Alright, anyone who has not seen Batman Begins MUST! I personally believe it was the best Batman movie hands down! Not only did Christian Bale portray the best Bruce Wayne AND the best Batman, this movie blew Tim Burton's movies out of the water! It was much darker and lost the "comic-feel" which made the movie seem more realistic. The way they explained how Bruce Wayne had all his gadgets and how they worked almost made it seem like "Batman" the persona could actually happen. I mean, they even explained how the cape benefited him by allowing him to fly. It wasn't just a meaningless decoration of the usual comic hero, but it served a very helpful purpose. And above all else, it dived much deeper into Bruce's psychological profile giving a huge emphasis on his character development (which is also supported by the fact that he doesn't get into the Batman suit until about half-way through the movie).
This movie stuck closer to the original storyline than the originals as well. A viewer will get to see Batman's torment and his struggles with his fears and hatred and how this gave birth to his desire for justice. And what is more cool, you can see how he learned how to fight and the strenuous training he went through. All I hope is that they re-do the other ones or if not that, then they should simply make more.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Friday, June 17, 2005
Poetry and stuff
These poems are ones that I wrote a little over a year ago. They fail horribly in comparison to my cousin Jamie (you've seriously got to read her work), but here's some poetry for a little entertainment.
________________________________________
Concerned for One More
A mindless monster,
A vase with no flower,
Only petals and scratches left
The nothing inside is too much
Constant friction, persistent
CANT hold on…
Hate, UNBEARABLE!!
Chest constricting too much
Only if lungs would just breathe
I need my sanctuary!
I need my haven!
I don’t need an asylum…
I don’t need a dungeon…
Beautiful eyes, weighing heavily upon
Back soar from shame,
Only ghastly, concealed secrets
Concerned for one more chance,
Bleeding for Your blood,
All that matters, sweet consummation
Give me my Avalon,
Oh sweet, eternal rest and peace…
_________________________________________________
DIVINE
I love the way you dance,
Standing on my feet;
the way your hair falls upon your shoulders
I am calm in the rhythm
of your heart,
Forever at home in your arms
Chorus:
I want to swim in the
warmth of your smile.
I want to be wrapped in the
blanket of your laughs;
Eternally held by the beauty
of your eyes
I remember the way you cry,
how the tears fell down your cheeks;
the gentle quiver of your lips.
The sweetness of your hair still
lingers in my heart.
Every moment accounted,
all hopes held tight
Chorus
Bless me with your presence
once more.
Rapture me in the grace of a kiss.
I am here, divine angel;
sweetly waiting for your embrace,
My soul is well,
in this trembling bliss
Chorus
___________________________________________
That's all for the poems for now. The "stuff" part is me just whining a bit. I MISS Rebecca! Its one thing not to see her, but quite another to barely talk to her once a week. I ache to hear her voice again. :( :(
Okay, Okay, I'm done. LOL. So how was your day?
________________________________________
Concerned for One More
A mindless monster,
A vase with no flower,
Only petals and scratches left
The nothing inside is too much
Constant friction, persistent
CANT hold on…
Hate, UNBEARABLE!!
Chest constricting too much
Only if lungs would just breathe
I need my sanctuary!
I need my haven!
I don’t need an asylum…
I don’t need a dungeon…
Beautiful eyes, weighing heavily upon
Back soar from shame,
Only ghastly, concealed secrets
Concerned for one more chance,
Bleeding for Your blood,
All that matters, sweet consummation
Give me my Avalon,
Oh sweet, eternal rest and peace…
_________________________________________________
DIVINE
I love the way you dance,
Standing on my feet;
the way your hair falls upon your shoulders
I am calm in the rhythm
of your heart,
Forever at home in your arms
Chorus:
I want to swim in the
warmth of your smile.
I want to be wrapped in the
blanket of your laughs;
Eternally held by the beauty
of your eyes
I remember the way you cry,
how the tears fell down your cheeks;
the gentle quiver of your lips.
The sweetness of your hair still
lingers in my heart.
Every moment accounted,
all hopes held tight
Chorus
Bless me with your presence
once more.
Rapture me in the grace of a kiss.
I am here, divine angel;
sweetly waiting for your embrace,
My soul is well,
in this trembling bliss
Chorus
___________________________________________
That's all for the poems for now. The "stuff" part is me just whining a bit. I MISS Rebecca! Its one thing not to see her, but quite another to barely talk to her once a week. I ache to hear her voice again. :( :(
Okay, Okay, I'm done. LOL. So how was your day?
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Whats the diff?!
Okay, what I'm about to ask may seem odd. Since I'd rather simply get to the point, lets ignore how, why, or when I thought of this question.
