and to get down to the river's edge and back up took some major rock climbing/gymnastics skills. Not exactly but it was really tough and perilous too. Well, I ended up getting to the waterfall I wanted to get shots of and then the trail began to get really  tough and I began to realize that I was taking a lot of time. So I made my way back to the beach, saw no one I knew there and quickly (relatively speaking, because I was exhausted and had done the whole exploration with a full backpack that happened to have rocks from the beach) made my way back to the car. Upon my arrival, I was angrily  informed that I had been waited/searched for for about a half hour. Oops. Anyway, we then went to Lake-In-The-Clouds. Wow. It's basically an overlook with this lake and valley hundreds of feet below. Again, stunning. We then made our way back "home" and some of the younger guys were shooting off fireworks. I later went out looking for deer before dinner. I found a few, but the flash caused their eyes to flash, sort of ruining the picture and it was sort of dark so to not have the flash increased the shutter speed too much. Later after dinner, I worked on making paper airplane carriers for bottle rockets, but the planes had to be released right before they went off; otherwise, the plane would tip down and the rocket would go off, sending the little contraption right into the lake. Well, one later kind of worked, and with another one, I forgot to count and it went off in my hand. No damage to me whatsoever thankfully.
Today, we all got up and cleaned the cabin and got packed. Then we left. Now we're in the car. The end.

Eagle River Part 2

All right. It's Wednesday, just about the midpoint of this Eagle River vacation. Let's see, the rest of Tuesday I pretty much hung out, finishing up my audiobook and reading more of History of American Political Theory. I've finished up my 60 hours of Summer reading for the Wheaton Public Library which will net me a free taco at Chipotle. There are other rewards for 20 and 40 and I still have a couple gift cards that I've saved. ::Cough cough:: Anyway, part of the reason for this was that it was either raining or threatening rain the entire day and evening. As a matter of fact, that evening, there was a gigantic thunderstorm all that late evening and night. That has actually happened all three times we've been up here. I must say, Eagle River has provided me with a fantastic opportunity to catch up on a lot of college lectures. Right now I'm going through some of Wheaton College's speaking sessions. This one Indian speaker D'Souza Dinesh or something like that. Anyway, he was talking a lot about combating the New Atheism and made some very excellent points that I added to my intellectual arsenal. He brought up some things that I had never heard about from anyone else before, like the fact that every single physical law of the universe (speed of light, gravity, rate of expansion of the universe, etc) has to be absolutely exact or else the universe as we know it would simply not exist. There were other cool facts to. He was saying that his talks are aimed differently for different audiences. He said that for Christians, he wants to encourage them in their faith, to agnostics or seekers he wants to show them that there is evidence and maybe think twice about disbelief in God, and for often arrogant undergraduate atheists, he wants to give them an "intellectual horsewhipping" which I thought was beautifully hilarious. As much as I really liked the guy, he also held a position in strong support of God-directed evolution and how the earth was 5.5 billion and change years old. I guess that shows how sheltered I've been because I thought a belief in a literal 6 day creation was much more ubiquitous among strong" Christians that it actually seems to be. I'll delve into my beliefs on that in more detail at some point in the near future. Maybe I'll type a draft of it on my laptop and post in when I get home...hmm. Now there's an idea...Anyway, today I listened and read more, kayaked a bit more (and got really sunburned on my lower arms and curiously right above my knees too) and...went tubing. This time however, they went too fast and crazy and really ticked me off because I was telling them to slow down. It was less fear of my life and health and more an anger at a blatant disregard of my requests and a feeling of broken trust. So that sort of left me sullen at the world (except my iPod and Palm of course) for a while. Just a few hours ago, we went to a choir concert at a nearby church that was singing old revival songs of the Great Awakening (I believe it was the second). Some of the songs like "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" were familiar and nice, but a lot of the other ones I didn't know and so I sort of felt a disconnect. It was really cool to hear deep men's voices and the ladies sing really high, especially considering the church I've attended all my life doesn't have one. So that brings us up to the present. I'm writing this and will start getting ready for bed soon. Tomorrow will be our last day of water activities as it has been confirmed that we'll be going to Black River Falls in the UP on Friday. So I'm really looking forward to going and getting pictures, especially considering there actually hasn't been much to photograph (maybe I'll explain later in a more all-encompassing post). Well, it's time to scram!

Eagle River Part 1

Well, here I am, in our cabin, at the table, eating shredded wheat and drinking cherry Pepsi while on my dad's Blackberry. And because I'm using email to blogger, you'll have to excuse my spelling. Anyway, we left Wheaton at 8:52 AM and arrived at 3 or 3:30. I can't remember because I wasn't looking at my watch. The trip was uneventful, and I listened to an audiobook (Born to Run) the entire ride there, so I had fun. We got ourselves situated and everyone went to the dock to swim. I hung back and looked for other ways to keep myself busy. Later, we went tubing and I convinced myself to go, simply on the basis that I had done it before and so would not die. Needless to say, I had fun and did not die. We went nice and smoothly, staying in the wake, but we still hit our share of bumps and water jetting into our faces (it was a four seater thing you sit in). Later, some of us tried (and some of us failed) to water ski. I was in both categories, but I applauded myself for trying. I had a lot of trouble getting my skis on and was getting really cold, so I only tried once. I'm probably going to try later this week (we'll be here until Saturday morning). We also had some excellent pizzas made for us, though the cheese fell off way to easily. Later, we made s'mores with gigantic marshmallows and they were awesome. After that, retreated back to the cabin and continued listening to my story late into the night. Even after I turned it off it took a long time to get to bed, but that's normal for first night's sleep anywhere new. So that brings us to the present, where I will now relax and listen to my story more until it warms up more and we actually know what we're doing today. Apparently, we might go to Lake Superior later in the week, so that should be a blast.

Dupage County Demolition Derby

Today (Sunday) I went to my first-ever demolition derby. After I got home from church I rode my bike to the fairground and for about an hour I was…not overwhelmed. Now mind you, to see old cars with straight-pipe exhausts straight from the engines scream their engines wildly while spinning their tires in mud and smash into each other is fun. The only problem was, the track, or pit really, was really small. I was expecting something with more speed, but then again, if it was faster, people would have a much greater risk of injury. But anyway, aside from that, the derby was pretty cool. I took mostly video after the first heat (Which by the way was a qualifier as the finals are tonight, but I knew it’d be way better for pictures in bright daylight) and my goodness, I’m glad my camera captured even a smidgeon of the noise those “cars” made. Wow. There’s nothing that gets my blood pumping like hearing that melodious roar of a floored accelerator. It’s just…awesome. Anyway, here are some pictures. And yes, some of the cars seem to be standing still, but sometimes it’s just fast daylight shutter speed. And to mix things up and to get some better action shots, I’m throwing in some video screenshots.

 

Four Minutes, Nine Seconds

That is how long it took me to drink 64 ounces of orange juice.

