Leaving Las...Seattle?

            I deflated my mattress and packed all of my things into the Buick Park Avenue today. I’m leaving this place tonight.

            It’s been real Seattle. I won’t say it’s all been good as I have definitely had some lows in my time out here, but I think despite the dips, the average altitude has leveled out to higher than it has been in the past. I won’t say that Seattle is a terrible city, but simply that it’s not one of the greats. There’s no personality to it as there is in Chicago, or even Iowa City. There is at least an admirable personality. Iowa City is greater in that it knows what it is and has to offer its residents. I’m ready to return to you 713.

            I’ve been out here nearly 3 months, and looking back it seems a long time, but compressed, as all pasts are. My pocketbook has been more drained than it ever has but I hope to be on the road to recovery. I went out and tried to see your streets Seattle. They were rarely thriving with the life of those in Iowa City. There’s sadness here, and I’m done with it.

            Roommates and the few friends I have met here: I will miss you and am greatly sad that you will not be by my side in my future journeys. I’ve never been very good at maintaining contact with distant friends, but I hope I will be better with you.

            Today is probably the most beautiful day weather-wise I have ever seen in Seattle. I drove down John St. today and got repeated views of a blue sky with the space needle and Olympic mountains in the background. Birds swooped and sang in front of my car. The temperature is exactly what it should be, not too hot, not too cold. A truly perfect day. The one thing I can say I absolutely liked about Seattle is its beauty on a good day. I am both glad to leave on a high note and sad to leave such high notes behind.

            I really am just waiting away the hours here at the forum until my epic journey home. I hope to leave here around 8 or 9 PM and drive through the midnight hour. I’m not stopping overnight anywhere this time, simply taking 2-3 hour naps in my car at truck stops. It should be an adventure and I’m hoping to go insane. I’m spending the majority of my remaining hours compiling the ultimate playlist.

I don’t like goodbyes. It’s not because I miss people, or worry that I will cry, just that they are awkward. I feel like I have to say goodbye to so many people, and that I should share some sentiment with them, or embrace them, getting all caught up in the moment, but that’s just not something I do. Getting caught up in moments that is. I’m not too much of a sentimental type (others may disagree), and it really takes me a long time to bond with people in much sense. I will miss a few people here I guess, but in no more of a way than I miss high school acquaintances. I don’t mean to be cold, I’ve just never been the type to quickly bond and then miss people. One revelation I had while out here is that I genuinely people back in Iowa City and my family. It was life affirming in that I had the power to miss. WOO!

713 here I come!

An Article by David Brooks That Expresses Something I'd Like to

 so I'm just borrowing his article, I hope that's ok.

Link the the original NYtimes Article

Who is Barack Obama?

If you ask a conservative Republican, you are likely to hear that Obama is a skilled politician who campaigned as a centrist but is governing as a big-government liberal. He plays by ruthless, Chicago politics rules. He is arrogant toward foes, condescending toward allies and runs a partisan political machine.
If you ask a liberal Democrat, you are likely to hear that Obama is an inspiring but overly intellectual leader who has trouble making up his mind and fighting for his positions. He has not defined a clear mission. He has allowed the Republicans to dominate debate. He is too quick to compromise and too cerebral to push things through.
You’ll notice first that these two viewpoints are diametrically opposed. You’ll, observe, second, that they are entirely predictable. Political partisans always imagine the other side is ruthlessly effective and that the public would be with them if only their side had better messaging. And finally, you’ll notice that both views distort reality. They tell you more about the information cocoons that partisans live in these days than about Obama himself.
The fact is, Obama is as he always has been, a center-left pragmatic reformer. Every time he tries to articulate a grand philosophy — from his book “The Audacity of Hope” to his joint-session health care speech last September — he always describes a moderately activist government restrained by a sense of trade-offs. He always uses the same on-the-one-hand-on-the-other sentence structure. Government should address problems without interfering with the dynamism of the market.
He has tried to find this balance in a town without an organized center — in a town in which liberals chair the main committees and small-government conservatives lead the opposition. He has tried to do it in a context maximally inhospitable to his aims.
But he has done it with tremendous tenacity. Readers of this column know that I’ve been critical on health care and other matters. Obama is four clicks to my left on most issues. He is inadequate on the greatest moral challenge of our day: the $9.7 trillion in new debt being created this decade. He has misread the country, imagining a hunger for federal activism that doesn’t exist. But he is still the most realistic and reasonable major player in Washington.
Liberals are wrong to call him weak and indecisive. He’s just not always pursuing their aims. Conservatives are wrong to call him a big-government liberal. That’s just not a fair reading of his agenda.
Take health care. He has pushed a program that expands coverage, creates exchanges and moderately tinkers with the status quo — too moderately to restrain costs. To call this an orthodox liberal plan is an absurdity. It more closely resembles the center-left deals cut by Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, or Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney. Obama has pushed this program with a tenacity unmatched in modern political history; with more tenacity than Bill Clinton pushed his health care plan or George W. Bush pushed Social Security reform.
Take education. Obama has taken on a Democratic constituency, the teachers’ unions, with a courage not seen since George W. Bush took on the anti-immigration forces in his own party. In a remarkable speech on March 1, he went straight at the guardians of the status quo by calling for the removal of failing teachers in failing schools. Obama has been the most determined education reformer in the modern presidency.
Take foreign policy. To the consternation of many on the left, Obama has continued about 80 percent of the policies of the second Bush term. Obama conducted a long review of the Afghan policy and was genuinely moved by the evidence. He has emerged as a liberal hawk, pursuing victory in Iraq and adopting an Afghan surge that has already utterly transformed the momentum in that war. The Taliban is now in retreat and its leaders are being assassinated or captured at a steady rate.
Take finance. Obama and Tim Geithner are vilified on the left as craven to Wall Street and on the right as clueless bureaucrats who know nothing about how markets function. But they have tried with halting success to find a center-left set of restraints to provide some stability to market operations.
In a sensible country, people would see Obama as a president trying to define a modern brand of moderate progressivism. In a sensible country, Obama would be able to clearly define this project without fear of offending the people he needs to get legislation passed. But we don’t live in that country. We live in a country in which many people live in information cocoons in which they only talk to members of their own party and read blogs of their own sect. They come away with perceptions fundamentally at odds with reality, fundamentally misunderstanding the man in the Oval Office.

