Bean Island

New Blog!

2007-07-13T22:10:32Z

Hello!

I'm starting this new Religious/Faith/Politics/News type blog, and I was looking for individuals to help me with traffic. Could you please re-paste this banner?

Which the code is:

&a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmxlb25hcmRvb2gud29yZHByZXNzLmNvbQ==" target="_blank"&&img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v70/keanbean/banner.jpg"&&/a>

(Replace &'s with <'s and >'s )

Just put it somewhere on your blog, myspace, livejournal, or even in a bulletin and I'll do the same if you want. I'll even include a link of your site to my blog itself.

Thanks a bunch and God Bless!

What is Life?

2007-07-06T15:25:35Z

What is Life?

This is an interesting question. I’m rather sure that all of you out there have had a moment of internal inquiry where you’ve questioned the very idea and purpose of life and living. You may have brooded over the question of life while sipping a cup of coffee, or maybe you’ve tossed the idea back and forth with friends.

It may very well be the most difficult and simplest question ever devised. I say difficult and devised because it’s probably the single most worked on question man has ever attempted to answer. A mathematical equation may be hotly debated, but at some point man finds an answer. In science, we find men making discoveries, and although things like the galaxy and evolution are hotly debated, I would say they are nowhere near the question of ‘life’.

Why is the question of life so different and difficult? Let us look at the ordinary man and the philosopher. Both may address the question of “What is the meaning of life?” and remain answerless. Generations and civilizations have attempted at pitting their very best minds at addressing the meaning of life. This was the goal of the great Greek philosophers, as well as the goal of many of the great religious traditions.

However, what makes this question so interesting is unlike those of mathematics and science, this powerful question is possibly addressed by every individual who has walked the face of the earth. As my audience I’m sure each of you has asked yourself this question, and if not, please correct me. We’ve all asked ourselves this question, and just like those great minds and civilizations before us, we’re probably not contempt with our answers (or lack there-of).

So how is it that I can make the oxymoronic statement that it is the most difficult yet simplest question to answer? Is this a rational statement in the least? To the Christian, I would say so. I say the answer is simple because I can answer it in this: Love the Lord thy God.

That’s it. Question answered. Now the questions of God, and how to love, are others that are constantly asked, and they reflect the same simple difficulty. It’s difficult because man has written novels on the subject and simple because we can answer it easily.

1) Love the Lord thy God.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

Before we touch on love, let me dabble into our ability to love, and why these two goals formulate the foundation of life and its meaning.

God made man in His image. In this fashion, He separated us from all other creation by endowing us with Free Will. This ability to make decisions, to create, and perform actions mirrors God in his ability to act upon His will. Why did God give us free will? Because God designed us to love Him (refer to #1), and you cannot love without making the decision to love. Unfortunately for all of you out there, love is NOT a feeling. Liking something, being fond of something, or having affection for something is a feeling. Love on the other hand is not a feeling. It’s rather disastrous when someone confuses love for a feeling because it corrupts the idea of truly loving. This is one of the devils greatest lies to people who consider themselves Christians: People love God in the sense of being fond of Him, but do not love Him in the strict sense of the word.

Loving is an action of the will. To love God, you put Him before yourself in every situation. This is how you grow in your affection. You love your mother by putting her above your own self, and by seeking her goodwill over your own.

In this same fashion do we love God. He gave us free will, so that we could choose to love him. You cannot just fashion a computer to startup with the message “I Love You” and honestly claim that it in fact does. A computer and a robot cannot truly love, because it doesn’t have the free will to place you above itself. It merely crunches numbers and follows commands.

We do not. We have the ability to accept God (and love), or reject God (and sin). Why would we possibly reject God? Well the answer is found in the definition of love. If loving God is putting Him above yourself in every aspect of your life, then rejecting God is putting yourself before Him.

In here we find all our faults, and all our sins. We won’t dabble into this. The meaning of life is to Love God, as He has told us in His Gospels. In addition to that, God lays down a second great commandment, which is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Once again, this love is not a fancy way of saying ‘be affectionate to those around you’. In all honesty, we’re not always ‘fond’ or ‘liking’ ourselves. The only reason I love myself is because I’m me. If I look at it, I sometimes absolutely despise myself, and the things I do. In this, we do not find ourselves merely ‘liking’ our neighbors, but loving them. Once again, this love is the willed actions of putting them before ourselves. We love in acting in love, and we love our neighbors by wishing for their goodwill. We reflect that same love we have for God to every individual around us.

This does not mean we cannot uphold justice; rather it’s the contrary. Justice stems from love (pure honest justice), in that we discipline because we love the individual enough to help them. This, however, is another conversation entirely.

So we now know that God created us to love Him with the free will that He gave us, and if this was the chief reason of our creation, than we don’t need to dabble in philosophies and our reasoning to find our meaning. If God created us to love Him, than our primary purpose and concern of ‘life’ is to love God. In His grace, He tells us a secondary purpose, which is to love our neighbor. In loving our neighbor, we fulfill our initial purpose of loving God by loving His creation. By loving others we display God’s own love in a physical sense. As the bible says, we’re his hands and arms, and we use those to love and nurture. In a sense it’s that physical presence of God that millions of us beg to see.

One third concern that God gives us is to tell others of His love. People are quick to receive the first two but ignore this third. This too, is disastrous. You love God by telling others of God and His love. If you merely love someone, yet do not tell them why you love, or how He loves you, than can you in all your honesty state you truly love that person? If you had a cure for cancer, would you not share it with the world?

In conclusion you could state our purpose of ‘life’ works in somewhat of a simple trinity:
1) Love the Lord thy God.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.
3) Tell others of God and His love.

We all try to find ways to make ourselves happy. God, in His wisdom, has installed a void within us that cannot be filled until his presence and love are known. We spend time dabbling in selfish desires. One needs not look far across myspace to find individuals trying to add meaning to their lives: parties, sex, drinking, drugs, etc. We even use our intellect to try and find meaning, yet what we find is that our longings are ever-long. No matter how hard we party, how many people we sleep with, how popular we become, how rich we are, how attractive we seem, we cannot be wholly satisfied. I dare you to look at yourself. Do not glance, but study yourself intently.

That is why we seek to party harder, become richer, and become more powerful. It’s an endless void meant to be filled with nothing more than your true purpose: Loving God, loving each other, and telling others of this love.

Love is an action, and in love we love. God Bless!

-Leonard O

Abortion.

2007-01-24T17:37:52Z

At conception; life is born. I hold life to be sacred, so a framework of my argument must be based on a moral approach. To take this into consideration, and understand that human life is sacred, I must prove that a fetus/child is a human, a person and alive. Scripture supports the moral decision of taking innocent life, so instead of taking this morale argument (which would get nowhere with someone who does not agree with that morale standpoint), I’ll need to prove instead (without scripture) that it’s truly alive.