 

After once seeing in the newspaper years ago about one columnist’s attempt at drinking a gallon of milk in under one hour, I had always wanted to try it. Over a year ago, I actually tried. I drank most of it, but the last half hour was me mostly laying on my desk groaning in pain. Needless to say, I failed. But I’ve always been able to drink large quantities of juice, and I love orange juice, so I figured half a gallon would be a more reachable goal. So today, my dad and I were at Aldi getting some juice for my younger siblings as a treat because some of my other siblings were with my mom at a concert. So I happened to spot the orange juice and when I brought it up to him, my dad was like “Go for it.” Well how could I resist? So I had only 2 pieces of pizza for dinner and drank nothing else until 8:43. Then, it was time. I set up my camera in the basement on top of the washing machine and pulled out the OJ, ripped the cap off, shook it, and started chugging. I made sure not to try to drink it all in 3 chugs, because that’s completely impossible, so I lowered the increments and made sure to burp as often as possible to keep the air out of my stomach. Eventually as the level got low, the pain in my stomach increased significantly and subsequently my chugging capacity fell, but I was still going. I eventually finished it and went upstairs, my stomach feeling like, well that it was about to explode with half a gallon of orange juice in it. I was in pain for over an hour and just laid on the couch, feeling ridiculously proud of myself. My mom of course thought the whole idea was stupid, but that’s okay. Guys need to push to see their limits and sometimes girls don’t have that streak in them (Not saying it’s everyone of course). My dad was proud that I did it and he was like “I’m glad you felt pain.” Quite honestly it wouldn’t have felt so cool if I wasn’t hurting so badly. So now that I know that my limits are somewhere between drinking a gallon of milk in an hour and a half gallon of orange juice in 4 1/6 minutes. I think it might be a while before I find that middle ground…

Oh, something that I meant to put on this but forgot to do is to do a rundown of the nutrients one ingests from a whole carton of orange juice, so here it is:

Calories: 880

Sodium: 120mg

Potassium: 3,360mg

Carbohydrates: 224g

Sugar: 192g

Protein: 8g

Daily Value Vitamin C: 800%

DV Calcium: 16%

So yes, that’s a lot of calories and sugar. Kind of…

Psychology?

I recall one Winter night this past year being in a Barnes and Noble bookstore (or Border’s, whatever) and noticing a psychology section. I like psychology so I was immediately drawn to it. And then immediately repulsed. A quick scan of the small section revealed titles with an overwhelmingly sexual nature to them. I was quite disappointed and needless to say got The Republic by Plato instead (Though I haven’t read it yet…). Anyway, I was on Mobipocket.com which is actually a pretty fantastic eBook place, but I use it mostly because of all the Palm syncable content they have on it. My eyes scanning through all the sections stumbled upon, you guessed it, psychology. And once again, I was disappointed. Here are the “Top titles” from said section:

1. The Pickup Artist: The New and Improved Art of Seduction
2. Hypnosis and the Science of Seduction
3. The Secret Language of Hypnotherapy
4. Controlling People
5. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
6. The Sociopath Next Door
7. How to Win Any Argument

Wow. Psychology? Maybe. Selling sex, self, and pride? Definitely. (Side note: Controlling people is a book on people who are controlling and not a how-to-control-people book, though that would be comical if it was…) So there you have it. This is what psychology is to the modern reader. I guess the works of the great psychologists and actual books on psychology don’t sell well. This is a great indicator of what our society is focused on…comforting thought…

Defense Weapon Idea

You read the title. “Huh?” Yeah, this is why the blog is called “The random thoughts…” With emphasis on the random. Anyway, it’s always nice to have a source of defense at all times, for aggressive dogs or muggers (Though I haven’t heard of a passive or even assertive mugger). But it’s also nice to do that without killing or severely wounding them simply for your conscious’s sake. So, here’s an idea: A compact strobe light. Basically, it’s going to be a handheld device that when activated, rapidly blasts superbright flashes of light in the face of any would-be attacker, causing their sense of sight and balance to be completely screwed up for at least 10 seconds, allowing you to make a quick getaway. And when you think about it, all you need is to modify a flashlight by loading it with higher voltage batteries, higher quality bulbs and mirrors and a bunch of capacitors (Devices that store electricity and are designed for quick release of it like an ordinary camera flash). So if anyone thinks of a way to actually build it, we can patent it, split the profits, and retire in Barbados. Another upside of this device is that it could be used against multiple targets. Unless you’re really experienced with guns, it’s hard to shoot three people quickly enough before they jump you, and with knives it’s even slower. But all you have to do is just point this sucker at the whole party and let it rip. Now something that might be going through your mind is “Well if it’s a light device, it won’t work during the day!” My response being “If someone’s mugging you in broad daylight, I suggest moving out of Tijuana or Kabul.” In all seriousness though, the lights would have to be powerful enough to even work in the light, which is quite possible. When you think about how some people react to camera flashes in pretty-well-lit rooms, think 3-4 times as powerful and 10 pulses a second. Another possibility is range, which might be limited, but unless they’re really stupid, muggers aren’t exactly going to hail you from across the street before beginning their assault. Lastly, the battery life on this won’t be much at all, and back to normal references, think of how long your camera battery lasts when you use the flash a lot. This is going to drain batteries like no tomorrow but unless you’re planning on being assaulted more than 3 times in one day, that should be no problem. If you are, I against suggest moving…So yeah, if anyone has already stumbled upon something like this let me know.

Political Implications of the Theory of Evolution

First of all, I will be forthright in my beliefs on the origins of life, earth, and the universe. I believe that God created everything as taken from Genesis 1 in 6 literal 24 hour days. I won’t go into detail on my reasoning because that is not the purpose of my post. The point is, I don’t believe that humans and apes share a common ancestor, or that there is one at all. I believe that God, at creation created every animal according to its own kind and from then, till Noah and then after Noah till now and continuing, there was a great deal of adaptation of all life, but not evolution. Anyway, a few verses in Genesis illustrate the point I want to make but keep sidetracking myself from. Oh well, this is my brain’s post so I have to deal with it just as much as you do.

[26] Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 
    [27] So God created man in his own image,
        in the image of God he created him;
        male and female he created them.

So here in this passages in Genesis 1, we can see that God created man in His own image (The “let us” and “our own” indicate a statement among the members of the Trinity, and not the angels). We are not simply evolutional accidents. We are created in the image of God. That’s a powerful statement. The implications of that for our person-to-person relationships are numerous. As easy as it is to (At least for me), we can’t treat other people like pieces of scrap or helpless morons (Even if they act that way) because they are created in the image of God. His representatives on earth. Now, perhaps the greatest earthly results from this was the idea of natural rights. Argued eloquently, (But not the first) by the founding fathers, the concept of natural rights basically means that we have rights that come naturally from our status as creations in the image of God. The book I’m currently reading A History of American Political Theories puts it best:

They [the soon-to-be-American colonists] declared that there exists a body of natural rights antedating the existence of government and superior to it in authority. These natural rights, it was held, are the real basis of political rights, and hence the action of the British government, even if strictly legal, was still regarded as contrary to the inherent rights of man. This idea was boldly and forcibly expressed by many of the Patriot leaders. Dickinson declared that "our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of preexisting rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and Lord of all the earth." John Adams said that rights do not come from princes or parliaments; but are coaeval [sic] with these. They are founded "in the frame of human nature, rooted in the constitution of the intellectual and moral world," derived from "the Great Legislator of the universe." Even more vividly the youthful Hamilton asserted that "the sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

So here we have the view that as humans and not just British subjects, Parliament had violated the rights of the colonists. Because humans are created in the image of God, they cannot be trampled on. They cannot have their possessions taken from them. They cannot be killed wantonly. They cannot be pushed into subjugation against their will. The colonists felt that Parliament, by taxing them, forcing them to quarter their troops, closing their harbors, monopolizing the tea trade, all without any consent of their own, was doing just that. So that’s why they fought the most powerful nation in the world at the time. Not because they were spoiling for a fight, on the contrary, many (at least in the beginning of the war) held the British crown and government in high regard, but because their rights as creations in the image of God were being tossed aside in the name of tax revenue and efficiency for the British.

So what does all this mean? Well, when you think about the rampant viral disease of secular humanism that has spread throughout the world, you can explain the actions of some. As much as Hitler could say that he believed in God, he certainly didn’t treat the Jews like creations in His image, much less God’s chosen people. Heh. My next argument was that this could be seen in less extreme ways with what the Democrats are doing in Congress, but nothing they’ve done really has violated our natural rights really. Just pretty much everything else. I guess then a better argument would be that as we see many European nations become more and more secular, we need to watch out for our own as we can easily see in our normal days the rampant Godlessness of our fellow people.