I'm Proud to Be and American, Where at Least I Know I'm Free...

How ridiculous is that song? SO RIDICULOUS!

So Geoff asked me what I think about the Star Spangled Banner. I don’t really know. I honestly couldn’t sing all the words. That probably tells you how important romanticized patriotism is to me. So I look up the lyrics and give them a once over

Oh say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Is it disrespectful to print the National Anthem in smaller text than the rest of this blog?

I don’t have too much of an issue with song until the 4th stanza. Up until then it is really a patriotic retelling of American success on a battlefield. There are really only three verses, which I have bolded, which I disagree with.

There’s a large idea within the Tea Party movement that the United States is a Christian Nation. I don’t agree with this, as there are legal separations between church and state, there are large portions of our population that are not Christian, and the founders of our nation, while some may have been Christians themselves, established this country as one in which any belief system should be able to practice freely. The only difficulty is that when many are making votes on various issues, they are doing so with religious conviction. With a Christian majority, that often swings things in their favor. We can say that the majority of Americans are Christians, but we cannot say that we are Christian nation.

The three verses I take trouble with basically say that if we trust in God and conquer in his name, then our conquering is just. That’s kind of a scary thing to be proposing, as many a many war have been fought killing millions for similar claims.

So what should we do about this? I personally would love to see a new National Anthem that reflects all of American values, but in a country as diverse as the United States that is probably impossible. We could strike those verses in the song, but I think that is disrespectful to the songwriter as the song is his intellectual property. I would be comfortable leaving the National Anthem as it is, as long as our citizens realize that it is a representation of the historical United States, not necessarily the modern nation. They must keep in mind at all times that the nation in revolutionary war times was NOT a Christian Nation, but had a much more established Christian majority than today.

Here’s the issue. I think a large portion of the United States, will not look at it as such. There is a large portion that will want to set forth that this is what the founders of our nation supported and that therefore we are a Christian nation and should continue to be one. This frustrates me because it does not recognize that change happens and is something that needs to be adapted to. If I form a company in 1930 that sets its company motto as “I will produce the best vinyl records that I possible can” Do you think that will still be my motto in 2010? It may be, but the term records will be opened up to include CD’s, cassettes, or whatever new forms of media emerge. I would hope that there wouldn’t be workers in my company that would protest that I am making new forms of media, simply because of a motto made in 1930.

We should look at our National Anthem as a remembrance of the hardship our nation has been through in its formation, and the things for which the founders did stand. I’m going to make a bold claim here and say the most important thing they stood for was freedom. The U.S. was formed on the basis that certain belief systems were being persecuted in their respective countries, so people came here to practice their beliefs freely. By establishing ourselves as a Christian nation that is simply sending a message to the rest of the world that we are not as free as a secular nation.

Homosexuals are Good for Men

I think we are in a time in which we have the capacity to understand each other at a level never before possible. It just makes sense, that as humanity progresses, our understanding of one another and ourselves will along with it. Look at literature and film. The themes often remain the same but interactions become more complex. Just think of the variety of roles that are played in today’s films versus those of the 40s. Back then a man was a man and a woman was a woman. There was a specific understanding of what each one of those things was and what role they were intended to play. Because of these set roles and understandings relationships were limited. They had to fit inside those roles; the amount of variance and complexity simply couldn’t be what it is today.

I realized this while talking to one of my best friends last night. I realized that in previous eras there have been all sorts of things that stand in two peoples’ way of forming strong relationships and bonds. I am capable of forming bonds and relationships today far stronger than people ever have and it’s all because preconceived notions and roles have been opened up.

Issues that were formerly taboo can now be discussed because the taboo has been lifted. I can’t speak for women here, having been a man my entire life, but the idea of what a man is has changed so much, and become so much more open, that it is now possible for two straight men to have far more rewarding friendships than ever before.

A large issue in this is the idea of masculinity and what is considered masculine. A large portion of the anti-homosexual rhetoric through the ages has been based around the idea that a homosexual man is not masculine. Through further acceptance of homosexual men as men, despite their preference for other men, is not only good for their cause, but good for that of heterosexual men like myself. The large portion of the fight for gay acceptance is based around changing the oppressing ideals of what a man is. I thank them for their fight on this front because through their opening of ideas, not only the masculinity of homosexuals is accepted and opened up, but the masculinity of heterosexual men has as well. I may not shoot guns, chomp down steaks and make my woman prepare me sandwiches, but I am still masculine.