Protestant (Didache teaches against it), Catholic (Church states it to be a grave sin), Hinduism (One of 6 kinds of murder in Hindu culture. Teaches a fetus as being alive and needing protection), Islam (Teaches against murder, same 40 days and Judaism), And Judaism (Halakah, or Jewish law, states that a fetus is not alive until 40 days, so you could say Judaism is split on the issue)

That’s some kind of framework of a morale argument against it, but we shall look at how a fetus is both human and alive; which would then allow us to state that human life is being taken; which would then allow us to presume that murder is being committed (which breaks US law and warrants disciplinary action).

The Scenario: In 2000, approximately 857,000 abortions were committed (1). Average abortion ratio: 246/1000 livebirths (2). 58% of these were done under 9 weeks gestation. 88% of abortions were done under 13 weeks gestation (3). Since the majority is done at this level, we’ll focus on that 13-14 week timeline.

I will start by laying down the argument as follows:

There can only really be two arguments. You either believe that human life starts and becomes a person at conception (granting it civil rights), or that personhood starts after a baby is born (functioning independent of it’s mother, sentient, etc) .

Before you or I can even enter a discussion, we must have definitions of terms. If we do not contain definitions, than we cannot even communicate effectively:

Terms I find extremely important to the abortion debate is Human Life, Human Person, Murder, and Life.

Human Life: This is any living entity that has DNA from the species homo sapiens. (1)
This includes: Zygote, embryo, fetus, newborn, toddler, child, teen, adult, and elder. People hold different values of life on these stages. You hold value on the stages after birth, while we hold value on the stages after conception.

Human Person: This is any human life that is considered to be a person. Our laws and constitution grant human person civil rights. One of these rights is the right to life. The disagreement is that an embryo/unborn child doesn’t become a person until after birth, and thus doesn’t contain those civil rights given to all of us. This is the core disagreement.

Murder: This is the pre-determined or simply the act of taking a human life. This act of murder is the act of trampling upon someone’s civil rights; which relates to the civil right of life. Our government finds us at value as human persons, and protects us from murder.

The arguments: Is an unborn baby/fetus alive? If it is alive is it a human life? If it’s a human life is it a human person? If it’s a human person then the act of removing it’s life is removing it’s civil rights and thus committing murder. If I can get through those phases and reach the end, than I can conclude that abortions (ending the life of the fetus entity which is human, alive, and a person) is immoral, illegal, and protected by our civil rights.

I. Life
a. Any form of living animal or vegetable.
b. life (līf) Pronunciation Key (*1)
n. pl. lives (līvz)
The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.
c. Our fetus/unborn child is obviously alive. It is not inanimate matter because over time it grows and displays motion. By this textbook definition, we know that it’s alive, but can it be considered human life?
II. Human Life
a. What makes it a human life? I believe it needs to follow certain characteristics to be a human life and thus a human person:

"...is biologically alive. It fulfills the four criteria needed to establish biological life:
metabolism,
growth,
reaction to stimuli, and
reproduction." (4)

b. Metabolism: It contains the function of a metabolism (as it seeks nutrients from food supplied by a mother, and contains a self-governed method of processing these nutrients)
c. Growth: It has the ability of growth. Nothing new will be added from the moment of conception to the unborn child. Upon conception, the child contains all the chromosomes needed for it’s growth, personality, height, characteristics, etc. All that is needed to fulfill the plan of it’s DNA is time, and nutrient/food. Over time it grows it’s ligaments, nerves, bones, etc. A key here is that nothing will be added after conception: rather it just needs to grow.
d. Reproduction: It’s DNA already contains the functions it will need to design that needed to reproduce at puberty.
e. Response to stimuli: This is something overlooked. Many believe an unborn baby is not a alive because it has no pain stimuli, but that is untrue. It contains a pain circuit (connection of nerves from a sense, such as he olfactory nerve) to the brain at early stages in it’s first trimester. This, and the addition of other nerves in the head, feet, hands, gives it the pain-stimuli required to be alive.
f. Adaptation to the environment: A child is able to develop taste buds in the tongue during the first trimester, and studies have down (in the mid to upper portions of a pregnancy) that an unborn baby is able to learnt not to intake sour fluids injected in the mother, and well as desire sweeter fluids.
g. With this, I can show that the fetus is obviously alive. It is part of the Homo sapient species, and displays all those characteristics to grant it life. The only issue now is that the entity is not a human person, and even though it’s alive, it does not contain the civil rights that a human person does.
III. So when does human personhood begin?
a. As a pro-abortionist, you must be able to make the claim that the fetus has no personhood. To do this, you must show how non-persons can turn into persons.
b. As a pro-lifer, I must prove that personhood is developed before birth. Human personhood begins at conception. Here all DNA is set to fully guide the development of the unborn child. All 42 chromosomes are in place, and all that is needed is nutrients and time. This is the genetic view that human lies starts at conception (5)
c. Now we must look at the stages of growth. Remembering that 88% of abortions are conducted at the end of 14 weeks, we look at the time period. And what are we looking for? We are trying to identify those things that make an unborn child the same as the rest of us. We are looking for those things that make the unborn child alive, and a human person.
d. For times sake, we’ll look at a handful that support our claim that this indeed is human life, and thus warrant sit being a human person and having civil rights.

5 Weeks:
the olfactory nerve, which is integral to the sense of smell, is present on the 35th day after conception.
-Pain receptors appear in the mouth

6 Weeks:
The foundation of the sense of smell is established on the 39th day when nerve fibers in the brain connect with the olfactory lobe
-Development of Neocortex (largest portion of the brain)
-This is extremely important because all the parts in in place to complete pain circuitry.
-This means a child has developed the ability to feel pain in late gestation.

8 Weeks:
-At eight weeks after conception, local stimuli can induce partial closing of the fingers, opening of the mouth, and squinting.
-Taste buds
-More taste buds unborn than a born child.

9 Weeks:
-Pain receptors appear in Face, palms, and soles of the feet.

10 Weeks:
Response to sounds. This shows it’s ability to react with it’s enviroment.

11 Weeks:
the child will open its mouth and suck a finger.
-pain pathways are running from sensory receptors in the skin to those in the brain.

An unborn child can quickly develop the organs and systems a born child does. It contains the ability to exert motion like a newborn. It contains senses. It can learn. These support those definitions called upon to be considered human life. With this only in the early stages of development, how can we not consider it human life? Like the rest of us, it merely requires time to grow and nutrients to keep it’s group. It contains the ability to produce it’s cell’s, and shows all those things that we ourselves use to define ourselves as being alive.

IV. Is this murder?
a. mur·der [mur-der] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.
Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder), and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).
b. Do I consider this the murder of a human person who is alive? Yes. Do I consider this to be against our civil liberties? Yes.