Lessons From the Campaign Office

Interning for my Congressman over the Summer and a bit earlier in the spring has really taught me so much and has expanded my horizons more than I thought would happen. First of all, my mom actually suggested that I intern for them a while back but I was hesitant as I am with pretty much every new things I try out. So I sort of ignored it but then had the idea in the back of my head for a long time. Then, in the beginning of my Sophomore year at Wheaton North, my APUSH class was going over the formation of the US. We were going through things like the beliefs of the founding fathers, the Puritans, the Federalist-Antifederalist debates, and of all these things I had strong opinions that I would occasionally voice in class (Nicely of course). So as I was feeling fired up about those sort of political things, my mom again brought up the idea (As she would periodically) and this time I felt that maybe it would be a good idea. So I called the office about helping out and to make a long story short, a long process of phone tag and business finally landed me in an office seat staring in front of a computer in mid-March. The business of the day was calling people in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, as there was a special election there that a Republican had a good chance of winning (Plus the fact that Congressman Roskam is firmly entrenched in his district and is making an effort to help Republican challengers and those who need assistance). Realize at this point that calling people I don’t know and leaving messages scared me to death. I have and do enjoy public speaking, but not using the phone. I always felt unprepared and would stumble over my words and just feel stupid. However, this job was actually not so bad because it held a key: A script! I no longer had to fear feeling idiotic, I had exactly what I needed to say right in front of me. So I did that for a while until the election (The Republican lost ::Teardrop::). I would then continue to help out, doing whatever was asked, but after school, I was and have been able to throw in so much more time into it. I now am in the office pretty much 5 days of the week from 2-4 hours every day doing whatever needed. And that’s also key to the lessons I’ve learned. As an intern, I have done pretty much everything. I have called people, walked in parades, gone door to door, cut out newspaper clippings, sealed/mailed envelopes, done data entry, and  have been a wall for people to talk into. This has taught me a few new skills, made me know and appreciate my talents (And know the areas where I, uh, lack skill….), and has really shown me flexibility. Usually I know if it’s the week before a parade we’ll be making phone calls, but I don’t always know. It’s a great feeling to be able to do whatever someone asks you to do and try new things. I feel quite useful. I’ve also meet some awesome people there (Clue: They’re all in/done with college) who have imparted their AP, college choice, major choice, and life choice (that sounded bad…) wisdom onto me. I have learned quite a bit from them and can really appreciate my coworkers.

Another thing I have learned from interning is how apathetic people are about politics. When I go door to door, most of the people aren’t home, most of the people who are home don’t know/care, and the people who do just say something like “jobs”. Well who doesn’t want jobs? Are you saying that everyone else on this block who didn’t say they cared about jobs simply doesn’t care if they get laid off? I do understand thought that it can be more important to certain people. But anyway, it’s kind of infuriating to see all these people who when you see the ratings of the President, Congress, and the government in general, seem to think that something’s going wrong, but yet no one really seems to know anything. People talk about how they’re not into politics, but that’s what makes our nation run! People talk about how they don’t like it when the Democrats and Republicans don’t play nice and work together, seemingly failing to realize how impossible that normally is! This nation was founded upon citizen participation and input, and now most people don’t know or care. That’s completely wrong and needs to change…somehow…We need to facilitate this participatory attitude in the people of my generation. You’d think the “Government run” schools would do a good job, but that’s not the case. Oh well, if you all don’t care, more power and influence for me then…

Oak Park: An Evening on the Town

Today, my family and I (excluding my dad who was at work) met up with one of my mom’s friends in downtown Oak Park. There’s a program there called “Thursday Night Out” where you can buy ticket books that are redeemable for certain dishes at 18 different restaurants around the downtown area. One dish is one ticket period end of story so it’s pretty cool, and there’s a nice variety too. My mom and my younger siblings stuck with her friend and kids and we older siblings all went our own ways. Each ticket booklet has 4 tickets, which may not seem like so much, but that qualifies for things from lemonade to pizza to Pad Thai to burritos to chicken wings. So being me, I was at first paralyzed by the smorgasbord of choices available, but I finally decided where to go first. Soon after, I also decided that I would only eat non-American food. There were some cool options for dessert that were American, along with main dishes, but I figured it’d be great to try something new or at least partially unfamiliar. Now before I go into case studies of where I went and what I got, I also decided that I would take a picture of each dish I got and the storefront too. So I’m inserting the pictures into this post too so you can really get a feel for the food (or at least your soon-to-be-salivating tongue can…) I’m also including the description of each dish that came with the menu.

P.S. Sorry that the pictures cropped everything so weirdly. I type up the blog without the theme and the margins are a lot bigger so I didn’t realize what would happen.

Restaurant 1: King and I Thai Restaurant.

 Dish: Pad Thai Chicken (Fried rice noodles, tofu, egg, bean sprouts, green onions, and ground peanut topping)

An interesting note, I actually walked into a different Asian restaurant before finding this one. I felt so stupid, but you come up on these small places really quickly and I thought the sign said something like a Pad Thai place. Guess not…Anyway, the noodles here were fantastic, thought that may be due to the fact that I was the hungriest at this point but who cares. They weren’t too greasy and none of the other ingredients were overpowering. It wasn’t too salty like some restaurant and lots of Asian food is, so that was a pleasant surprise. I liked the way all the flavors and textures blended together and all the ingredients I liked in the first place so I was quite pleased.

 

Restaurant 2: Jerusalem Café. Dish: Falafel Sandwich (Seasoned ground chickpeas and veggies, deep friend in a pita pocket)

This dish was quite interesting. The main ingredients beside the chickpeas were sliced cucumbers and a sauce that went with it in the pita pocket. The cool, crunchy contrast with the warmer and differently textured fried chickpeas was quite refreshing, though the chickpeas seemed a little too deep fried for my taste. Then again, I’ve never found roasted chickpeas awesome. I absolutely adore hummus, whose main ingredient is chickpeas, but these seemed a bit overpowered by their cooking. The cucumbers were nice though. The sandwich wasn’t too messy and only a bit of sauce and a few slices of tomato fell out so I was thankfully not trying to eat it and simultaneously contain it (something I hate doing).

 

Restaurant 3: Khyber Pass. Dish: Frontier Chicken with Rice (Thin strips of chicken cooked in onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes)

This dish, which I was unable to finish on account of being full, was also somewhat of a mixed bag. First of all, as the pictures indicate, the food was in tubs and so I don’t know if having it on a plate or in bowls might’ve somehow subconsciously made them seem tastier. Anyway, the red sauce the meat was in complimented everything well, as did the onions, peppers, and tomatoes did to the chicken. I also poured some of the rice into the chicken dish because it was kind of plain tasting on its own. It also had it’s own taste that I wasn’t familiar with in rice and didn’t like as much as normally cooked rice. Maybe it was the yellow flavoring because I’m used to my mom making Mexican yellow rice. Anyway, I’m hoping that everything will taste better tomorrow when I’m not as full.

 

Restaurant 4: Mancini’s.  Dish: Gelati Stracciatella (Italian style chocolate chip ice cream)

As you can see in the picture, this was a huge serving and it was already dripping down the sides onto the top of the other food container. I had to finish it at home because it was too much and had to balance it on top of the other two containers the whole car ride home. The difficulty was augmented by the fact that it had melted completely and so was quite slosh-prone. Anyway, as I said, this probably would’ve tasted better if my stomach was not at its bursting point when I first got it, but either way, it wasn’t my favorite. Now make no mistake: I love ice cream, and I love Italian ice cream, but I don’t like those chocolate chip flakes in it. I like more American brownie or chocolate candy pieces in my ice cream (Think: Culver’s flavor of the day frozen yogurt). If I could do it all over again, I would’ve gotten plain vanilla ice cream and probably would’ve been happier.