In this sense, acceptance of homosexuality is not only good for homosexuals; it also helps heterosexuals simply by making us reconsider the foundation under us. If things that are taboo are lifted, more open discussion, and deeper understanding is possible. If deeper understanding is possible, stronger bonds and relationships can be formed.

Appreciate that you live in a world freer of taboo and social oppression in the U.S. than ever before, and that you are able to be in more rewarding and deep relationships because of this. Also, always go out and continue the trend so that one day our children’s children can have even more rewarding relationships than we were able to have.

Funfact: freer is correct as opposed to more free (thanks Microsoft Word Grammar check)

Contemplating this Blogging Thing

I have been going through and putting all my past blogs into word files and organized folders on my computer and reading some of them as I go along. It’s been an interesting exercise.

I’ve discovered some things about myself.

-I judge people too soon and often find that they don’t meet the judgments I previously made.

-Sometimes I get to heated about politics and people with opposing beliefs, causing myself to use harsher language than I need to.

-I thought this blog would fail when I started it. It took a long time to get going, but I’ve been doing it for over 3 years now.

-My ideas have evolved and some of my opinions have changed, but when I read my first posts I see the same mind behind them that I have now.



I am also now vowing to compose all of my blogs in Word, read them over, and then post them. Some of my previous ramblings were simply unintelligible.

Damn those gays, destroying children's minds

Is there some organization out there that's like Straights for Gays? I'm going to google it and get back to you.

All I Can Tell

So tonight I leave work and I'm in a bum mood. No big reason, just not feeling so hot. I get up to my house and can't fathom going inside to ruminate in my dark lonely room. I simply cannot do it. I look up a late night coffee shop on my phone and end up going to the third busiest Starbucks in the world (Seriously). I sit down to read my book about the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution lawsuit in Dover and go about my business. I'm still in a rather bum mood.

A young guy takes the chair next to mine and proceeds reading his book. Our readings go on for awhile before he sees my book and asks, "oh are you reading that?" I say yes, explain the plot, we share a few pleasantries and I hope to go about my business. Who is this guy to bug me right? Later there is cause for more conversation and I realize it's unavoidable. This guy and I end up talking for about an hour. We share views on his business that he is starting up, (Jacob.mychoices.biz) his life in Seattle, my time in Seattle and have a great conversation. We then get into the idea of the project I am working on having to do with religion. I tell him about my beliefs, coming from a Christian background and going into more agnostic world view. Turns out he came from a nearly anti-religion background and because of his interactions with Christians, elders he admired and the like, he is now a Christian. Such an interesting circumstance. We discuss and discuss and come to realize that, for the most part, we believe the exact same things, the only difference being his leanings toward there being God, and my refusals to lean one way or the other. It was truly a life-affirming conversation to connect with a stranger and share positive beliefs so openly. Knowing that there are others out there who simply want positivity for the world and have a wonderful active mentality towards it is such a wonderful thing. I went from being in a bum mood to being in one of the best moods I have been in in months. This guy, and my interactions with him caused realizations in my mind, and really opened my eyes to the world around me in a different way.

So... My bum night turned in to a great one simply because of a shared connection of positivity. But that's not the main point of my blog. It is, but it isn't.

What I realize in all this is that I know I have gotten a wonderful breath of life, and because of that, I want to share it with others. I want to spread positivity and life. I want to clear out negativity from all others around me and spread positivity. This I know, and this I will do.

What I thought about though is how fortuitous it is that this guy crosses paths with me and brightens my day. I take immense interest in the fact that he happens to be a convert to Christianity while I am a convert away. A part of my mind thinks, "Hey, maybe this is a sign of a God arranging things in my favor, correcting my bum mood and spreading his love with me. Another part of my mind thinks, "No, that's ridiculous, this is simply fortunate coincidence"

So I got two sides, neither side can be proven. I can in now way prove that it was an act of God, and I can in now way prove that it wasn't an act of God, so in my mind there's no use thinking about that. What I deduce is that I have had a fortunate event, I appreciate that fortunate event, and because of both of those I am going to attempt to make fortunate events from others and share that life. That is all that matters. The positivity spreading is all that matters, whether it is the result of a God's actions or the result of things happening to come together randomly does not matter.

It's something I realized and needed to share. In a way I experienced the essence of what people have been interpreting as a god for thousands of years. All I can tell is it was positivity and because that positivity has been experienced more positivity will be shared. It's simply a testament to the fact that positivity breeds positivity. It's not a testament for or against a god, only to positivity's tendencies, and there's very little point in looking into it's causes.

Y'all read me? Cool. Spread positivity.

Americans are stupid.

Yep. Admit it folks. The majority of Americans, in comparison to the rest of the developed world, are not very smart.

I sat down with a friend studying abroad from Japan to talk about differences in culture the other day. She shared with me that before she came to the United States she had the preconceived notion that we were all idiots, I told her she was correct, and she let me know that she had found it to be largely correct. She mentioned that while the U.S. has far more "elites" than other countries, their average citizen was of far lower intelligence and was holding the elites back. There's ton's of things that are causing this, it's not just one, and I don't really have a solution prepared. I do know however that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, and while I see lots of news reports touting our idiocy, I still get the feeling we're all in denial. Admit it America, you are, on average, dumb as a bag of bricks. Let's both admit it to ourselves, and start educating ourselves.