Why is any of this important? It is of dire importance because we are discussing life here. About 3000 fetus’ (correct my math if you can) are eliminated every day through abortion. If this is true, and the fetus is considered alive, than we would be ending 3000 potential lives. If this fetus is human life, than not only are we eliminating the life of an entity, but we are eliminating our own species. If you grant these personhoods, as I explained, than we are committing a mass murder and merely ignoring it. It’s a rather grave issue. We grant human life as the most valuable gift in the world (granted through Gods, religions, and governments). To ignore the removal of this gift to individuals who cannot defend themselves is immoral. It places mankind in the position to defend the death, the mute, and those who cannot defend themselves. In a court of law, our government provides a lawyer at a human’s defense, if this human cannot defend itself. As humans, we must take on this position, and step forward to defend those whose voices cannot be heard.

This stretches beyond the issue of “I am a woman and it is my body”. In respects to that comment, we are very well discussing the right of a body; yet this body is that unborn child. Just as the woman holds rights to her form, so does a child hold those same civil rights; whether it is in the womb or not.

Since we can consider the unborn child alive, part of our homo sapient species, and a human person, than our government has granted it the same civil rights that those carrying the child have.

It is our duty to make sure the value of life, and of human being, is withheld. An unborn baby has the right to live, and do the rest of us.

God Bless.

NOTICE: THIS IS NOT THE FULL ARGUMENT, AS IT IS INCOMPLETE. I WOULD BE PUTTING THE INFORMATION FROM THE MEDICAL DICTIONARIES DOWN AT A LATER TIME, AND TAKE THINGS SUCH AS HOMOSAPIEN, etc, AS GIVEN. IN NO WAYS IS THIS IN A FINAL STAGE. I NEED TO SEE RESPONSES AGAINST IT SO I CAN EDIT IT FURTHER. IF I DONT RESPOND IM SORRY, AS I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO DO SO.

1) "Abortion surveillance - U.S., 1998," National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC, at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/
2) "Fact Sheet: Abortion Surveillance," CDC, 2002-JUN-7, at: http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media
3) Division of Reproductive Health of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
4) Francis Beckwith, "Is the unborn human less than human?
*1) American statistics are listed by Baptists for Life, Inc. at: http://www.bfl.org/stats
*1) Dictionary.com
5) http://8e.devbio.com/article.php?id=162

Merry Christmas.

2006-12-25T14:24:09Z

Hey guys'n'gals,

It's probably the absolute best holiday of the year. Besides looking behind the wrapping paper, receipts, and consumerism, you find something more. You find a calling of humanity; one for joy and happiness. Humanity was created to be happy. We like it. It makes us comfortable. Yet on this precious day, we are not provided joy. Nor are we even given happiness. Rather; were given something so much more. Something so rich, so deep, that a holiday could never give it justice. While we all try finding joy and happiness through exchanging gifts, the greatest gift has already been given to us. Our God, who loves us severly, has offered an exchanged nearly 2000 years ago. He offered Himself; set on a cross, in exchange for obidience and love. It isn't a coincidence that as humans we spend our entire lives seeking love; work, friends, mate. We were created to love, and this precious day celebrates the day God gave us an answer to true happiness. He provided to us a means of achieving divine Joy and Bliss. He gave us a bridge towards something completely Godly in form. That craving for joy and happiness was meant to be found in God. He is Love, and He is joy. His massive love was displayed on the cross, and we now celebrate this joy.

When asked a mother for the greatest moment in her life; it's not a suprise that many say child-birth. Theres something we can never grasp unless we go through with it (sorry men :/). Take that emotional nirvana and multiply it by a number unreachable to the human brain. That is the joy from the birth of Christ. That is the 'CHRISTmas Spirit' that we celebrate. We celebrate the honor of a loving God bestowing us with a means of escaping all suffering and pain.

A father loves no one more than a son or daughter. Imagine a father allows his son to risk that sons life in saving someone else. Now imagine someone being ungrateful of the sacriface. How would that make the father feel? Now take that number, stretch it by an amount you cannot humanely imagine, and you begin to get a picture of how much our Father loves us.

Well I'll end it with this. God mends all. If you are broken; seek Him. If you are not; seek Him. Theres a reason why I've dedicated my life to Him. It's because he sacrificed his for mine. It's not a mere fairy tale, but a reality. In prayer, I hope you come to this realization, and go looking for that true CHRISTmas spirit. What you may find beneath this layer of soul-searching is something greater than anything that could be wrapped in paper...

God Bless You; and thank you Christ; for all your answered prayers.

In Honest Love,
Leonard O

Just a thought or two; Pace.

2006-11-07T03:13:24Z

So about that thing called life. Crazy Huh? I was laying here on my bed and I came to the realization that I'm a junior. Wow. Thats insane. It's a thought that sharply reminds me of the speed at which life moves. I'm in my third year of college, and I feel as if those high-school days trail right behind me.

Good stuff and sad stuff. As awful as it's true, all those old friends are drifting away. My schedules are so packed that it would really be impossible to make a concentrated effort to drag them back into my life (I'd also have to take into account that some are hundreds of miles away). It's some social form of drowning, and I do miss their friendships dearly.

I'd enjoy it if time could just slow down a bit. Just four more hours in a day.

My brother graduated highschool recently. It's felt as if that would never happen. Not because I think he's stupid; rather he's my little brother. To see him progress into an adult is a scary thing, because it allows me to compare it with my own process of maturing.

My brain has taken some large leaps. It's interesting to review it's course. First, I went from that full on arrogance in highschool, to a mental awakening. College was really a brick to a glass door. For the first time I saw things beyond myself, and really began to gain this great thing called Knowledge. Wisdom slowly came, but it was fasinating to induldge in the wonders of the human mind (I got wrapped up in the stuff). To stretch beyond schoolwork to the realm of expressing educational creativity was a fresh awakening. Top that off with a severe cause of spiritual starvation, and I instantly leaped from my teenage years into adulthood.

Still I carried some ignorance with me. I thought this inflow of knowledge made me superior in the sense that I thought I was now smarter than most. I really thought I got the main course when I was merely fed some bread and butter. I got my humbling as college continued (praise God).

Never would I have imagined how much intellectual progression I had to go through. Every day is one of new lessons. Besides being blessed with the Christian perspective, I really enjoy all these new idea's that I'm getting. I pray that all of you in college take it beyond grades and girls. It's really that moment in our lives where we're encouraged to search for truth and knowledge; things more valuable than GPA's and Internships. These first two things really give life meaning; beyond that we're merely an existance, and thats rather sad.

America has this ability to autonomitize things. We're such a fast paced society; cellphones get smaller, internet gets faster, and information becomes more abundant. We can get everything fast, and in days even faster. We're at this pace where we set our eyes down at the end of the track and sprint. I guess we make this mistake in college. We don't stop to just perceive our place in the universe, or our moral attitudes. Nope; we're too busy trying to get to class.

I'm not telling you to be a tree-hugger (hippy's did us no good ;D ). I just feel at odds with our societies rapid pace. The business side of me see's that rush in a competitive spirit, yet that religious studies side of me frowns upon it.