 

So yeah, this was a blast to do, and for 12 bucks, I will definitely push to have us do this again sometime in the future.

The Dupage County Fair

Today I was at the Dupage County fair for about 6.5 hours, in 90 degree temps, in the blazing sun. But it was all worth it because I got to spend 20 dollars on food and food alone! Ohhh, so good...while everyone else was blowing money on lame rides, I got to indulge in tacos authentico, various lemonades, and curly fries. Mm, mm. There were also other side attractions to the fair, such as duck racing, meeting a few acquaintances from school, seeing various cool exhibits, and watching the opening band (the West Suburban Homeschool Band). Another interest is Sunday, because at 2 (right after church) is the demolition derby. I've never been to one in my lifetime and it'd be a fantastic opportunity for taking pictures too. It's kind of interesting to see how it (like almost all county fairs) has an a heavy emphasis on agriculture and really glorified farming. I mean, I have nothing against that and our nation was founded on farming (and to a smaller extent, New England shipping) so it's kind of nice to see our nation's heritage like that, but at the same time, farming has become an industry completely dominated by the huge corporations. It's not like there are nearly as many opportunities to be a successful small farmer as there were years ago. But I digress...anyway, the fair was fun, the food was great, and...whatever. The end.

P.S. Here are some of the cool pictures (unedited) that I got from the fair.

 

---

The Politics of Our Beloved Land

Politics has interested me for a while, and President Obama’s election really sparked that interest in me quite a bit. Being in Wheaton in Dupage county, I am in one of the wealthier and more conservative counties in Illinois (And no, we’re not wealthy. I have 5 siblings, remember? I’m paying for all of college myself). However, Wheaton North Public High School was a different story. It seemed, as national polls indicated, that all the young people were in love with Obama, and hated Bush and “that old senile white guy” McCain. Liking Obama was easily the “Cool thing to do.” I’ve just finished a mini lecture series on the history of US Presidential elections, and it was made in 2008 with the last lecture being an analysis of the 08 election. So I could see pretty specifically the massive “Blue shift” almost every single state had during that election. Besides Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Tennessee, every other state and countless counties voted far more Democratically than the had in 2004. Even my country, along with many other “Wealthy and white” fast growing suburban counties that had previously been Republican strongholds either went Democratic (As was the case with all the counties surrounding Chicago) or saw their Republican majorities strongly reduced. So that was surprising to me, even though I had predicted early in the Summer that Obama would win by a sizeable amount.

Now today, the Democrats in Congress are in serious danger of losing the House and are probably going to see their majority in the Senate sharply cut (But that’s only because 36 are up for reelection this year). Obama’s approval rating is hovering around the 48-52 range and is at it’s lowest point ever. People are fed up with the liberal agenda that has totally ignored what a majority of the people really want. The deficit is incredibly high and the national debt is staggeringly huge. The new financial regulations bill (Whose Congressional debates I have watched hours of) is also meant to unreasonably restrain businesses (especially farmers) and banking in a way that severely limits their ability to lay safety nets for themselves and is again putting the government into every aspect of our lives. Now granted, some of the reforms have good ideas. Would it be nice to have cheap healthcare for everyone? Of course! Is it good that large financial institutions aren’t being irresponsible with funds and aren’t trying to make money on corporations failing? Yeah! But then do you make taxpayers foot the enormous bill, do you slow down the system, do you harm businesses? No! It’s just like most things the Democrats have come up with over the centuries. Unions were good ideas. They provided workers with better conditions and better pay when they were being exploited. But now, they’re simply out for themselves and don’t seem to care for the companies they actually work for. They are limiting business and slowing down production and aren’t doing much good. Was old age and disability insurance (Social Security) a good idea? Sure! But now it’s going to bankrupt out country because there are and definitely will be in the coming years far more retirees than workers. Things are not getting cheaper and if everything continues, Social Security expenditures will comprise a massive amount of our spending, again raising our deficits and national debt.

So essentially, the Democrats are fantastic at doing things that seem great, but in reality cost far too much money, and cost far too much government. Obama has for the moment lost quite a bit of popularity and many Blue-Dog (Fiscally conservative) Democrats that were swept into office in 2006 when the Dems were energized  are going to be swept right back out as many have not stayed true to their constituents and have obediently bowed to the more liberal wing of the Democrats that has controlled the agenda. Obama’s support among Independents-a key to his 08 victory-has all but vanished. So now, the Republicans are riding a wave that could land them quite a few seats. Republicans are extremely energized, even more so than they were in 94 with the “Republican Revolution”. The problem is, according to some poll (I forgot which one, maybe Gallup) most of those who are planning on voting for a Republican (And there are plenty) are doing so not because they like Republicans and their ideology, but because they dislike Obama. So Republicans cannot be overconfident in thinking that this is the beginning of a major change in American thinking and that they’ll be in power for years to come. As with almost every single movement centered around the hatred or dislike of a person or idea, once the object of dislike is removed, support for that movement vanishes. So Republicans must continue and support what the majority of Americans (And especially those Independents and Democrats) is supporting: fiscal restraint and deficit/debt reduction. Now I know that I have heard and seen personally many representatives (My own, Congressman Roskam *Beams*) especially Republicans that are advocating just that, but we need to make sure that Obama’s fad support doesn’t become our support, where it’s just “cool” to not like the Democrats. That way, we can set this country again on the right path toward a better future for all Americans. (Sorry, couldn’t help adding the melodramatic note at the end)

What Makes Stuff Stick?

I had written down something in one of my little notebooks that I use for random interesting thoughts that come up throughout the day (Most of them right before bed). The gist of it was "Why do certain things such as memories seem to be remembered much better than other things?" Or to put it another way, "Some people can remember certain details that other people will forget almost instantly. Why is that? Why do some things 'stick' to people, and what creates the differences in mind receptability to those things?" It's always fascinated me that I can occasionally remember minute details of obscure things, such as certain dates or names that stick from a reading, while big obvious things like what I did yesterday seem to fade into nothingness in my brain. And I realize that this is partly due to many factors. One of them I assume is gender. It's been proven that guys and girls remember the way to destinations differently (They said it was that prehistorical men were hunters and women were gatherers, which I just "Christian-ly" interpret as ancient Biblical  times). Another reason is probably how we learn, like visual, auditory, and uh "doing" for lack of a better word that could come to me within 2 seconds. Those 2 certainly are hugely important as to what sticks in our mind and what doesn't, but that's not enough for me. What I want is for technology to develop that can take a person and analyze them somehow by a series of tests that may involve things from actual neurological examination to simple "What do you remember from yesterday/last week/last year?" questions. By a thorough examination of the results, experts will be able to present information to someone in an extremely personalized way that makes hopefully almost everything stick. Now of course, the first thought that came to me is "Well our brains are kind of designed to flush out all pointless unneeded stuff so wouldn't our brains be overloaded by all the "sticky" memories?" Well, then I thought about all the data that seems to indicate we only use 10% of our brainpower and however exactly true that may be is not the point. The point is, our brains have incredible potential for memory and for a whole lot of other things that we often don't explore. So if we have technology that can enable us to do those kinds of tests and personalize information presentations to humans, just imagine the learning capacity we could have. Maybe someone happens to remember things best when reading them against a red background, or maybe listening to a certain type of music, or even with the sound of rushing water or combinations of anything. Who knows? Just think of how much quicker we could read and learn if all the information we were given was specifically tailored to stick in our brains...