Lets just say a girl goes over to a guys house and they walk into his room. There is a pile of his freshly clean underwear on his bed. From what I noticed of other guys (no doubt, including myself), I don't really care if she sees a pile of my underwear...just as long as they are clean.
On the other hand, if the guy walks into the girls room and her underwear is in a pile on her bed, its a TOTALLY different story. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that I want to look at their underwear. I seriously don't care. I'M NOT GOING TO WEAR IT!! Underwear by itself is simply that: underwear.
I've always found it odd because I've always noticed that, but never actually thought why. Although I do fear that I might be missing an obvious observation that makes me a complete moron for even asking such a lame question.
Why do women get uncomfortable and bothered when guys see their underwear lying around?
So, I'm just throwing that question out there. Feel free to state your opinion if you would like.
Lets just say a girl goes over to a guys house and they walk into his room. There is a pile of his freshly clean underwear on his bed. From what I noticed of other guys (no doubt, including myself), I don't really care if she sees a pile of my underwear...just as long as they are clean.
On the other hand, if the guy walks into the girls room and her underwear is in a pile on her bed, its a TOTALLY different story. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that I want to look at their underwear. I seriously don't care. I'M NOT GOING TO WEAR IT!! Underwear by itself is simply that: underwear.
I've always found it odd because I've always noticed that, but never actually thought why. Although I do fear that I might be missing an obvious observation that makes me a complete moron for even asking such a lame question.
Why do women get uncomfortable and bothered when guys see their underwear lying around?
So, I'm just throwing that question out there. Feel free to state your opinion if you would like.
Cool Quotes
"Evil thinks not to beguile us by unveiling truth of its festering intent, but comes instead, disguised in the diaphanous robes of virtue, whispering sweet-sounding lies intended to seduce us into the dark bed of our eternal graves."
~Koloblicin
"Do not doubt in the night what you learned in the light."
~Unknown
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checked by failure, then to rank with those poor spirits who neither suffer nor enjoy much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
~Theodore Roosevelt
~Koloblicin
"Do not doubt in the night what you learned in the light."
~Unknown
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checked by failure, then to rank with those poor spirits who neither suffer nor enjoy much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
~Theodore Roosevelt
Friday, June 10, 2005
Concept of Hell
For the past year I have been having conflicting thoughts on the traditional view of Hell. First, if anyone does not know the definition of the traditional view, let me sum it up. Basically, it refers to the idea that all who do not receive Christ but reject Him instead, will "burn" for "all eternity" in the most extreme tortured state.
Throw in how I was raised, along with the "seemingly" supportive scriptures that back it up (more from the exteme conservative interpretation), and top it off with not truly comprehending the extremity of what eternal torture entails, and you got how I always accepted it as gospel truth.
But now things have changed.
This change has not been caused by any personal experience of my own, but it began to pop up in my mind while pondering intensely on the subject. Considering I do not wish this blog to be a few dozen pages long, I will skip the exhaustive study of scripture by each individual verse. Instead, I will simply mention certain well known universal truths about the character of God and see how it fits in with the traditional view of Hell.
God is characterized as being all-loving (note: this does not mean he tolerates sin and will excuse any wrong because "He is sooo loving". Even a mother will punish their children accordingly for what they do wrong. If they don't, their love is one that is not considerate of making their child into a mature person. Rather the child will end up being spoiled and selfish. Love is not a doormat. Sometimes, love must be tough and strict. A parent's love for their child is represented by disciplining them when they make mistakes so they hopefully won't do it again), God is also merciful, is a God of Justice and is also designated a God of wrath. Notice that I only mentioned four of what might be thousands of attributes of God. These particular four, I believe, are the main interactive features that are involved with the idea of hell. In fact, lets throw in God as Father.
What I want to know, is how can a merciful, loving God, in whom people call out to as Father, send people to hell to burn for ALL ETERNITY?! This does not make sense. In many ways, it seems a contradiction. I do believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven. I firmly believe this full-heartedly. But how can the one true God send someone to eternal torture forever and ever over a finite decision? For the record, let me say that I believe all who are aware of Christ and reject Him will not make it into Heaven (one can look at this as being really harsh, or instead they can interpret this as showing the disgusting reality of sin and how the power of its evil nature has divided us from God severely). But should the flip side of that decision be eternal torture? I mean, lets just think about that for one second. ETERNAL: meaning an ever lasting state where there is no end, and TORTURE: excruciating pain that excels any concept of natural agony. Its like a father who takes his son and casts a spell over him so his body can still feel pain, but won't wither away. He then throws him in a pit of fire that burns as hot as the sun. This son screams in extreme torment as he feels his body peel away, his hair turn to ash, and skin melt due to the extreme heat. Every second it seems like his body is exploding in a thousand pieces. His eyes are ablaze and oozing out of his sockets, but yet he is still conscious and can see with them. Although, none of this is actually happening to his body (yet it will feel like its actually happening), because his body is eternal. Nevertheless, he feel this heinous agony for ever and ever and ever and will never perish. HOW SICK IS THIS?!! Can this be justice???