That pace, in a way, blinds us. We sacrifice creativity for efficiency. It's up to you to decide which suits you best, but I personally miss my creativity. Nostalgia has this terrible tendency of creeping up on me, and I guess I enjoy throwing it up on blogs so I can remind myself of it later on.

So if there is something behind this what is it? Well I'm asking you to question your pace. Heck, maybe even your direction. Where are you going, and how fast as you going there? Theres a english proverb about running to see a mountain and trampling on flowers along the way. It's interesting to stop and wander, and just enjoy that which we'd normally ignore. Grants life that detail that places an emphasis on it's beauty and design.

Oh well, enough crazy talk. Observe your pace and question it. Thats it!

Just an expression of words.

God Bless.
-Leonard O

keanbean @ 2006-08-18T11:26:00

2006-08-18T15:26:41Z

Remember high school? Remember what you would do on the weekends? Whether it was a positive or negative experience, it’s probably going to come back and haunt you in the form of nostalgia. It’s definitely been hitting me lately.

I don’t even understand why. When people ask me about high school, I usually tell them it was a waste of time. From an academic standpoint, that may be true, but from the social experience that couldn’t be any more of a lie. High school helped form my morality. High school helped me find my values. High school taught be how to befriend people, how to make them laugh, how to make them cry, how to instill fear, how to overflow with joy.

Quite an experience I had. Everything from my first kiss, to my first girlfriend, to my first car. A lot of firsts. Remember your senior year? Remember those classes that you would just sit around and socialize?

Maybe your high school days sucked, but man do I miss not having to worry about work or exams. Hah, that shows you how academically difficult my high school was. I can actually say I didn’t have to worry about exams. College is CRAZY. Yes, I do love the fact that I’ve learned more in one semester than I did all throughout high school, but the stress is sometimes too much. I mean seriously, I have no time for anything. The semester hasn’t even begun and I’ve been choked up in time.

At the moment I’m here in California, on a business trip. I’m making very good money, and I’m even driving around a pourche. I’m also blessed with the opportunity of taking my girlfriend along. For some reason though, I’ve been smacked with Nostalgia. A bad case of it too. The kind that makes you sit in the shower, lay your chin on your palm, and think.

That kind that saps emotions, and replaced it with longing. I missed how I used to be. For better or worse, I just sporadically miss it. I was interesting. Remember how I was with politics? That was insanity. I had such a gift, and I’ve thrown it aside. And I haven’t thrown it aside because I wanted to; rather I’ve thrown it aside because I’ve had to. I have no time. Not even to follow politics. I can barely find time to play a game, and my Xbox 360 sits alone in my room.

I try to squeeze in time for my girlfriend, for college, for scholarships, for work, for family, for playing Conga’s and keyboard, for God, and other things. I find myself being choked. And through all of this, I find myself missing some old qualities about myself.

My zeal for God has somewhat dimmed. I miss it so much. I need his guidance, and I’m for some reason trying to guide myself. Absolutely foolish, I know. But I don’t know how to change that. I find myself constantly slummed spiritually. It’s no fun

I miss my political prowess.
I miss debating with my peers.
I miss the plethora of friends.
I miss those days in newspaper and yearbook where we would spend 2 solid hours making people laugh.
I miss those random trips to other classes (like drama).
I miss working out and being in shape.
I miss my best friend. I really miss Alex. I don’t get to see him much, and it sucks. You could say I need him. He’s always been a cornerstone of my chivalry and my honor system.
I miss role-playing. I know it’s extremely dorky, but none of you have a remote idea of how much of my life was made up of it. It was the pinnacle of my creativity.
With that, I miss my creativity. I was so creative. I was so innovative. I was so outside of the box.
I miss my old relationship with God. I was so crazy about Him that I was inches away from standing on benched and preaching His Good News.
I miss my hour-long bible sessions.
I miss my friends. Man I had so many of them. Where are they? Hey guys, where are you? Why don’t we hang out? Why have I let you guys float away?

Well that’s enough missing. I didn’t post this to gain sympathy, because me being sad or depressed doesn’t happen. I merely posted this to reflect on some inner emotions, and maybe see if it provokes any of you to remember those older days.

My life has been blessed, and as always I’m severely happy. Just a few changes needed, and I’ll work on them.

Thanks for your attention, and God Bless you!!!

Just some observations and opinions.

2006-05-24T15:36:34Z

So you’re probably wondering what quantum mechanics have to do with a religion and business major. I would have wondered the same thing.

I’m currently enrolled in a General Physical Science education course at MDC, and I used to think I hated science. I mean, as a religion major, science is probably not your favorite subject to begin with, but for some reason I convinced myself that I would hate taking any science course, and that it would be entirely useless.

Ever since I started MDC, I thought that with several courses. I thought many of the courses I was taking were meaningless. I slowly began to learn how much of an impact such silly classes had on my life perspective. I’m utterly fascinated with the ability of my classes to relate to my religious thought, and my view on God.

I know this may sound weird, but every class I’ve taken has shown me something new about God. The bible wasn’t kidding around when it talked about knowledge and wisdom showing more of His characteristics. I’m talking about every minor class. I remember being fascinated when I learned about how the human body worked in Psychology, and just telling myself what an amazing job God did in his design.

It probably stemmed from there. Telling myself ‘God did this, and this is how he did it, by designing this’.

Now before I go any further, I want to get all those anti-intelligent design people off my back. I’m not proposing the idea as a standard of science. If anything, I think theologians should look into it deeply. I hate it when people see things in either black or white. I enjoy science because from MY perspective, I can see how God created the known universe. I understand science stands on its own, but as a Christian and a Theist, I see science as merely the hammer and nails to the contractor. I see them as the tools God used to make reality.

To me things I find in life is another example of Gods creativity and unlimited intelligence. I See God as the most wonderful designer. When I sat in my Biology class, and learned about the amazing levels of organization needed to maintain an ecosystem, I was struck. I continued to tell myself the same thing: How could such organization, and such dependence on other creatures/enviroments, be so perfectly arranged?

As I sat through my biology class, and learned about the cell, and how it perfectly emulates a factory, complete with power generators, cargo transportation, self replication, janitorial system, and etc, I was dumbstruck.

One theme that continued to pop up every time I dwelled deeper into science is that organization is obvious. In every matter of life sciences, I found organization and creativity. Everything reeked of systems. When I studied organisms, and organs, I saw blueprints. I saw design. I was fascinated.

I used to fear Darwinism. I thought the theory could replace God, but after actually sitting down in class and learning about the stuff (and removing my ignorance), I found it to be yet another tool God employed. I agree with some parts of it (natural selection, micro-evolution, etc) and disagree with others (macro-evolution, single ancestor, etc).

I don’t take either the crazy creation view or the neo-Darwinist one. I don’t believe we must be black or white. There are shades of gray.