I'm tired of having to apologize to other nations for the majority of our citizens.

Roy Ashburn

A quick tale that I think is immensely sad. If you haven't been following the extreme liberal internet blogs, you're probably a lot happier, but also you probably haven't heard the story of California Republican State Senator Roy Ashburn.

Dude resides of Bakersfield, and has voted against every pro-gay action that has come across his desk. Recently he gets picked up for a DUI with another man in his car leaving a gay night club. Later on a radio interview he admits to being gay, and in the closet for his entire adult life, voting against gay measures because it's what his constituents wanted.

I'm not going to comment on this man's integrity or decisions, only on the structure in the united states that affected his decision making. I think it is shameful that we live in a nation where there are those out there that so strongly believe in the immorality of homosexuality that this man was forced to live a lie for 40+ years, vote for things he surely didn't believe in, and be discovered in such an distasteful fashion.

Imagine you lived the first half of your life pretending you were something you were not because of the beliefs of the world around you. That's half your life wasted. That is extraordinarily sad. My heart breaks for this poor guy. Let's work towards a world where this doesn't have to happen.

In reference to my previous blog about understanding. I too have come a long way in understanding homosexuality. I once thought it was an evil sin, then simply a mental issue, then possibly a genetic tendency pushed along with a mental issue. It wasn't until I met one of my good friends (that's you DS, if you read this) and had long talks with him, and really got to know him better as a person that I finally understood that just as I am straight, he is gay.

If you've got some apprehensions about homosexuality. Go talk to some gay people. I'd be willing to bet they'd be willing to chat and answer questions in the name of understanding.

We're not so different, you and I

I think one big mistake that people tend to make is thinking that people are so different than them. I don't honestly remember where exactly I intended to go with this subject, as I have been meaning to write about it for awhile. But we will see how things go.

One situation I constantly find myself in, and I am sure many of you do too, is when you cross paths with a person you have just recently met. As they get nearer and nearer you see them and think, "I sort of met them at that party" You debate whether to wave, say hi, nod, or even start a conversation. Usually I, shamefully, end up pretending I don't see them to avoid the entire conflict. What if they don't remember meeting you? What if the entire situation will seem awkward and you seem like a creeper?

Afterwards I always regret not saying hi. I mean, if I remember them, and they weren't that exciting of a person, why wouldn't they remember me? It's not as if everyone else but me has random blackouts where they don't remember their past. Why wouldn't I say hi? They probably saw me pass and wondered why the hell I was such a jerk, not acknowledging them.

Probably not though. This is a classic situation in thinking that other people are so different than me. The other person probably went through the exact same thought process that I went to, and decided to do the same thing as me.

AHH, now I remember where I was going with this. People always seem to demonize the opposition. Democrats think that Republicans are all out there trying to maliciously destroy their plans. Republicans probably think that all Democrats are out there trying to bring the U.S. into communism to destroy the values of former America. When in reality, it's probably more that Republicans think they know what is right, just as Democrats do, and both are simply fighting for what they believe in, which just happens to differ with the opposition greatly. Because both sides are so sure that they are right, the other side claiming that they are right seems offensively idiotic.

Really think though. Think about yourself. Are you capable of being directly malicious? Honestly wanting harm to come to another? Have you really known that many people, or anybody, who honestly wanted harm to come to another person? I mean in such a way that it wasn't just a misunderstanding, but in an intrinsically evil way? I know that I have never met a person who themselves were really what you would call evil. I know that I have sometimes done malicious things, but never because I was out to hurt anyone, it was always because I wasn't thinking straight, or because of a large misunderstanding.

If you yourself aren't capable of evil things, and you've never really met anyone "evil" (maybe you have) then why is it so easy to write opposing organizations and people off as demons?

This is something we are often taught at a very young age, but sometimes I need reminding. This realization applies to just about any situation in which people interact. It's all a matter of putting yourself in the other person's shoes, and imagining them in yours.

Let's take Hitler, because he's the most extreme example I can think of. Rather than demonize him, let's try to understand him. Here we have a guy who has grown to think that his country, and his people are truly the best things to inhabit the planet, he also honestly believes, just as you do that milk builds strong bones, that "undesirable races" were truly hurting the existence of the human race. He was brought up in some messed up ways, and he himself was not what you'd call mentally stable.

So was Hitler out there to be a tyrant, a force of evil, destroying goodness in the world? I'd dare say not, he was just an extremely misled person with extreme beliefs and a lot of political talent to act on those beliefs. Now I'm not saying we should have just given Hitler hugs, but I'm saying he is a person who himself was misunderstood, and had a lot of misunderstandings about the world, that he let take control of him.

I want to rid the world of this idea of evil. I don't know that you will ever come across someone who claims openly to be a force of evil, who is, actually evil. In that case, the person is probably just being controlled by their misunderstandings as well.

I can name tons upon tons of things that I have thought negatively about, then learned more about, and then thought positively about. I can name so many misconceptions and misunderstandings I have had over the years that I formerly believed so whole-heartedly in. Why is now any different? I don't think it is. I am excited for ten years from now when I can add thousands more misconceptions that I have now that have been corrected in those ten years.