Movie Review: Braveheart –The Elersile Edition

You might be thinking “Gee, this guy watches a lot of movies”. Well, that’s partly true, at least in the Summer. But I also have decided to simply review one the day I watch it so it’s best in my memory, so I’m not going to go back and try to remember everything from all the movies I’ve seen in my life.
Anyway, Braveheart is a movie depicting the life of William Wallace (Played by Mel Gibson), the famous leader of the Scottish Rebellion against the English in the 1300s. This movie is not exactly like the original by Mel Gibson as some scenes are removed and switched around to make it leaner, less romantic, and more politically correct. (I in fact just thought Elersile Edition meant a cool special edition). The movie begins with Wallace being tortured and executed in London for treason in a very Jesus-esque way (No vain usage of the word intended) as he’s carried on a T-shaped cross to the deck where he’s gruesomely tortured medieval-style. He’s also mocked by the English and has food thrown at him. The scene finally ends just as he’s beheaded.
The movie then flashes back ten years prior when Wallace returns to his Scottish hamlet clan from a pilgrimage to Rome (He had been in France earlier) and to his old flame, Murron, who he pursues quickly. Wallace desires to live and raise a family in peace, but many villagers are desirous of rebellion against the oppressive English crown. Soon after he and Murron are secretly married, the local nobleman attempts, uh, “forcible intimacy” with her and she successfully resists by slapping, biting, etc. and with the help of Wallace. Nevertheless, she’s captured and killed; Wallace therefore wants revenge and leads 2 successful attacks on English outposts. The English King, Edward Longshanks plots to quell the rebellion, and the Scottish nobles, lead by Robert the Bruce, who in turn is lead by his father, decide to continue their loyalty to the English crown. Thus, it is up to the peasants lead by Wallace to fight for freedom. After sacking York, the largest castle in Northern England, Longshanks personally leads a massive army towards Wallace, who has finally enlisted the help of a few Scottish nobles including Robert the Bruce. However, when the battle begins, Robert is nowhere to be found and the nobles, paid off by the king, desert him. Wallace’s army is defeated, and he finds Robert on the king’s side. Wallace barely escapes with his life. He is then summoned to a meeting with some Scottish nobles, but he is betrayed and captured and as we know from the first scene, killed. And…I won’t reveal the ending…
Overall, this movie was great. I really enjoyed the war and action elements and the fact that the romance. etc. (please read into this) was cut to make it a better war movie. As I hinted at earlier, Wallace is an excellent monomythical hero and somewhat resembles Jesus in his story. He’s just an ordinary person (Obviously Jesus was the diametric opposite of ordinary, but he in a sense was a “common man”) who has the incredible capability of leading and inspiring an entire nation to freedom. (Of course, Jesus lead/is leading most of the world to true spiritual freedom, but…) The Scottish noblemen are no doubt like the evil hypocritical Pharisees, who are trying to keep their good standing with the foreign ruling government. They conspire against Wallace and lead to his execution by the hands of the foreign oppressors. They also however, act as a sort of Satan (Or monomythically, tempters) as they offer Wallace great positions, power, and land when his achievements are recognized. Robert the Bruce also serves as kind of a fallen hero as he succumbs to his father’s evil selfish desires for him to have power and even contributes indirectly to Wallace’s death. But…well, you’ll just have to watch the movie…
Another note, the movie is rated R, and I am very careful in what I watch. I would recommend Kids-in-mind.com to see objective views on how much sexuality, violence, and swearing movies have. I try to stay shy of ones with a lot in the first category, or do the old “cover your eyes” trick. And yes, this movie is rated R primarily for medieval violence. It sometimes made me look the other way. Of course, a lot of it is just some really cool sword-through-stomach, mace-in-pretty-much-any-location kind of war violence, but it got a little extreme. The Wallace torture scene was “non-violent” per se, but it was gut-wrenching anyway to see the poor guy get strangled, stretched, and, let’s just say “other things”.
Again, this movie (and cut) is definitely your movie if you like straight war violence and a great hero. Enjoy!

Movie Review: Empire of the Sun

This movie is about a British kid (Jamie) living in Shanghai right before and through World War II. He and his parents are rich and have a grand life as rich people and he loves flying with a passion. However, everything changes when the Japanese invade and take over and in trying to escape, Jamie is separated from his parents. Soon, all the Brits that remained in the city are forced into containment camps. Life is full of sickness, but it also isn’t bad as the prisoners can do what they want. Jamie does well as he has connections with the leader of the American single men cabin, and one can see his maturation. I of course won’t give away the ending.
First of all, the movie was long: over 2.5 hours  and the plot was really dragged along. Things happened rapidly in the beginning, almost too fast to tell exactly who was who and what was going on. In the middle, everything seemed to slow down until the end when he confusingly goes from place to place. I personally found the concept interesting as I had never seen a movie about British civilian POWs in China during WWII, but the movie was overall somewhat lame. Jamie just seemed to be in the camp and their was a progression in his maturity, but it seemed rather pointless. The movie didn’t seem to point to anything grand or contain any real action. Romance was kept to an extreme minimum, violence occurred, sometimes purposely off-camera. I often feel this way about POW movies. The archetypal monomyth elements are present in being caught and leaving, but there’s so much in between when they’re just stuck in the camp, that it isn’t very interesting. I mean, let’s face it, life’s boring in those camps. Their were a lot of attempted cool slow-motion scenes with cool backgrounds, but it just seemed kind of like the director said “We’re trying to make this look cool”. Add to the fact that the central character is a 12 year old boy, and you’ve got a movie with both forced child and adult elements in it and it fails to strike a good balance. I think a whole hour of the internment camp part could probably be chopped and it would retain quite a bit of it’s effect. The theme music of choir boys singing in Latin is pretty good though…

Subway Breakfast

So earlier this morning, well now technically yesterday morning, I got myself a Subway breakfast. A 6” flatbread sandwich with egg, pepper jack cheese, bacon, green peppers, and onions, an English muffin with eggs, pepper jack cheese, and onions, and a little bottle of orange juice. Now one thing you must realize about my family and I is that we hardly ever go out to eat, especially breakfast. We only do that for dinner when we’re on road trips or for special occasions. Another thing you must realize about me is that I’m easily impressed and can take an incredible amount of joy in the miniscule things in life. (Just so no one thinks I’m that great, I can also be so ticked by the smallest things, so it balances). Anyway, I had to clutch the bag in my hand and bike handgrip because my watch said I was late to leave for the Roskam campaign office where I intern, and I hate being late. So I had to wait on devouring my newly bought friends (Which were $3.67 with a coupon, which was partly the reason I went) until I made it to the office. Well, upon wrenching my right hand open and opening up the thankfully still warm sandwiches, I proceeded to eat them carefully in the hallway, listening to the only two people in the office at that time talk about how to get an apartment in D.C. (One of them was going to get an internship there). As I knew we were going door-to-door that day, I somewhat regretted getting the onions, but they were good and I love onions. I think they sort of dominated the English muffin though. But overall, I’d say if I had much more money to throw around, I would definitely be back there more often. Plus the fact that it’s healthy happens to be a conscience assuager. The orange juice was excellent too, though I love orange juice with a passion. Oooh. I’m actually planning on seeing how fast I can drink a half-gallon of it. I have high expectations because I almost succeeded in drinking a gallon of milk in an hour, and orange juice tastes better than milk.

Gee whiz, I’m making a blog post about a breakfast. My narratives are quite all-encompassing and awkwardly thorough. Oh well. That’s why it’s my blog and not yours. If I didn’t want to watch myself think and post about the most mundane things that seem cool to me, I would’ve hired someone else to write this…

5! YAY!