People say that God is seen as a God of Wrath and an example of this is when He destroyed hundreds of Israelites by flame. Okay, yes, this is true (note again that God doing that does not show that God is evil, but rather how BAD sin is), but take note that once He consumed them with fire...they died. Done. Over with. No more. No pain. Nothing. Zilch!! IT ENDED!!!
I realize that sin is horrible and that it has set us apart from God. But should the justice being dealt be eternal torment? Lets face it, who in the history of the world deserves this atrocity (the only entities that I could think deserve this would be Satan and his demons)? Would Hitler, perhaps the most evil man in history, deserve "ETERNAL" torture? Sure, I believe he deserves some extremely SEVERE punishment, but what about the punishment I have been discussing?
There is a view called the "Annihilationist view" that says the condemned only suffer for certain alotted time...then they perish. This view has some strong scripture to support it, but it still fails miserably. For even a few million years of this barbaric torture still seems to take away any concept of God's mercy, justice and love for his "precious children" as He calls us.
I do not have an alternative at this point. In fact, I don't know where I stand at all. Everything is all still formulating and these thoughts that I wrote down are still only a "few" of what I have been pondering.
In conclusion, I believe passionately that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord in the end. We will ALL give account of our wrongs to the one true eternal God, Yahweh, amen. We cannot hide from the truth, for regardless if we do not believe in God, He believes in us. But where does God's justice stop? Where does His mercy end when judgment must be passed? Does justice preclude barbaric acts of cruelty for eternity everlasting?
On a last note, I am not deconstructing this traditional view on the basis that it makes me "uncomfortable". So many people today hear only what they want to hear. They only accept what makes everything seem so nice and wonderful, so pretty where we all float around like a bunch of fairies and dance the night away. Jesus warned us against this by saying that people "hear what their itching ears wish to hear". Then we get things like "well EVERYBODY is right!" or "what matters is as long as they are happy". The prisoners in the "Allegory of the Cave" were happy at looking at shadows, but that doesn't change the fact that they were chained to a wall and were stuck in a damp dark cave. I do not pursue this new line of thought based on what "sounds nice". I just see something very VERY wrong with what Hell represents and how it conflicts with the God I have loved, worshipped, and experienced in my life. I do not wish to worship a God who allows others to be tortured for all eternity. This isn't the God of the Bible. I understand that truth can be painful, uncomfortable, and sometimes...it does divide. But truth does set us free (just like the one individual in the Allegory of the Cave. He saw the truth and found the freedom he thought never existed). I wish only to discover the truth about hell that, at this point, seems to contradict the Almighty God.
That is all for now.
Throw in how I was raised, along with the "seemingly" supportive scriptures that back it up (more from the exteme conservative interpretation), and top it off with not truly comprehending the extremity of what eternal torture entails, and you got how I always accepted it as gospel truth.
But now things have changed.
This change has not been caused by any personal experience of my own, but it began to pop up in my mind while pondering intensely on the subject. Considering I do not wish this blog to be a few dozen pages long, I will skip the exhaustive study of scripture by each individual verse. Instead, I will simply mention certain well known universal truths about the character of God and see how it fits in with the traditional view of Hell.
God is characterized as being all-loving (note: this does not mean he tolerates sin and will excuse any wrong because "He is sooo loving". Even a mother will punish their children accordingly for what they do wrong. If they don't, their love is one that is not considerate of making their child into a mature person. Rather the child will end up being spoiled and selfish. Love is not a doormat. Sometimes, love must be tough and strict. A parent's love for their child is represented by disciplining them when they make mistakes so they hopefully won't do it again), God is also merciful, is a God of Justice and is also designated a God of wrath. Notice that I only mentioned four of what might be thousands of attributes of God. These particular four, I believe, are the main interactive features that are involved with the idea of hell. In fact, lets throw in God as Father.