What I'm saying in all this is there really is no such thing as "evil" evil is just another word for misunderstanding, or ignorance. The only way we can defeat "evil" is through understanding, and the understanding that things I may think I understand now, could one day prove to be completely misled. Maybe it's just the optimist in me, but I think people are good. They are capable of great bad, but I think if sought, understanding of those bad acts can either be understood, or discovered to not actually be bad.

This is one thing that bugs me about people who are so set in a particular belief system, because it so quickly rules out allllll the other possibilities. It doesn't give so much of the rest of the world a chance. It limits their scope.

Try to apply this in life people.

My biggest problem with this is thinking that other people's minds cannot operate in the same fashion mine does. They don't have the thoughts I do. Their life is different.

As I grow older, and share more experiences I realize this isn't true. It's arrogant to think that others minds can't experience the same things mine does.

You're about to get into a fight. That person's mind works the same way yours does. What's really going on here?

A person has completely opposing beliefs, they must be an idiot. That person's mind works the same way yours does. What's really going on here?

You are passing a casual acquaintance on the street. They probably don't remember you. That person's mind works the same way yours does. What's really going on here.

I guess it all comes down to what a pretty smart prophet said back in the day. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" Not saying those words are divine, but they sure hold a lot of truth.

A(n) Enjoyable Open Discussion

I have been engaged in an argument/discussion of sorts with a few friends who have differing beliefs than I do and I have really enjoyed it both for it's substance as well as it's openness and the respect all parties grant one another. I am going to post the discussion in it's entirety as it has flowed thus far and would encourage more discussion to emerge here if people so please. B will stand for me and J and T will stand for my friends with the opposing views to my own.

J:
i know it probably wont convince any of you, but i am going to put my two cents into this homosexuality and christianity discussion. I’m not here to argue that it is a risky issue. just to clear a few issues.

for the people who think that homosexuality was only spoken against in the old testament, here is a verse in the new that talks about it. It is from paul’s letter to the romans. (romans 1:21 to 1:27) It says that man did not acknowledge God as God, so God let them do their own things. They gave into the sins of the flesh, women having unnatural relations with women, and men performing indecent acts with other men.

now it is important to not that this classifies homosexuality under lusts and sins of the flesh, not as a biological determining factor. i know people claim to have been gay since they were born, but there are also people who have wanted to look at pornography since the day they knew what sex was, and people who steal without thinking anything of it since they dont hurt anyone or get caught. It is just another part of our sinful nature. Your right they may have been born with those tendencies, but that is because man is naturally sinful since the fall.

this leads me to believe that homosexuality is a day by day, moment by moment decision to do right, just like any other sin. You could choose being a thief or a murderer or an adulterer for your lifestyle as well, but you still have the moment by moment decision to do the right thing.

I am not damning gay people any more that any other sinners, but i am saying that acting on homosexual tendencies is a sin. Fact of the matter is we are all sinners, and all worthy of hell, the same as the rest. fortunately, as you all know, i believe Jesus used some handy loving to break that.

the second thing i wanted to address quickly on here is just the point raised earlier about old testament validity. There are certain laws of the old testament that are not applicable now, and there are some that are. the question of “how is it alright for christians to pick and choose what rules they want to keep” has been raised. here is what i believe it comes down to. Christ directly pointed out which laws He wanted to change. The rest i believe stay intact. In the bible it talks about an old covenant and the new covenant, and Christ specifically identifies what parts are changed. essentially the rules about food, the rules about revenge, and the rules about punishment are the ones that are changed.

I am not one of those Christians who is going to tell you all to shut up and quit attacking my beliefs. I actually would much rather hear different people’s questions on things, because i have wondered many of these things myself before, and thankfully through asking have gotten some stuff cleared up. I dont have every answer, but feel free to quiz me, and i can try my hardest to explain my views, and as opposed to many “christians”, i will base my answers off of the bible (the WHOLE bible), instead of what some other person taught me.

hopefully that cleared a few things up.

B:
FIRST OFF What’s with this odd re-blogging to comment thing?

This is an issue close to my heart as I’ve got a lot of pals who cannot marry, or live their lives as openly as heterosexuals can because of these beliefs and beliefs like it. So I will continue the questioning.

If God disapproves of homosexuality, why is that? I don’t think God is free from the need to have justification for his actions so for what reason does he find homosexuality sinful. If you look at it from a historical perspective, homosexuals did not reproduce. In a time when having lots of children was essential for your culture to spread and survive, I could understand the “interpreters of god’s word” claiming homosexuality was sinful. As for today, I don’t see it harming anyone, and it certainly helps more people find loving relationships.

You mention that Jesus came through and made a new set of covenants that supersede the old testament, well Mohamed came through and the Qur’an claims to supersede the new testament’s covenant and rules. Why do you choose the bible and not the Qur’an? What make Jesus more credible of a messiah than Mohamed? It seems Islam is the newest thing out there, so maybe we should all jump on that boat.

Also this idea of the sinfulness in sexual urges. Human’s have biologically and mentally evolved to find that procreation is good for the species. It’s in our blood to want sex. Why would we have that in us if we have to feel guilty for it at all times. That’s like training a dog to sit, and then yelling at him every time he sits.

T:
I’m pretty done with tumblr debates, but there are just a couple questions of yours I want to answer.