I just got the results from my Advanced Placement United States History Exam today! I got a 5! Out of 5! The highest score one can get! YAY!!!! For those of you who aren’t familiar with AP, it’s essentially where, in high school, you take a college level course and you have an exam on it in the first 2 weeks of May. For the APUSH (As it’s called) test, you have 80 multiple choice questions, a Document Based Question (Where you have to use documents provided combined with your outside knowledge to formulate an essay) and 2 Free Response essays (Exactly how it sounds. You’re given a prompt, you write a thesis essay on it and back it up with what you know). The scale is 1-5, and you “pass” if you get a 3 or above. If you get a 3 or above, you can earn college credit and then you don’t have to take the class in college. Some colleges don’t like that idea and don’t accept any AP credit (Jerks…all that hard work…), some will only take it if it’s a 4 (And in some cases, a 5) but the vast majority will take a 3. Anyway, The test took over 3 hours and the day of the test, I was nervous to death. I really studied hard and felt quite prepared, but I’m always nervous about things. I’ve learned that when I’m confident about some things, I actually don’t do as well. If I have the mindset the other way, I seem to do better. But I’m also just a nervous person. So yeah, YAY!!!!!! One down, quite a few more in the upcoming years to go.
Side note: If anyone knows how to automatically do a signature in either Blogger itself or Windows Live Writer, let me know.

Hell: What exactly is in the Bible?

The existence of hell is generally undisputed. And no, before you get all excited, I’m not here to try to disprove the existence of hell exactly. I’m just trying to make clear distinctions and definitions about the Biblical, eternal location of those who did/have not accept Jesus Christ as Savior.
First of all, we should probably define our terms. I will use as a base point the teachings in Lesson 11 of Awana’s Main Study 4 (MS4). However, most of this post is concerning the very definition of what we consider Hell, so the problems will begin immediately. MS4 states “At death, the soul of a person leaves the body. Souls of the saved go immediately to heaven; those of the unsaved to into immediate punishment. This punishment is a place called ‘Sheol’ in the New Testament, [and] ‘Hades in the New Testament (Luke 16:19-31) [which I’ll deal with in a minute]. Both terms refer to hell.” Later in the lesson, it says that “hell is not a place where the unsaved will sit around playing cards. It is a place of constant, conscious torment. The Bible describes hell as a lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15). (Note: I only included the card playing part just to give you the entire quote so you knew I wasn’t messing with their argument. Okay, so this is where the problems start. MS4 says that hell is translated as “Hades” and is a lake of fire. First of all, the words “Hades” and “Sheol” both mean the same thing. Sheol is Hebrew and used in the OT, and Hades is Greek and used in the NT. Anywayl, what about Revelation 20:13-15?

[13] And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. [14] Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
(Note: All the verses I use are from the ESV Bible)

So if Hades is thrown into the lake of fire, and hell is both Hades and the lake of fire, that means hell is thrown into itself. That sounds quite impossible to me. I mean, the reading here is pretty straightforward. What’s obvious here is in verse 15, that all whose names were not written in the book of life were thrown into the lake of fire. But to make sure we can define lake of fire enough, let’s back up to Revelation 20:10 which says “[10] and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” So, the lake of fire is a burning place of torment forever and ever. But, we’ve also noted that the concept of hell seems to be a bit different than what MS4 is saying so far. Now, let’s look back at their backup verse for Hades in Luke 16. The actual relevant part is 22 through 28, so I’ll just quote that:

[22] The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, [23] and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. [24] And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ [25] But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. [26] And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ [27] And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— [28] for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

Okay, so here, Jesus is describing Hades. It is:

1. A place of torment
   
2. A place with flames
   
3. Is separated from “Abraham’s side” by a great fixed chasm
   
4. A place whose inhabitants can speak to those at “Abraham’s side”
   
5. A place where those at “Abraham’s side” can speak to its inhabitants
   
6. A place where those at “Abraham’s side” can see its inhabitants

Now, for further clarification, I will quote some ESV Study Bible Notes:

Luke 16:22–23 The poor man died and received no burial, in contrast to the rich man who was buried. The poor man was carried … to Abraham's side (lit., “bosom”), which means he was welcomed into the fellowship of other believers already in heaven, particularly Abraham, the father of the Jewish people.But the rich man went to Hades (the place of the wicked, the dead, or “hell”), a place of torment. That the rich man saw Abraham far off indicates the unbridgeable gulf between heaven and hell. The previous earthly situations of the rich man and Lazarus are completely reversed. As in 13:28, the unbelieving dead seem to have some awareness of the blessedness of believers in heaven. Though this is a parable, and thus it is unclear how far the actual details should be pressed, the story seems clearly to teach that, immediately after death, both believers and unbelievers have a conscious awareness of their eternal status and enter at once into either suffering or blessing.

Luke 16:24 have mercy. The merciless one now seeks mercy but will not receive it (vv. 25–26) because the “year of the Lord's favor” (4:19) has passed. send Lazarus. The rich man knows Lazarus's name and thus knew his plight, though he had ignored it. The conversation between the rich man and Abraham may be one of those details of the parable that should not be pressed for doctrinal significance, for nowhere else in Scripture is there any indication that there will be personal communication between those in heaven and those in hell.

Hmm. So the notes are saying that this is a parable. Which means it did not happen and was used as an example for teaching. So essentially, what the notes (and MS4) are saying is to take from this parable only that which is in orthodox Christianity and suppose the rest to be fiction. So we consider Hades to be a place of torment containing flames (just like the lake of fire which we’ve seemed to establish as something different from Hades), but not as a place where those who are in heaven can see those who are in “hell” and can talk to them. I don’t know about you, but if heaven is a place of perfection and where there will be no pain or sickness or sorrow, how on earth will we be happy when we can potentially see billions of people dying and screaming in pain and agony? I mean, one can respond with the fact that God’s glory will overshadow everything, but then what’s the point of being able to see them? A constant reminder of what we’ve been delivered from? That doesn’t seem right. And the notes themselves say that we should have caution in pressing this passage for doctrine anyway.
Another passage used for the doctrine of “hell” is in Luke 13, specifically, 27-28:

[25] When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ [26] Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ [27] But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ [28] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Here we can see that these are the people who thought they were saved but in reality were “goats” and Jesus does not know them. But also note the timeframe of this teaching. It is figurative and talks about “When the master of the house has risen and shut the door and you begin to stand outside and to know at the door”. Well, is this a description of what happens as soon as one dies? The “you” is obviously plural, so is he talking about a certain set of people that will die and go straight to “hell” or is he talking about an entire group of people that thinks they’re saved because they were “around Jesus” and were “with him” (Note again that this is figurative, so I don’t think he’s just talking to the Jews who were actually with Him during His life on earth). This sounds very much like people who do good works and go to church but haven’t actually repented of their sin and accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as the sole means of getting to heaven. “All you workers of evil” sounds very encompassing to me. So, this is sounding more like the Great White Throne Judgment where all people who aren’t saved will be judged according to their works. Notice that the false believers’ bases for their acceptance into heaven is the things they “did” and not their faith. And curiously, people who are judged in the Great White Throne judgment don’t have their names written in the book of life and are thrown where? Oh, the lake of fire! Sounds like a great place for weeping and gnashing of teeth to me! And notice Jesus doesn’t even say “In hell, there will be…” He says “in that place”. So is “hell” a place of gnashing of flame and of gnashing of teeth? Hmm. Let’s keep looking.
Another interesting passage that mentions Hades/Sheol is in Acts 2. Peter is preaching a sermon to the Jews and is talking about how it was God’s will that Jesus died.

[25] For David says concerning him,           “‘I saw the Lord always before me,         for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;      [26] therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;         my flesh also will dwell in hope.      [27] For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,         or let your Holy One see corruption.