What I want to know, is how can a merciful, loving God, in whom people call out to as Father, send people to hell to burn for ALL ETERNITY?! This does not make sense. In many ways, it seems a contradiction. I do believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven. I firmly believe this full-heartedly. But how can the one true God send someone to eternal torture forever and ever over a finite decision? For the record, let me say that I believe all who are aware of Christ and reject Him will not make it into Heaven (one can look at this as being really harsh, or instead they can interpret this as showing the disgusting reality of sin and how the power of its evil nature has divided us from God severely). But should the flip side of that decision be eternal torture? I mean, lets just think about that for one second. ETERNAL: meaning an ever lasting state where there is no end, and TORTURE: excruciating pain that excels any concept of natural agony. Its like a father who takes his son and casts a spell over him so his body can still feel pain, but won't wither away. He then throws him in a pit of fire that burns as hot as the sun. This son screams in extreme torment as he feels his body peel away, his hair turn to ash, and skin melt due to the extreme heat. Every second it seems like his body is exploding in a thousand pieces. His eyes are ablaze and oozing out of his sockets, but yet he is still conscious and can see with them. Although, none of this is actually happening to his body (yet it will feel like its actually happening), because his body is eternal. Nevertheless, he feel this heinous agony for ever and ever and ever and will never perish. HOW SICK IS THIS?!! Can this be justice???
People say that God is seen as a God of Wrath and an example of this is when He destroyed hundreds of Israelites by flame. Okay, yes, this is true (note again that God doing that does not show that God is evil, but rather how BAD sin is), but take note that once He consumed them with fire...they died. Done. Over with. No more. No pain. Nothing. Zilch!! IT ENDED!!!
I realize that sin is horrible and that it has set us apart from God. But should the justice being dealt be eternal torment? Lets face it, who in the history of the world deserves this atrocity (the only entities that I could think deserve this would be Satan and his demons)? Would Hitler, perhaps the most evil man in history, deserve "ETERNAL" torture? Sure, I believe he deserves some extremely SEVERE punishment, but what about the punishment I have been discussing?
There is a view called the "Annihilationist view" that says the condemned only suffer for certain alotted time...then they perish. This view has some strong scripture to support it, but it still fails miserably. For even a few million years of this barbaric torture still seems to take away any concept of God's mercy, justice and love for his "precious children" as He calls us.
I do not have an alternative at this point. In fact, I don't know where I stand at all. Everything is all still formulating and these thoughts that I wrote down are still only a "few" of what I have been pondering.
In conclusion, I believe passionately that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord in the end. We will ALL give account of our wrongs to the one true eternal God, Yahweh, amen. We cannot hide from the truth, for regardless if we do not believe in God, He believes in us. But where does God's justice stop? Where does His mercy end when judgment must be passed? Does justice preclude barbaric acts of cruelty for eternity everlasting?
On a last note, I am not deconstructing this traditional view on the basis that it makes me "uncomfortable". So many people today hear only what they want to hear. They only accept what makes everything seem so nice and wonderful, so pretty where we all float around like a bunch of fairies and dance the night away. Jesus warned us against this by saying that people "hear what their itching ears wish to hear". Then we get things like "well EVERYBODY is right!" or "what matters is as long as they are happy". The prisoners in the "Allegory of the Cave" were happy at looking at shadows, but that doesn't change the fact that they were chained to a wall and were stuck in a damp dark cave. I do not pursue this new line of thought based on what "sounds nice". I just see something very VERY wrong with what Hell represents and how it conflicts with the God I have loved, worshipped, and experienced in my life. I do not wish to worship a God who allows others to be tortured for all eternity. This isn't the God of the Bible. I understand that truth can be painful, uncomfortable, and sometimes...it does divide. But truth does set us free (just like the one individual in the Allegory of the Cave. He saw the truth and found the freedom he thought never existed). I wish only to discover the truth about hell that, at this point, seems to contradict the Almighty God.
That is all for now.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
YAY
Yes, I'm finally back. I badly need to get in the habit of posting on this blog again. I will just blame it on school. As for any tiny updates for this brief blog, lets just say that summer work is starting this upcoming Monday. My girlfriend is on a choir ministry tour for 8 more weeks :( And yes, I miss her very much. I saw Star Wars episode III and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I must say that THE MATRIX RULES ALL!!! Haha! TAke that Jamie! Anyways, I'm reading Blue Like Jazz which is "nonreligious thoughts on Christianity" and I am starting Chainfire. And I'm also planning on starting a research paper (purely for my own purposes apart form school) on the concept of Hell. Considering at this point I am struggling with what exactly I believe about what it is trully like, I figured I would do an exhaustive study on the subject. Perhaps my next blog will spill some of my thoughts on Hell. That is all for now! Jamie, Toby, I love you guys! And Rebecca, I know you won't see this for at least another two months, but I just want to say that I love you and I pray that you are having an amazing time. TOOTLES!!!
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