1) My knowledge of Islam is EXTREMELY limited, but I’m fairly certain Mohamed never claimed to be the Messiah. Merely a prophet. I could be wrong, but all I’ve ever heard about Mohamed is that he’s the “high prophet of Allah” or something along those lines. Logically, I’d rather listen to what God Himself has to say than His servant who comes along and contradicts what His master says. Comparable to listening to the owner of the company, instead of his secretary who tells you something different afterward. But that’s just logically. I’ve seen truth in the teachings of Christ, and I’ve seen the truth of Christ carried out, tangibly, healings and miraculous works in the name of Christ. You may be skeptical, but I need no other proof.

2) Sex isn’t a bad thing. God created it, God intended it to be good, God intended us to want to have sex. But we have an enemy, he wants to destroy us, and he has perverted it (all this talk of God’s wrath and God’s judgment and all of these bad things being from God, we seem to forget that there’s an evil part of this equation, too). I mean, I really hope you wouldn’t argue the fact that twelve year olds having sex is not okay, because, “they’re just programmed to do it.” Even from a totally worldly standpoint, sex shouldn’t be taken lightly. No, God didn’t make sex a bad thing. The world did. Look at the products of sex in our current society. All of these diseases being passed from person to person, all of the babies that are growing up in unstable and sometimes dangerous homes, all of the girls whose lives and self esteem are ruined by guys who just wanted to get some tail, HUMAN BEINGS being kidnapped and trafficked because some sicko somewhere knows that people will pay for sex, and he can prophet from it. But that’s all okay because we’re wired as humans to want it? But then look at sex as God intended it, the way He created it. Just sayin.

Also, a question that I don’t really have an answer for: why does God think homosexuality is sinful? I don’t know. But if you look into the scriptures Jordan mentioned a bit more, Romans 1:26-27 says: “For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another….” Looking a bit more into it, “…exchanged the natural sexual relations…abandoned natural relations…” Going off this, I would guess that God sees it as sinful because that’s not how we were created. We were intended for relationships between man and woman. “But Tyler, if we aren’t supposed to be gay, why didn’t God just totally eliminate homosexuality?” Sexuality has been perverted, as I’ve already mentioned. “But it’s not a choice, you’re born that way!” We’re born with all kinds of desires. We have desires to lie to get out of trouble, we desire to steal what we can’t have, we desire sex outside of what God intended for it, because we’re born sinful.

Like I said earlier, I’m not really here to debate or argue, more to answer your questions.

But I would like to say that if we were just jumping on the newest thing out there, we’d all be scientologists, or worshiping Davey Havok or something.

B:
I’m tired of tumblr debates simply because I am not fond of the reblog system, other than that I think debating and discussing issues like this is one of the most powerful things this medium can be used for and I appreciate it’s existence.

As for Islam, I’ve been reading the Qur’an lately. While Mohamed may not claim to be messiah, he is still claiming to be a more recent prophet than Jesus, also claiming that Jesus was not a messiah, but merely a prominent prophet. The only difference is Mohamed, as far as I know, is not claiming to be a messiah figure that would save people from a hell.

The point is not that he is newer, and therefore better, why don’t we follow him? My point is that he has just as much credibility as Jesus does to his claims. He supposedly performed miracles, he spoke divine truths, he claimed revelations from God. The point is both just have some ancient books written by his followers to say he did these things. Why is one more believable than another? This isn’t a matter of one being a direct correspondent and another a secretary, this is a matter of two people claiming to be direct correspondents, with their claims, and “evidences” to those claims recorded in ancient texts written by their supporters.

As for sex is not a bad thing. I agree. Of course I don’t think children should be having sex, that’s preposterous. Maybe when they wrote that sex outside of marriage was a SIN, it was because they knew there were all these diseases, or so that it would be easier to tell paternity of a child. They were thinking of ways to have safe sex. Well I don’t need a God to tell me to have safe sex. Science can inform me far better.

This whole idea of a Satan though. Think about it. It all makes a wonderful story but why would God, being as omnipotent as he is not just make things all good? I get that challenges and all that are a fun idea, but really it just works into this grand narrative structure we like to apply to all of our lives. Give me one good reason God wouldn’t eliminate Satan, or prevent his creation in the first place, or make his presence fully known to us, or work in mysterious ways? Why would a God do such a thing to merely complicate things? Say I were to give you omnipotence, omnibenevolence, and omniscience. Would you set up things in the same manner?

Finally the homosexuality. Saying Homosexuality is sinful because that’s not how we were created sets me off at the bat, simply because I don’t believe we were just created, but that’s a separate argument. Once again you have to look at the historical context of why someone would write that at the time. Anything that prevented procreation was considered bad. Homosexuals don’t reproduce so they were deemed bad. Nowadays, we have plenty of people, really could use a little less population wise, so if two men or two women want to love each other and share their lives together, what’s the harm in it?

Take anything from a scientific or historic standpoint and it just makes so much more sense, not delusions need to be created to support a belief system.

Do you need God to tell you that murder is bad? I certainly hope not.

Can I see what is good and what is bad for the world, without a God telling me directly? Yeah I can.

Do I see homosexual’s doing anything remotely negative to the world? No.