It’s another tool God used. In the case with tools/machines, an intelligent design must have created it, and is free to use it. Some tools need actual direction in use (God being free to pick them up and use/alter them, like a hammer), while other tools could be self-regulated (like a machine).

In other words, I believe God has created all these aspects of nature and reality, and has the ability to pick them up and use them, alter them, or leave them be. Just as evolution works itself in nature, and can be a process left untouched, God could pick it up and alter it (creation, Cambrian explosion, etc), or leave it be.

I find this in all manners of science. I’m enthralled by everything I’ve learned of physics. The fact that we can take our known universe, cut it down into equations and numbers, and then use these known equations to predict the outcome of reality, or alter it is fascinating! I mean really, how can we go around saying reality was created at random, yet have examples in every major field of science that shows a perfectly organized universe, completely dependent on other factors. To believe that everything that is perfectly organized could have resulted from a self made sporadic action is to me, illogical.

It takes something to make something random, into something organized. I see this ‘something’ as intellect. A major quality of God being God, is infinite intellect.

Anyways, the equations that reflect themselves in reality are fascinating. Lets look at the force of gravity and Coulombs law (electro energy). Both are almost exactly the same. I understand these equations are man made, but both reflect the force of two different things. It’s as if God himself reflected one design into another. I know that’s far off, but it’s my perspective, and I’m entitled to it.

All the subjects are registered in my head as tools of God, just because they are saturated with such elements of precision and design. These are things I see as being tools in which God created the known universe

Motion

Measurements

Magnetism

Matter

Temperature

Heat

Gravity

Protons, Neutrons, Electrons

Electricity

Waves

Light

Cells

DNA

The Spirit

Elements

In many of those you can find equations that can predict outcomes. To find an organized ability to predict a self made randomly generated universe makes no sense to me (logically speaking). If the universe were to have been randomly generated, then shouldn’t it continue to be random, with no central forces of organization? Organization coming out of chaos is silly.

But that’s clearly not the case. We have thermodynamics laws, Ohms law, Coulombs law, Newton Mechanics, and a BUNCH of other laws found in nature that have proved stable and unchanging.

I mean just look at the laws of thermodynamics. The fact that energy is never created or destroyed is AMAZING! The first thing I thought was that God, with infinite power and creativity, had to have put everything in the known universe when he created it in the beginning. The fact that we cannot take an element and destroy it, but rather channel it into different forms, is fascinating.

It just screams in my head the idea that God put everything into place, for His own purpose. We cannot destroy or create it, but energy itself cannot be destroyed or created. Rather we only have the ability to alter it. Yet at the same time, we are the only creature to reflect an honest ability to design complex systems of tools, or the concepts of aesthetics, art, compassion, love, music, etc.

Amazing isn’t it?

Well I’m running in a tangent. Maybe I could sit down later and reflect my thoughts in a more organized and constructive manner.

Either way, I wrote all of this just to remind myself how wonderful it is to see things I learn through the filter I carry. To take things and knowledge, and reflect it in a way to find different characteristics of God, is fascinating. In my mind it’s the job of every human being to find purpose and reason. To find why they were put on this planet, or find why things around them work. Finding ‘why’ is a central concept to finding oneself, and finding meaning in general. We’re curious creatures for a reason. We reflect Gods own curiosity, which could be a reason to why He created everything in the first place. To me, God is the reason to meaning, and God is the reason to many major things. I merely try to take the ‘Why’ and alter it in a way that I can take a peek of God.

God Bless.

Good News

2006-05-04T15:29:15Z

I got some good news.

1) I got straight A's last semester. I thought I was getting 2 B's, and 2 A's, but I lucked out. Best part is that I didn't study for a single final. BWAHAHAH

2) I got accepted into UF. It's been my dream school, and they've welcomed me into their Religion program. 50th best school in the nation, and one of the top Public Universities in the US. I now need to decide if I want to go.

Mmm, Keys...

2006-04-18T19:43:51Z

First and foremost, today I received one of the GREATEST suprises EVER.

I truely love God's humor. He continues to baffle me with each passing day.

With that, I'd just like to update everyone on my life. Schools ending, summers coming (which means more beach, more video games, more music practice, more bible-studies, more prayer, more working out, and more getting to know a certain someone).

I also bought myself a keyboard. I'll take a picture with it later. I love this thing. I have always had a facination with piano's. Since I wa little I have never been able to restict myself from allowing my hands to grace a piano's surface, and I've never really known why I've prevented myself from taking lessons and learning how to make some music. Back in 4th grade I had to make the decision between Music Magnet, and Art magnet. I picked the latter, and I always wonder where'd I be if I picked music (Although I admit that I absolutely loved my years in Photo Magnet. You have no idea how many lessons from photography that I actually apply to my own life).

I've always had a soft-spot for the melodic sounds of simple notes, and soft dreamy melodies. I enjoy the repetition of a few simple notes. It gives me the feeling of entering some far-off zone of meditation. With this feeling I decided to just go out and buy a keyboard. Nothing too fancy. It's a Casio CTK-900, an entry level instrument.

I've currently learned the 7 notes, sharps and flats, octaves, chords, and some warm ups.

I'm absolutely amazed by the thing. The sound it makes when I put it on the Synth tones are amazing. Over 600 different tones, from organs to trumpets to acoustic guitars. The sythn sounds alone make me want to float up off my seat. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it is an odd sensation thats difficult to pin down with words. I'm hoping some of those out there understand me.

I'm also going to continue with the hand percussion. It's actually helped me alot getting into the keyboard. The measures and beats I learned in latin percussion have given me a solid base to read the sheet music and follow in rhythm with the keyboard.

Well that's it for now, God Bless, and yes I'm thinking of you ;P

Caterpillars are invading!

2006-04-10T00:58:53Z

As the title suggest, I’m under siege! I don’t know what it is, but after I parked my moms car, I stepped outside and began walking around in squishy stuff. I was barefoot, and as I looked down I was horrified to find legions of brown Caterpillars crawling around. I swore they tried to eat me!

It was my duty to protect my household, so I went into reconnaissance mode and decided to clandestinely follow one caterpillar to it’s headquarters. It led me to my huge flamboyant tree, and I was flabbergasted to find a good hundred of these suckers crawling all over the place. I don’t know if it’s caterpillar mating season, but these little guys were going at it everywhere. It was the king of Caterpillar orgies!

These also weren’t the cool green ones featured on that commercial on my myspace, or the little green guys that constantly find themselves on my windshield. No, these critters were ugly little brown boogers!

I plan on doing some more reconnaissance, and if it comes down to it I’ll launch a counter-attack with a hose and some insect repellant. No brown boogers will siege the Goenaga residence and get away with it!

With that pushed aside, you’re probably telling yourself “I wonder what Leonard O’s been up to”. Okay, that’s a lie, you’re probably wondering why you’re reading this. I can’t answer that… BUT I can tell you that lifes been good the past couple of days.

I went to two small parties. Great fun there. I haven’t had that form of social event for what seems like forever. It was greatly welcomed, and I can’t wait for the next one.

