Free to Choose

In a corporate world where some companies are "too big to fail", mistrust of both the government and big business is at an all time high. The American people are fed up with sleezy corporations who aren't punished for putting America into this financial crisis, CEOs who take government money and yet reward themselves with huge salaries while ordinary hard working Americans struggle to make ends meet. Unfortunately the market catches a lot of flack for unchecked greed. In this article John Stossel outlines why the market shouldn't be blamed for peoples problems, and does a fairly decent job of showing how the market has made America great, and why defense of true market principles is necessary if we are to maintain our position in the world. Here's an excerpt:

"The free market enables people... to trade with whomever they want; to buy in the cheapest market around the world; to sell in the dearest. .. (B)ut most important of all: If they fail, they bear the cost."

You can find the rest of the article here

Evangelicals: A lack of solemnity

"Northwestern College endeavors to provide education that is grounded in the truth of the Bible and in God as the Ultimate Reality. Through the Word of God and a relationship with Christ, knowledge can be interpreted. The Bible and theology is the foundation upon which all other disciplines rest. When the truths of an academic discipline conflict with the truth of God's Word, we put our trust in God's revealed truth in the Bible."

If the above paragraph made you fall asleep or want to put a pencil through your eye socket, you're not alone. Last Friday, Northwestern college had their annual academic convocation. This is the ceremony where the incoming freshman class is inducted into the institution and given the opportunity to commit to academic integrity, pursuit of excellence, and an understanding of the origins and foundation upon which their academic school year will be grounded in. I look forward to this ceremony every year. I love seeing all the faculty in their academic regalia, knowing that my institution is committing itself to another year of teaching grounded in truths that stand the test of time. Sadly, I am in the minority on my campus of "higher learning" Apparently this ceremony is to boring for students to sit through. I have heard comments over the years ranging from, "[the convocation] provides a great opportunity to nap," to "they need to spice it up, like make the teachers do a dance or something!" Now I could chalk reactions like these up to the notion that students have always acted like this toward any formal ceremony. But I wouldn't be the annoying historian if I didn't search for a deeper more historical reason behind such reactions.

I believe the answer lies in the reformation. Since the reformation denominations have opposed most forms of ritualism and ceremony, and for good reason. When Luther posted the 95 theses, on that fateful day of October 31, 1517, the Catholic church was filled with corruption, due in a large part to rituals that took the place of true genuine worship and a heartfelt faith. But I must put forward this claim. I believe the pendulum has now shifted. We as Evangelicals, the heirs of Luther's legacy, have become so engrossed with anti - ritualism, that we can't participate in one without crying afoul. Ever since the reformation, Evangelicals have wanted as little to do with rituals and ceremonies as possible. And now, more than 500 years later, it's gone to far. If this problem were limited to anti - catholic forms of worship, than the damage could be controlled. Unfortunately this antagonism has permeated to every form institutionalism, traditionalism, and ceremony in existence. When a Christian doesn't want to partake in something because it's to old fashioned, its outdated, its not fun and lighthearted, there is something wrong. We need to stop rejecting the legacy of our fathers and see that there is a middle ground. You don't have to be completely ritual or completely free and emotive. You can choose to recognize rituals and ceremonies for what they are, a way of remembering the past and traditions that great men and women of the faith used to express devotion to their creator.

A month?

I just realized it has been one month since I last blogged. I don't even know if anybody reads this blog, and with my lack of attention to it, who can blame them? But I'm back, I am going to make it my goal to blog at least a couple times per week. Now that I started school, that should be easy right? After all, the goal of this blog is to chronicle the journey of my education.

So what have I been doing this past month? Well I started school exactly one week ago. I have a feeling some of my classes are going to provide some interesting blog posts. In fact I have one or two coming to fruition as we speak. I am talking a course in Christian Thought. It's basically a philosophy course in dealing with deep spiritual matters in the life of a Christian. It seems to be an excellent class and I'm really looking forward to it. I am also taking an American History course dealing specifically with the period right after WWII up to the present. I'm normally not interested in this era, but the class seems to be fascinating. I have two more history courses, one a class on the Ancient Near Eastern cultures, Mesopotamians, Sumerians, and Hittites. This class will probably be a challenge for me, as I am not really interested in Ancient history. But there is something to be learned from every teacher and every subject, so I will give it my best shot. The other class is my History Seminar class. I have to write a 25 page research paper on any topic I chose. Should be fun :)

Another development in my social networking life, I created a TWITTER account. I never thought that day would come, but its proved very beneficial. I'm able to follow people and receive updates on articles that they have written, or found worth mentioning. I admit there is a non - academic side to it as well, there are just some very entertaining people with twitter accounts that I get a kick out of following.

As for job prospects, yesterday I went in for an interview at Target in Roseville and they offered me a job :) I'm actually kind of excited to start working there. Pending an acceptable drug test result, I start on tuesday the 7th. I don't forsee any problems :) Speaking of the 7th, I'm extremely excited for a new game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise to be released for PSP (which I don't own of course). Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is finally coming to the states. As soon as my friend Randy buys it and beats it, he promised to lend me his copy so I can partake in the wonder that is Kingdom Hearts.

Just a preview of whats to come:

Evangelicals: A lack of solemnity

Worldviews

A review of Francis Chan's Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit

An article on the enumerated powers of congress, with special attention to the Federalist Papers

Americans and Racism

The "Ground Zero" Mosque Controversy

And many more...

Stay tuned!!!! I promise to write more :)