What irks me the most, and I know none of the people I am talking with do this, but it’s that Religious activists will go out and try to deny gay people rights. They will fight against someone else’s rights, but you never see gay people going out and fighting against your right to worship you god, or believe what you believe. Can you imagine if Christians were the minority, and there were a larger belief system out there campaigning against your right to live your life the way you do? Put yourself in a gay person’s position and really think about what you are saying.

It’s not love to say one thing but believe another. I refuse to live in a world where people who don’t believe in your sin, are subject to your fear of it.

T:
Reblogging would probably go smoother if you put the reblogs at the bottom like everyone else, haha.

Anyway, short answers.

God created both men and angels in His image (which is goodness at it’s absolute purest state), and that includes free will. Everything which God created good was perverted by an angel who got a big head and thought he could do it better.

Simply practicing safe sex solves maybe half of the problems I listed. Following God’s plan would solve all of them.

Like I said, I believe in Jesus Christ because I’ve tangibly seen His promises fulfilled. No delusions. Seek Christ and I guarantee you’ll see His truth. This is why I have no desire to even consider Mohamed as a spiritual leader.

On the other hand, you could look at it historically from a different perspective, and think that maybe men were writing God breathed words that are intended to lead and teach generations to come, and God’s reasonings for what He considers unrighteous are far beyond our painfully limited human understanding. But alas, our debate seems to be at a dead end. You don’t believe the same as I do, and so my points based on my beliefs mean nothing to you. I guess that’s how all of these are going to have to end.

B:
Haha, thanks for the tip on re-blogging correctly. I am actually beginning to see the benefit in this comment system because it contains the entire discussion in one long feed.

I don’t think the debate is over. Usually I would say, “yes, we seem to have hit a brick wall, we will have to agree to disagree.” If this were merely a matter of disagreement I would do that. However I think this is a more pressing matter in that many that follow the beliefs you propose are attempting to force actions of those beliefs and people who don’t believe them. Like myself. Just as you have the right to vote against gay marriage, or the teaching of evolution in schools, and to go out and attempt to convince people of your way of thinking, I have the same right to vote against those things, and attempt to convince people of my way of thinking. I’d imagine you’d agree with me on that.

What frustrates me most in this regard are two things.

One: The United States of America is supposed to be a secular state, yet so many of it decisions that are made, denying certain people rights, or weakening the teaching of science in our public school system are based on non-secular beliefs. I understand that Christianity makes up the vast majority of the country, and it just makes sense that their vote would often win but I ask that you put yourself in my position. Imagine living in a country where Islam is the primary religion, and Christians are the minority. I imagine you would be frustrated because so often what you believed was entirely correct, according to your beliefs would be out-voted by the Islamic voting community. You’d live in a world where you may be forced to live by Islamic beliefs.

That is similar to the situation I, and others who have similar beliefs, are in in the United States. Though I do not believe in your sin, so many political decisions are based around a Christian fear of it. In my perspective this is holding us back as a human species.

Two: We both realize that we believe what we believe extremely strongly. I think I am right, and you think you are right as strongly as I do. My frustration is not in this, it is in the idea that the entirety of your belief system is based around an ancient text, written by people you have no reason to believe were divinely inspired other than the fact that they say they were. This is a feat any group of people could achieve given hard work and good writing skills. My beliefs are based on the things I see around me, quantifiable evidence, logical thought chains, and human understanding. If you wish for me to show you why I think evolution exists, I can reference you to thousands of experts who have studied it their entire lives, genetic mapping that shows strong signs of it, archaeological evidence, thousands of books and hundreds of other pieces of evidence. If I ask you to tell my why you don’t think it exists, you’ve got one ancient text written in a time when people did not possess the technological advancement to conceive of such a thing as evolution. I’m going to say, “ok, neat, what else you got?”

That all aside, you say you have had experiences that you consider divine. I was a strong believer in much of what you believe for a period in my life too. I went to Jamaica, did a missions trip, praised the lord in large signing groups on mountaintops, and I too had experiences that I believed divine. Now I realize the power of the human mind to delude itself. From a psychological standpoint it makes sense. The human mind can create amazing things, and if you are a believer in the divine, they will often be attributed to the divine.

I guarantee you there are millions of Muslims out there, Jews out there, who also believe, as strongly as you do, that they have experienced divine moments or seen promises fulfilled at the bequest of their deity. I guarantee you there are people out there who pray to Satan, or meditate in Scientological methods who believe they have experienced the divine or seen promises fulfilled at the hands of their deity as well. I don’t know if you would claim your experiences as more real than theirs, but I imagine if you did, they would claim there experiences as more real than yours. They are people, capable of experiencing the world around them just as you are. If you are saying your god is the one true god, are you saying their experiences did not happen? Heck, I have had meditative experiences where I simply explore my mind that in my former days, I would claim were divine. And I know that you may say, “Well that’s my God, reaching out to them, because he loves all humanity” or something of that sort. But if every religion claims the exact same thing, and none of them have anything beside a divine book telling them they are correct, how can you rightfully evidence, that yours, in fact, is more correct? I pray for a man to be cured to Zeus, and you pray to the Christian God. If the man is cured I have just as strong of an argument that it was Zeus that cured him as you do God. But a Doctor is going to tell you different, probably attributing it to care, a positive attitude (possibly aided by the well wishes or people praying for him) and to medicine.