Good, great, awesome stuff.

Now back to the front lines…

keanbean @ 2006-04-04T23:32:00

2006-04-05T03:33:17Z

I'm thinking about buying this for the beach on sundays, after church (the one for the mini and the headphones on the bottom:
http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.572105/sc.2/category.4/.f

It would cost me 130 bucks. Is it worth it?

keanbean @ 2006-04-03T23:45:00

2006-04-04T03:46:27Z

Total Cost for school sending me and 5 other students to the Gaylord Hotel in Tennessee for 6 days = $8000

:|

2006-04-04T03:18:08Z

I'm in one of those odd moods of mine. I get the weirdest thing before something bad happens. It's like a 6th sense. A sense of conviction, guilt, sadness, and excitment all merged into one. It's inexplainible, but whenever something crappy is preparing to expose itself, I get the feeling.

I currently have this dumb feeling, so I'm waiting to see why I have it.

In addition, I think I found one of my biggest problems when it comes to women. I honestly, and genuinely want to make one girl extremely happy. When I enter a relationship, all I really want to focus on is making that person happy (and hope they'd focus on making me happy). I don't go in solely for the physical or emotional release. No, I honestly want to make a girl really really really happy. Thats not my problem though. My problem is how gullible I am.

I want a girlfriend. It's obvious. I enjoy being in a relationship. I like the love, and the feeling that someone cares for me. It's one of the greatest feelings in the world. It's this feeling that gets me gullible. I want a relationship so bad, that I'd jump at an opportunity when it presents itself. As in the case of Melissa, I blindly leaped foward, and was rightly burned. I would have hoped I learned from that, but obviously I didn't. I just want to rush things, and jump into them, and it's my gullible self that can get me in trouble. I find it hard to believe that I'll find a female my age that fits what I want in a woman (notice how I said women and not girl). I feel as if I'll have to wait a couple of years until I can find women who are mentally at my level.

So I find myself to be extremely gullible. I decided I will work on that. Yup, I want to make someone divinely happy, but I need to understand that it really will come to me, and when it does I'll be ready.

Just to toss this in randomly (for no other reason than to have it to read in the future), I'm amazed at my ability to emotionally shift from highs and lows. I find myself feeling one way, and then the next day feeling completely different. I'll want or think something one day, and the next I'll disagree with what I thought. An example is this LJ. I'll write something one day, and disagree with myself the next. It's interesting.

God Bless!

Livejournal isn't very 'Live'

2006-04-03T15:13:43Z

So I admit it: I really haven't taken care of my livejournal. This thing has been 3 years in the making, and ever since myspace was introduced, it's suffered harshly. How did I come to this conclusion?

I was looking into my calender, and I began to read my LJ from it's beginning. Besides finding out that I was one immature prick, and that I would be utterly annoyed by my former self if we met in a dark allyway, I noticed that my posts now don't compare in frequency.

I used to post in this thing 3-4 times a week, and I would blog actual events of my life. Having this thing 3 years is extremely interesting. These last 3 years have been the most vibrant, exciting, depressing, sporadic years of my life. So much has happened! I have also grown so much!

I used to be really immature. I mean wow! I've changed soooo much. It's amazing to have a way of looking at myself 3 years ago, and being able to compare that self to who I am now.

It also reminded me of some interesting things. As I've stated before, I've completely forgotten how it felt to really be in a relationship. I don't know why, but I tried to convince myself that my first relationship was a horrible waste of time. I guess it's some form of self-healing; that by demonizing my ex and the relationship, I could better cope with the loss. When I comparte it to that crap I had with Melissa, it wasn't bad at all. Judging by my LJ, I must have enjoyed it.

I know this is random, but you know what I hate? I hate women who mourn and cry, and post about how badly they want a nice guy, but they're the type to stab that very guy in the back. I'm genuinely disgusted by seeing women cry outloud about how they want someone loyal, chivalrous, and romantic, while openly knowing that they had someone like that and tossed them aside. The worse part is how these women devour what nice-guys are left. It reminds me of the praying mantice, and how it rips the head off of it's mate. These type of women do the same. They mourn and call out for a nice guy, yet when they have them they tear of their heads, leaving those few women who honestly deserve these types of men to have to go through the process of all the a-hole males who infestate this place.

Well, back to my rant... It's interesting to compare the former self to the now. I advise everyone to go do it. Fun Stuff ;D

God Bless!

Pictures of me at States

2006-04-03T03:06:54Z

Me and an Astronaut

2006-03-28T04:23:44Z

Me and Captain Winston Scott (Served as the Captain on the Colombia [before it crashed] ).

I'm going to Tennesse for the PBl National Conference :D

2006-03-26T18:48:46Z

Saweeet.

I placed 5th in Management concepts, and 4th in Public speaking. In Management alone I didn't study, have only half a class worth of Management, and I competed with over 50 individuals (50% being over the age of 30). I rushed, and was the first person to finish. Placed at number 5 and got myself a nice trophy. Imagine how I would have done if I actually studied!

As for public speaking, I wrote my speech an hour before it was due. I screwed up during the speech, and still managed to slide in at 4th.

Anyways, two of my teammates got first (Sports Management, and Multi-Media Presentation). In other words, I'm going to National!

It's going to be at the Gaylord Hotel (Hahaha) In Tennesse! I'm going for FREE!!!

The school, once again, is paying for the super expensive hotel, the competition fee's, and the flight back and forth.

I'll be there for about 5 days, and I'll be attending various leadership conferences. Excellent opportunities to network.

It's a blessing. Pictures coming up soon!

keanbean @ 2006-03-16T14:05:00

2006-03-16T19:06:33Z

When you wake up, do you ask yourself what you can do today to be more like Christ?

If not, how can you really consider yourself to be His follower?

keanbean @ 2006-03-13T14:22:00

2006-03-13T19:23:07Z

I honestly hate when things are too good to be true. It sucks. I'm talking about everything. Games, situations, events, etc.

It just sucks.

For my Catholic Friends.

2006-03-02T04:00:33Z

Hey Catholic Friends!

Rare is it that Protestants try to cross the religious gap to Catholics, but since we are all rooted in the same tree that is Christ, I cared to send my blessings as Lent begins. If you did not know, Lent is a Catholic event where Catholics remove something from their lives in an attempt to free themselves from the material, and strive for the spiritual. It’s also a way to remember Christ’s suffering. The day includes 40 days of fasting, with the fast being broken on Sundays. It is determined upon the Catholic Churches Calendar, which would mean that Lent begins 44 days before Easter. Why 40 days? Well we must remember that the Son of God spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, being tempted with every sin known by man. (Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:12-13; Lk 4:1-13).

Lent is all about freeing yourself from something you may have an addiction to (as Jesus freed Himself from 40 days of temptation); or something that is so time consuming that it restricts you from finding God on another level. One event to kick off the celebration is called Ash Wednesday (dies cinerama). This is where you find those Catholics marching around with the cross-shaped mark of Ash upon their forehead. In case you did not know, the ash is a symbolic ceremony that is usually associated with two things.