So here in this case, Peter is quoting a Psalm of David written about Jesus. Peter even says “For David says concerning him” and he’s talking about Jesus. Verse 27 says “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades”. Now the first thing that might pop into your head is “Aha! 1 Peter 3:19 talks about Jesus descending into hell and preaching to people there! It makes sense!” No it doesn’t. The passage is very ambiguous and actually is talking about the Spirit of Jesus preaching to those in the times of Noah who would not listen. There are also many issues with that being added into the Apostle’s Creed much later that the rest and for odd reasons.  It obviously has a more complex explanation, but since the main point of this blog is not 1 Peter 3:19, I’m just going to say that the belief Jesus preached to souls in “hell” is a load of hogwash. If you want the complex explanation, read Systematic Theology Pages 582-594. Now, going back on track, the passage seems to make a lot more sense to read it literally “For you will not abandon my soul to the grave”. That’s simple. Jesus’ soul was not abandoned to the grave because He rose again 3 days later.
And hey, how about another passage? Revelation 1:18 says:

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

So here, Jesus is talking to John just before He reveals to him all the things that will happen. He says that he died, and now is alive forevermore. He also says (in the same sentence) that He has the keys of Death and Hades. So, does he have the keys of “hell”? Well, possibly. But the explanation that He has the keys of death and the grave fit well with the previous phrase of being died and alive forevermore. Jesus conquered the grave and death has no more power over those who believe.
Well, we’ve been focusing really heavily on “Hades” and have actually hit almost every NT reference to it in the Bible. (There’s one other where it’s talking about a city descending into Hades [Matt:23:11] but that seems irrelevant to my argument so I won’t use it). In Psalm 30, David begins with praising God for His help when he was in trouble. He says:

[3] O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Now this passage is somewhat figurative. If one uses Sheol as “hell” or “grave” it’s not really saying that David, one of the most faithful followers of God and who obviously had faith in the coming Messiah died and was raised from the dead. However, the ESV study notes say:

Ps. 30:1–3 Reasons Why I Will Extol. The opening phrase, I will extol you, is followed by three experiences that lead the singer to extol God: deliverance from the attacks of the foes, answered prayer in desperate circumstances, and rescue from impending death. The mention of Sheol and the pit in v. 3 probably indicates that the threatened death would have been death under divine judgment (cf. 28:1).

So here we can see that it was highly likely that David is thanking God for saving his life in a dangerous situation. (Fleeing from Saul maybe?) Also note the parallelism between “Sheol” and “the pit”. When you tack on the fact that he says God “restored him to life” it makes clear and obvious sense to translate “Sheol” as “grave”.
So it seems to me that “hell” is somewhat of a misnomer. However, I can think of some issues. Does this mean that when good people die, they don’t go straight to heaven but are also in “the grave” with the spirits of the unsaved? Or do the saved go to heaven and the unsaved are stuck in “the grave” or some place like it where God’s presence and love is absent and they are simply tormented? The questions keep coming, but really, as much as I like to make these arguments, they’re kind of pointless, because regardless, the saved go to heaven and the unsaved burn in the end.

Morning

8:00 AM
*Sound of feet* *Hushed giggling* *Door opens a crack* “What?” *Door immediately shuts*…*Door opens a crack* “What?” “Come up so you can say goodbye and have pancakes” “Agh. Fine.” *Door closes*
Your left nostril is completely stuffed with snot, your right one barely less so. Your throat feels constricted and full of phlegm. Your eyes hurt horribly. You are tired. You know you should drink water, but that’s the last thing you want right now. You stumble around your room and throw some clothes on. You wait around for what seems like an eternity until they leave. You go outside. Warm. Hot. Good. You turn around to go back inside as you hear the van accelerate as it leaves the driveway. Sleep. Sleep. That’s all you can think about right now. You go straight to your bedroom and resume the same sleeping position you had. Almost instantly, you fall asleep.
12 PM.
You open your eyes. They still hurt. Your nose and throat are still full. Your head pounds. You figure you should probably start getting up. With much effort, you pull yourself up out of your bed. You grab your hair gel bottle and any others that you use. You make your way to the bathroom. Everything in your head seems to pound. You turn the shower on and gingerly step in. Hot. Steamy. Wet. Good. You know you will now face the inevitable. You shut one nostril, close your eyes, and blow. Nothing. The back pressure makes your head pound even more. You stop. Try the other one. This time, you are rewarded with a small pile of snot and mucous. You try the other one again. An even bigger pile. You feel dizzy and brace yourself against the wall until your equilibrium returns. Repeat. Repeat.
Your throat still feels constricted so you take a deep, halting breath. You cough. It sounds like something’s in there. The cough is wet. You cough, and cough, and cough again. Finally, you hurl out a wad of phlegm, mucous, and saliva. Your lungs ache, but there is more. Repeat. Repeat.
Hot. Too hot. Your eyes still feel terrible. You turn up the cold water. Better. You finish your shower, interrupted by frequent hacking and blowing. You wonder how it is possible for your nostrils and throat to be so full of the stuff. You stumble out. Hot. Moist. Bright. Your eyes reel from the light. You try not to look at it. You cover your face with shaving cream. Again, interrupted by hacking into the sink. Cough. Cough. Spit. Sniffle. Sniffle. Spit. You miss and your putrid glob of human sickness hits the rim instead. You quickly clean it up. You shave. Seems good enough. Rinse. The water is hot. Hot. Good. Too hot to touch for any period of time so you slip your hands through. Slip. Slip. Rub. Slip. Slip. Rub.
You weave gel through your hair and style it as you always have. Seems good. You feel sniffly again and reach for the nearest paperlike substance. Blow. Blow. Rub. Blow. Blow. Rub.
You look at the door. You open it and step out. Cold. Cold. Not good. You slip back into your bedroom and throw your jeans on. The cold material brushes against your still wet legs. Cold. You reach for your socks and start putting one on your foot (Your left foot, because you’re left handed) but forget that you have a small hangnail on your pinky toe. Agh. You slowly, carefully slip it on. The other sock goes on much quicker. You reach for your jacket, put it on, and zip it up. You don’t care about how boiling it is outside. You’re cold. Not good.
You stand in the middle of your room. You close your eyes. You breathe.
The day has just begun.s