For the Historical Perspective, I would most definitely agree with you that Christianity was probably started by a lot of people who wanted to do good in the world, and were interpreting the world to the best of their ability at the time. I would disagree that the words were god breathed, but I don’t, as many atheistic people do, believe that the men starting Christianity had anything ill-will and power in mind.

Now to the thing that I believe is at the core of this whole thing. “…and God’s reasonings for what He considers unrighteous are far beyond our painfully limited human understanding.” Human understanding is an amazing, expansive, and ever growing thing. In the early ages of civilization people saw thunder, and prayed to a lightning god to get it to go away, people didn’t get rain, so they prayed to a rain god. Nowadays we understand both thunder and weather as an extremely complex system that can be predicted, and sometimes even altered. Human understanding has come all the way from fearing any noise outside our cave at night as a demon, to understanding subatomic particles, the vastness of the universe, complex biological systems and delved into the human psyche. The most wondrous things about human understanding and discovery are that it is non-judgmental, entirely in search of the truth, and expanding faster and faster every day. Just look at the things we have discovered in the past 100 years. Imagine what we will understand in the next 100. Gods originated as a way for humans to cope with things they did not understand, and while now we don’t understand everything, we have learned that through scientific process, open inquiry and non-judgmental exploration we can understand things we didn’t used to. The people 2000 or so years ago wrote the bible to let the world know how they understood things, nowadays we have so many more ways to understand the world, why not write a new book? (I mean this metaphorically)

Yeah, it’s a scary thing to let go of a lot of your beliefs, and explore a new thing openly, I went through it, but it’s such a more fulfilling life and search. I’m not even saying that a God doesn’t exist, simply saying an unknown exists, and that I plan to explore that unknown to get us closer to figuring out if some of it consists of a god, or if it doesn’t.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, from one of my favorite books Atlas Shrugged ( I enjoyed the book, but by no means follow all of it’s objectionist propositions.)

By suspending your judgement, you are negating your person. When a man declares: ‘Who am I to know?’ -he is declaring: ‘Who am I to live?’

(quotes are funny right? The author of this book has no more authority on living than I do, yet I find truth in much of what she says and decide to quote her)

Also I am glad we are able to have this discussion in such a respectable fashion and thank you for both your thoughtful responses and tolerance of my persistence.







So far I've got the last word in, but I will continue to add on any further discussion.

Love is all you need.

So I'm working on this manifesto right? I ramble and rant page after page about what I believe, why I believe it, why I don't believe other things and all that jazz. I get caught up in my ramblings, trying to think up clever allegories and metaphors, and other ways to explain abstract thoughts.

But I forget what's really important.

I look at all the belief systems out there, trying to make the world a better place. They battle and battle over which prophet is tip top, or how God would ideally have them beat their wives. Or the best way to ignore scientific findings. But they often forget what we need too. (this itself was not phrased in the most loving fashion)

Love, man. Love is all you need. Whatever your motivation for loving humanity, as long as it is an all accepting, pure love, is cool with me.

How many people have written this and expressed this over there years? (I am looking for a number here folks) If everything a human does is done with love in mind (there's some famous quote about this) then there is no reason for pretty much every bad thing in the world. I realize this is extremely idealistic, and most likely impossible to live in a world entirely based on loving the fellow man but I think we all need to take steps towards it.

Everybody, try to think about your actions, eliminate fear (past blog reference) and do more things in the name of loving life, your fellow man, and the planet we find ourselves upon. Whether you think you should love people because a god tells you or not, I think we can all agree that love is that answer.

It's hard folks. Try to live just one day where everything is done in the name of love. As for me, other people are going to be like, "why you being so nice man?" and I'm going to be all, "because if I'm nice other people will be nice" and they're going to be like, "cool."

Argue what is right and wrong,stand up for your beliefs, but do it in the name of love and progress of humanity.

To February, the bloggingest month in my career.

Last month was February. Good for it. I realized that I blogged more in February 2010 than I ever have in any other month, and that 2010 is on it's way to becoming the bloggingest year I've ever had.

New things.
-I seem to have hurt my foot. I don't know how, but it aches slightly and I haven't been able to run. PHOOEY
-I have developed a love of pancakes which I never had before
-The weather has been beautiful and the Cherry Blossoms are a bloomin'
-I want you all to know that Mr. Zurkon does not come in peace.
-I've started writing a manifesto.
-I have made a new rule not to drink with Asian Chicks (foreign born) -sounds racist, but it's never turned out well for me

I had this sweet dream where my friend Neil and I got to eat lunch with Obama, and he liked to dance around, was super chill, and gave Neil and I a gun to protect him, then after lunch (we had burgers) he let Neil and I keep the gun and we were super psyched.

I also had this gnarly dream where I was ultimate post-apocalyptic badass traversing through the yukon wilderness fighting bears and head-hunters on my way to Alaska, which had just had a second gold rush, which left the town like an old west wannabe, but with bears and criminals and wildlife in the town. I made my epic journey, arrived, and traversed around the town all while hiding from the authorities, and sneaking in and out of this dilapidated arctic village. I went into a tobacco store/bar to get a drink and was in line and started talking to this cute girl, she asked if I was getting some cigarettes and I said no I don't smoke, and she said "OH GOOD, that's disgusting" and we flirted, then she left, then I chased her out, and saw that she was smoking and was like YOU LIE then I bummed a cigarette off of her and we arranged a date. I went back to the bar elated, then woke up. COOL.