First, as the priest will say, "[Remember man that] thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." (Gen 3:19) In other words, it’s a reference to how God made us from dust, and how we will one day return to it. It is a reminder of our mortality, and how it should not be taken lightly.

The second thing it refers to is how, in the Old Testament, people would repent their sins and express their sorrows to God by covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes. In an attempt to humble oneself before God, men would throw Ash over themselves, and repent their sins. In this same manner, Catholics initiate the event with a symbolic action that ties into that same humbling repentance.

Now the ash itself isn’t something that they go out and buy. The ash is actually the remains of the burnt palms that are used on Palm Sunday. After being burnt, they’re kept, blessed, and placed upon the forehead either alone, with an anointed oil, with holy water, or even infused with incense.

Well I hope this gave some small understanding on why you see people with ash on their foreheads. I actually enjoy seeing Catholics following this ceremony. To witness anyone opening declaring their faith and repentance, along with fasting with the intent of growing closer to God, is always something that warms my heart. Remember that the Christ told us the 1st most important commandment is to love God, and this is all an effort to know Him and love Him more.

I, as a Protestant, am also fasting in my own small way. If you are Catholic, I ask you to openly seek out God. Test Him with your faith. Remove something in your life that distracts you. Whether it be a certain sin, a materialistic item, or anything along the matter; give it up to God! Use this time to toss your sins upon the cross, and renew yourself in Almighty Christ. Spend an hour in His word. Actively seek Him, and use the most out of this blessed opportunity. Whether it is in prayer, Gods word, meditation, devotionals, or praise, actively seek Him out.

With that I want to pray for all the Catholics out there. I want to send out my good wishes, and hope that throughout Lent you may find God on new levels, and humble yourself not only to Him, but others as well. May your rewards surpass your expectations.

“I remind myself that, as I sit here now,
God is gazing on me with love and holding me in being.
I pause for a moment and think of this.”
-http://www.sacredspace.ie/

God Bless, and remember I’m praying for you!

A Parable I Enjoy.

2006-02-28T03:40:15Z

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[f]

23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[g] was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.[h] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

I enjoyed this parable. I felt as if it adressed a certain issue I've witnessed.

keanbean @ 2006-02-23T02:16:00

2006-02-23T07:17:02Z

I just want to say that I am a very very happy guy.

You have no idea. :]

Really really happy. :D

A small Arguement Between Me and A Friend.

2006-02-23T06:27:19Z

I'm a rather moderate Christian. I guess some views may even be considered liberal. I got into an argument with a friend, who I believe is a Fundamentalist Baptist. I consider myself a Moderate Non-Denominational. Either way, heres the argument. I try making a case that homosexuals can acheive salvation, He claims they cannot. Enjoy

Leonard Ooh: Plus I'm a bit upset at the church.
Friend: why
Leonard Ooh: For them kicking Marisol and her gf.
Leonard Ooh: I find that completely against Christs teaching of acceptance.
Leonard Ooh: What ever happened to a "House of Sinners, not a hall of saints."
Leonard Ooh: or is it "House of sinners who are not homosexuals".
Friend: dude. they cant come in and be leaders if they are going against what the bible said
Leonard Ooh: And they are; they're rejectying people on a basis of their sin.
Leonard Ooh: Homosexuality talked about in 7 passages, and I can go int depth if need be. Acceptance is talked about hundreds of times.
Friend: you see it like that because you are not in leadership of the church
Friend: it doesnt matter if its talked about once. its in there for a reason and thats that
Leonard Ooh: Dude, the bible is not all equal. I'm sorry. Christs teaching remain the core of any Christians faith system.
Leonard Ooh: If this were the case I demand you be kicked out of the church for wearing clothing with mixed fabrics.
Leonard Ooh: Why do we not follow these laws found in Lev?
Leonard Ooh: By your claims they uphold as much authority as the sermon on the mount.
Friend: you cant choose to be like God i love you. but hey i rather go sin and do what you tell me i shouldnt do
Leonard Ooh: Yet God will still love you. You make it sounds as if you're saying "You can't be like God I love you and go sin."
Leonard Ooh: Thats ridiculous. We all sin.
Leonard Ooh: We sin in Gods face.
Leonard Ooh: We repent, and then go on to commit that sin later.
Friend: and thats blasphemy saying the bible is not all equal. thats just saying God is wrong
Leonard Ooh: Ok, so you're willing to agree when I say that the laws found in Lev (Marrying a woman you rape, not planting a seeds in the same field, not shaving your sideburns) uphold as much authority is loving your neighbor, loving your god, and turning the other cheek?
Friend: thats to deter you from rape not just be like go rape this chick and shes yours.
Leonard Ooh: Ok, and the sideburns?
Leonard Ooh: Or the field?
Leonard Ooh: Or the clothing?
Friend: whats the exact verse?
Leonard Ooh: You're not answering my question. You state authority is equal. Is this equal with the above claims of Christ?
Friend: because u take one verse from here and try to make you sound right.
Friend: you cant do that
Leonard Ooh: WHat are you talking about?
Friend: its 1 bible from genesis all the way to revelation whether you like it or not. and im sorry. homosexuality is wrong. just like if a man or woman cheated on his or her wife. we would do the same thing
Leonard Ooh: Here, I'll quote the verses.
Leonard Ooh: Your still not answering my question.
Friend: its a stupid question.
Leonard Ooh: So it's stupid for me to ask you if those commandments listed in the OT are equal to those in the NT, because as you say, the Bile is 1 and everything is equal, which I would disagree to.
Leonard Ooh: You're justifying not giving an answer by saying it's stupid, which is weak.
Friend: God knows what he is doing. you cant be like well this is said. God said Homosexuality is an abomination and thats it. and we stand by Gods code and if you just say i dont like this part so i dont live by it. you're wrong
Friend: then you dont know what you believe
Leonard Ooh: So why are your sideburns shaved? Are you just going to ignore God in that part of scripture?
Friend: what is that verse?
Friend: tell me it so i can look it up in context. not just hey you cant have sideburns
Leonard Ooh: I';m in the process of getting it.
Leonard Ooh: Leviticus 19: 1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

3Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

...

19Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. (You cannot cow your field with different seeds, nor can you wear garments with mingled clothes).

Leonard Ooh: ...

27Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
Leonard Ooh: The context i clear. God is speaking through moses and issuing what God considers to be sins against him.
Leonard Ooh: It's pretty clear and cut. No dancing around it. Even when I look at the Greek behind the verses (blue letter bible), the words are positioned in a way to provide a direct command. That coming from God, who is speaking through moses, gives you the obvious appearance that they are laws, which breaking would be sinning against God.
Leonard Ooh: So once again, are these such verses, about sowing seeds in the same field, trimming your sideburns, etc, uphold as much authority as the Son of God, who commanded me to love my neighbor, and through example showed me to reject NO ONE.
Leonard Ooh: I don't think it's a stupid question, in any way.
Friend: the werent suppose to shave because they wanted to be distinguished from everyone else.
Friend: 2 be holy is to be separated apart. and that was the goal of not shaving.
Leonard Ooh: Waaaaaaait a minute!
Leonard Ooh: Now you're comparing the verses to their historical date. Guess what happens when we begin to do that with the 7 verses involving homosexuality :]
Leonard Ooh: It's still issued as a direct commandment fro God, which would outline sin.
Friend: im not comparing anything. im just telling you what the whole bible says not just certain parts of it
Leonard Ooh: Christ makes no mention about homosexuality, which I find very strange. Yet such an emphasis is place don his forgiveness of ALL sins, not just the sin until you stop sinning.
Friend: so your saying homosexuality isn't wrong now?
Leonard Ooh: Now I could make the argument that Homosexuality isn't a sin, but I believe it is. I believe it is against Gods will, but I do believe it doesn't prevent you from A) Being a Christian, B) Acheiving Salvation, C) Having a relationship with God
Friend: how does it not prevent a relationship with God
Friend: ?
Leonard Ooh: A relationship with God is open to everyone who accepts Christ and asks for forgiveness of their sins. A sin cannot prevent you from knowing God. Christ died to overcome that. His blood was spilt to destroy the power sin has in preventing us from knowing him. Does sin damage a relationshiop with God? Yes. Prevent it? No.
Friend: you said you believe it is a sin.. and sin separates us from God how does choosing to live in our sin rather then follow God not separate us from him?
Leonard Ooh: Sin used to seperate us from God, until Christ conquered sin. Now we have the authority, through Christ, to truely Know Him.
Friend: when you repent.
Leonard Ooh: Sin seperates us from God until God himself came into the picture.
Leonard Ooh: Atonement through Christ.
Friend: but when you choose living in sin rather then christ. its a sin
Leonard Ooh: When you choose Christ and believe with all your heart he is your salvation, and that his blood was enough, then you acheive salvation. To say living in sin yet having accepted Christ with your heart prevents you from acheiving salvation, is to say Christ sacrifice isn't powerenough. I'm sorry, but I refuse to limit Christs authority to forgive me based on my ability to sin.
Friend: read romans 1 from vs 18 on
Leonard Ooh: Look, you have to remember I center everything around Christ.
Leonard Ooh: Jesus was God in flesh. He has pure authority. Make a point with Christs and his teaching.
Leonard Ooh: I love Paul and his input. I find him a great addition, but I still believe Christ maintains complete authority over my belief system.
Friend: and the fact that God told them what to write means nothing to you?
Leonard Ooh: Well when you look at a bunch of the letters I see a man writing specific instructions to specific churches in adressing specific issues. Some (Romans, Acts) differ, but the pauline letters are pretty specific in adressing certain issues. The story of Christ found in the synoptic Gospel would hold way more authority to me. I think it's just weird to think that letters adressing a specific audience would weigh as much as the story and message of Christ himself.
Friend: b4 anything else... who do you think you are serving when you are in homosexuality?
Leonard Ooh: I understand the bible has two faces. The historical scholastic approach, and the spiritual approach also.
Leonard Ooh: It doesn't matter. Are you going to tell me you don't sin [friend]? You never masturbate? You never stare at a girl lustfully?
Leonard Ooh: Don't lie to me and tell me you don't, because I do it all the time, and I consider myself highly spiritually mature.
Friend: the bible from point a to point b is God and you cant say its not because the bible itself says it is.
Leonard Ooh: Everytime you do that, you're serving Satan.
Leonard Ooh: The bible also says not to cut your hair.
Leonard Ooh: If we even dig into the verses on Homosexuality, we even get the impression that it mainly deals with the sexual aspects, and not the emotional ones. This just adds another twist.
Leonard Ooh: You cannot say by being gay you serve satan, when by being a male with hormones, you lustfully do not.
Friend: no, we fall. we don't choose to live in it. there a difference from looking at a girl and being like oh man shes hot. then from like. he God said this is an abomination b4 him.
Leonard Ooh: Alright we'll talk about this later, my attentionis being pulled away from el presidente.
Leonard Ooh: You're entitled to your beliefs.
Leonard Ooh: I think I made my case.
Friend: its not my beliefs is Gods word
Leonard Ooh: Your beliefs :]
Leonard Ooh: It's God's word not to shave your sideburns, yet you're 'choosing' not to. What a twist eh?
Leonard Ooh: I really must go. See you sunday.
Friend: i'll pray for you.
Friend: read romans 8
Leonard Ooh: And I'm praying for you.

I changed the names so he could retain his privacy. Sorry I didn't do it in the beginning.

Yaaah

2006-02-22T01:02:48Z

How awesome is this Business club I'm in... We got ourselves our own office in the Business department. My President convinced the Business department to give us a cubicle, and we now have the freedom to do whatever we want with it. It's quite awesome. Impressive for a new club. I now have a private place I can go to work on the clubs agenda's, marketing plans, etc. It feels great to be able to walk in there knowing it's yours :D

Here are some pictures. Included are also me (Vice President) and the Representative, posing in the Banana suit. If you didn't know, I have a marketing push entitled "Bananas for Business". It suppoed to emulate the corny advertising and themes found in such companies as Flanigans, Hooters, Moes, etc. It's an attempt at something iconic, random, attention getting, and a way to direct curiousity towards the club.

I'll explain it in detail another day. Enjoy.

Isn't this Crazy?

2006-02-14T19:08:26Z

Is this crazy or what? Yesterday I finished class, and I was walking with the Atheist to my car (which I forgot where it was).

Anyways, we were walking along, and I was watching this slightly overweight dark skinned latino guy jump away from a sporty lexus, and into a 4 door Mercury with a broken tailight. I watched as the mercury errupted in smoke as it peeled out.

I thought nothing of it until I saw a gun running towards the car. When I saw this I began to run forward, and found out that the guy I previously watched broke into the side window and stole the guys cd system.

I was amazed. This was in Lot 3, RIGHT across from the security office. On top of that, it was broad daylight and everyone was just getting out of class. We stood there, exhanged info (a third guy who chased after them got the license plate number), and then called 911. After filling out a witness statement, I went and dropped off the Atheist.

Wow... I couldn't believe it. Later the guy who owned the car, told me his CD player was worth 3000 bucks. Just amazing that the thiefs took it in broad daylight. It shocked me.

Anyways, on the brighter side, all the girlsin my speech class loved my love speech, and the roses I got them.

Hmm, what else is new? The Senator (Alex Diaz De La Portilla) sent me a happy birthday card from Tally. Now I can add it to the card and letter President Bush sent me (yaah).

Besides that, I've just been working out, working, and studying.

GOD BLESS, and HAPPY VALENTIMES!