On the Books I’m Currently Reading

It’s always nice to read, especially in the Summer when one actually has time to read what one wants. So, I’ll give a quick overview of what I’m reading right now.
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. As the title suggests, this isn’t exactly light reading. It is exactly what it sounds like: Systematically going through theology. It explores different facets in every chapter. For example, a section may  be on Jesus, so one chapter will be on his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Then it goes through, sort of super expanded bullet point style. Its got verses to go with everything, but some of the best stuff is the difficult passages that seem contradictory or different theories that make one look at something in a whole new light. Of course, most are explained excellently and really help me gain a great appreciation for the Bible for how true it is. I mean, when one sees a passage of Scripture that doesn’t seem to line up with the rest, it can create a lot of doubt, but then to get it explained and for it to make sense feels so reassuring. I actually had started reading it last year, and read a lot over the Summer, but then sort of took an extended hiatus during the school year, and now I decided to pick it back up again. I’m on like page 640 and there’s over 1,200, so I’m uh, either well on my way or not even close, depending on the way you look at it. But I’m in no rush. It’s been a great book and really has set a great foundation for my faith. The only big gripe I have with it is that it seems to lean toward an interpretation of Genesis 1 that has the earth being millions/billions of years old. Now this is one issue that I was raised on strongly, and I believe in a literal day/apparent age theory, so I was frustrated by that. And a lot of these issues I haven’t really explored or never really knew it to be an issue so it’s been enlightening.
Introduction to Comparative Politics by Mark Kesselman et. al. Not really light reading either, this 600+ page college level textbook is something to prepare me for the AP Comparative Government and Politics exam. It’s one of the more interesting textbooks I’ve read because of the way information is presented. Basically, it goes through numerous case studies of countries around the world, “Democracies, transitional democracies, and authoritarian regimes” are the three main topics and there are over 10 countries studied, from the US to India, to Mexico, to Iran, and everything in between. It has really been an eye opener for me and has been very interesting. Here-to-fore I had never really known anything about the actual way the governments of other countries worked. I mean, I knew most were parliamentary, but that was the miniscule extent of my knowledge. Annoyingly though, being a “normal” college textbook, it oozes liberalism through every page. I kid you not, I believe every single time the word “conservative” was used, it was negatively. People who believed in free markets in places like Brazil were called “Neoliberals” in terms of economics. I mean, ugh. On the bright side, the book has really made me appreciate my country a lot more. Regardless of how they slam the Constitution as creating a government that is purposely inefficient and contentious (ie. the way a President and Congress can be of other parties and be diametrically opposed to the point that legislation is extremely difficult to pass) I really am thankful I do not live in Brazil or Russia. And I haven’t even reached the Authoritarian regimes section either!
The Greatest Among You by Randy Sims. I just received this book from a friend at camp a few weeks ago, but I have just gotten around to reading it now. When I heard it’s title mentioned, my ears immediately perked up. It sounded cool and I was told I could have it soon. Lo and behold, there it was in the package at camp (Which also contained some delicious chocolate chip cookies). The title is self-explanatory. The book speaks to people my age (Specifically students) about how to become leaders through servanthood (How is that not a word? Two words? Are you kidding me?). As it may sound already, the book is written from a Christian perspective, and emphasizes first of all that none of the change and growth encouraged in this book is possible without Christ in you, it takes an entire chapter to emphasize that the foundation for our character is Christlikeness. (Grr, that’s a word. Don’t give me this dictionary…). I’ve only gotten through that part because I’ve decided to schedule out my reading to one chapter a day so I can be consistent, take it in, and not read through it too quickly.
I guess I should put it up there, but I’m also reading through the Bible in a year. Our church did it last year chronologically and this year we’re going through “normally”. Basically, in order to keep things fresh and cool, we start at Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and Matthew. Genesis goes through the entire old testament (Sans Psalms and Proverbs obviously) and Matthew goes through Revelation. We go through Proverbs once and Psalms twice. I’m going through it with my ESV Study Bible that I got for Christmas. It is really beneficial and is the best Bible I’ve ever had, not only because of it’s insight and lodes of information that help one understand things better, but also the fact that it’s an ESV (English Standard Version) translation. In short, I think it’s the best, but more on that later. So I really hope that by the end of the year, I will be able to say more about myself than that I’ve finally read the Bible from cover to cover, but that it’s really changed my life and made me a better person, more sensitive to the prodding of the Holy Spirit and more like Christ than ever before.
Oy vey, I need to get ready for bed. I need to get up early tomorrow and I’ve got a long day…

Christian Rap: The Confusion, the Truth

In a car riding home from a few hours of door to door work with other Roskam interns, we were on the topic of music and I brought up the fact that I like Christian rap. The reaction from my non-Christian audience was quite comical. “What?”, “There’s such thing as that?” and other statements of confusion were immediately uttered.
As a Christian, a lot of the music I listen to is Christian. Not all of it, but most. And so it’s interesting to explore different genres of Christian music in places that might be unexpected. For example, Christian rap. Now, to some, that may seem like an oxymoron. Many Christians in society have a knee-jerk bad reaction to any forms of rap, which has been given a bad name by many secular rappers, whose music is admittedly disgusting. However, this doesn’t mean that all rap is bad, and actually, when one really listens to the lyrics, they’re as Christian as that of Michael W. Smith, Hillsong, and all the other worship bands and artist out there.
Another reason why I like Christian rap is that it’s creative. What I mean is, some worship songs are really really simple and really really repetitive. Now, let me emphasize here that there is a spiritual and Biblical benefit to repetition, as it can really have someone focus on the lyrics of the song that put them in a position of better worship to Christ. However, as one who is not as spiritually “turned on” so to speak by music, it’s nice to have people singing lyrics about how God has changed their lives and actually producing full trains of thought. Sometimes I think that anyone can make a worship song, you just have to get a chorus and a verse or two and just repeat it to death for 4 minutes. Again, for some people, that might really help them focus on Christ, but for me, I can appreciate all the thought and creativity that has to be put into a Christian rap song, simply because it requires  more lyrics and often a rhyme scheme.
So essentially, I think Christian rap is massively misunderstood and has been given a bad name, yet in reality, it is an awesome way to not only worship, but to hear the testimonies of so many people who God worked incredible miracles in.

Who I is?

Yes, the inevitable post of selfishness where I talk all about me. As much as I like myself, the post is somewhat obligatory. I’d rather talk about what I think. However, it is important to understand where I’m coming from and what I believe because all these things with certainly color my writing and be quite evident in it.
So first and foremost, I am a Christian. I have been one since I was 4 years old and it is the most central aspect of my life. This of course is easy to say, but hard to live out. It’s a constant struggle for me to put Christ and what He wants to do with me before myself and my desires. My favorite verse sums up myself quite nicely. 1 Corinthians 15:10 says: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. This verse really means a lot to me because I have been given much. I can easily credit my accomplishments to myself, but it is God and His grace working through me that has enabled me to be who I am. I want to be the person who in this life, works their tail off serving Christ and doing my best, all through the power of God.
I also have very strong political views. I will not hesitate to say that I’m a conservative Republican and I actually am interning for my Congressman, Rep. Peter Roskam of the 6th IL Congressional District. So some of my posts now and in the future might involve interesting things that have happened while volunteering there.
My laptop (An IBM ThinkPad T40) is one of my most treasured electronic companions. I use it all the time and have really poured quite a bit of my life on it, considering all the Documents, pictures, and other things loaded on it. However, it is getting old and worn, so I’m hoping to get one in the next few years, depending on how much money I can acquire.
I also love photography. My Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 point and shoot has served me well for over two years and I’ve taken thousands of pictures with it. If you ask my friends, they’d say I’m obsessed with taking pictures and it occasionally annoys them when I shoot them relentlessly at camp and pretty much everywhere.
I also love to read. I’ve always been a reader, whether of books or online articles. I’m hoping that I can find a widget or some custom thing to have a “Currently reading” section somewhere on this blog. My reading style can be quite odd though, as I read extremely fast, so my comprehension isn’t all that fantastic. At least with novels and exciting books, I want to read to know what happens, so I try to find out as fast as possible. I also like academic reading of AP textbooks and other things that will help me for the classes and tests and make me feel smart too.
My favorite music is another odd thing. I really don’t have too many favorites. I am not that loyal to artists and usually only like 1 or a few songs of theirs. I do like Taylor Swift a lot though. Her songs are really well done and her voice is fantastic. I like all sorts of Christian music, but Hillsong’s worship music is just phenomenal. Also, some Christian rap songs are really cool too, but more on that later.
Well, that should be all. I’m done. There are better and more exciting things to write about and I’m sure you’ll see further aspects of my  life and personality come out as this blog continues.

First Blog Post

Well, I've finally done it!....again. After a previous failed attempt at creating a blog, or rather, a website that I was able to update with my thoughts, I was quite leery of making one, especially considering that I would have to deal with pretty much no one reading it. Add to the fact that I am not the kind of person to share my thoughts with the world, and you have one quite hesitant blogger. However, I realized that so often I have so many thoughts and no where to put them. I've attempted journaling (How is that not a word?) a couple times, but never got consistent. This also happens to be one of my fears, as I hope I will be able to continue this for years to come and not have it fizzle out after a few weeks (or days).

So, this blog, as the title and subtitle explain, is simply my thoughts as they happen to pop into my head. I am an organized person, but this is certainly not meant to be. It is meant to be unlimited by topic or anything for that matter. It also is from the perspective of a person with a quite ordinary life. While I do not consider myself an ordinary person, the life that I live is. So if you also expect blog posts concerning recent trips to Brazil, Bulgaria, or anywhere outside of the Continental US, look elsewhere or be quite disappointed.

Well, that's about it for the moment, I still have some setup work to do.

Aut Vincere Aut Mori