December 7th, 2008 Next week starts exam week! I only really have one exam for Music History and then my guitar Jury, as well as finishing some little pesky work for other classes. I am excited about having a break this december. I decided not to work at Applebee's over the break so I could actually take some time off. In other news, I am going to start taking on more hours with Fellowship Raleigh next semester. I am excited about this as well and ready for more work. It's hard to consider it work soemtimes when I enjoy what I am doing and am doing it for the work of God's kingdom in the first place. Church has been going well, leading worship is definitely something I love and enjoy doing! My church also is going to be getting a new office space on the second floor of Helios coffee shop in downtown. That will be neat. Well, I must get back to practicing my B melodic minor scale and Recuerdos de la Allahambra (probably spelled that wrong), on guitar. Will try and post more later! December 8th, 2008 Earlier last month I posted a Sociology online assignment for one of my classes dealing with religion. Here is the rest of it: 2) Social differentiation argues that other organizations outside the church are taking care of some of the roles the church plays such as learning and teaching, caring for the needy, sick, etc. I would agree that due to the rapid increase in spread of knowledge and resources due to the internet and other social factors, that it has become more accessible for people outside the church to help the community in areas that used to be the sole responsibility of the church. This can be seen in organizations such as the Red Cross and the Peace Corps. Societalization can be seen on the back of a quarter, “In God We Trust”, or even at a college graduation where an opening prayer is given. Rationalization is ridiculous. It is attempting and set out to rationalize the ideologies and theology given in the Bible by using local interpretation and empirical evidence. In the powerpoint, “religiosity decreases as education increases” is given as a form of evidence. How can this statement be proven? 3) According to the Wikibook section on Church sect-typology, the church that I attended for approximately 10 years of my life, Providence Baptist Church, meets the qualifications for a “church,” while also existing in the upward hierarchal categorization of “denomination.” In understanding the theological and societal factors that make up a Conservative Evangelical Protestant church such as Providence Baptist, in accordance with the specifications of “church,” as stated by church sect-typology, Providence is Exclusivist in Soteriology and believes in conscious eternal torment in hell for all who do not repent and believe in Christ. As for the classification in church sect-typology, Providence is also associated with a denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, while maintaining its status as a “church” since it is autonomous in government from the SBC “denomination.” 4) From a sociological perspective, the five theories presented in Wikibook can be useful in understanding religion for the sole purpose of sociological data. However, deciding whether a theory of religion is “useful,” leads to the subsequent decision to whether religion is useful at all. Furthermore, deciding whether religion is useful or not is dependent upon multiple possible presuppositions; and all of the theories are based heavily upon the ideologies spawned from the philosophical school Pragmatism. Thence, all of the theories disregard the metaphysical and the phenomenal for only the physical and numinal. The aforementioned being said, as a believing Christian I find all the theories to be inadequate for my use due to a conflicting worldview. From my perspective, all of the theories are anthropocentric, which is in direct conflict with historic Orthodox Christian theology and doctrine. Ultimately, according to my beliefs, the sole purpose of everything that has been created, and the ultimate purpose of all that God has wrought is for the Glory of God. Since this is a part of my presuppositional apologetic, all of these theories are lacking because of their inability to handle metaphysical questions. Finally, as I also hold to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, I believe that the Bible is completely sufficient, meaning that it is the final authority for Christian doctrine and all areas of life. 5) I would tend to say that “religiosity” can be both strengthened and weakened through a college experience. I believe that our lives are deeply shaped and even transformed during the college years, and it can set a course for the rest of our lives. Our minds are the most open and apt to a true understanding. We are at college to learn and gain degrees, so we are already in the “open-mind” mentality. However, due to a lack of true biblical teaching, I think students will hear incorrect ideas about certain faiths and develop a wrong understanding of the pillars of a certain religion. They will then be misinformed, but feel as if they have gotten a better grasp on “religiosity”. For example, I am a regular attendee at the BSU (Baptist Student Union) in which I am exposed to videos showing a 90 year old Elouise who is promoting overseas missions; a great concept that gets completely distorted by painting her as a young hip “down with the culture” figure. The speakers that are given rights to speak have been weak in their use of the Word and presented horrible cases for their points. For me, I have not learned much on Tuesday night events. Others may have “learned more” and “increased” in their “religiosity”, but I beg to differ. December 10th, 2008 HAHA. I just got back my respone(s) fromt he assignment 13 I posted a few days ago from my teacher. Here is what I got back: 2) -2 You may personally see rationalization of religious ideologies and theology as ridiculous but sociologists use this concept to assess changes in the relationship between religion and society. Both level of religiosity and educational level are measurable so this is a matter of measuring both variables and statistically analyzing the relationship between the variables. 3) Good work. 4) -3 Articulate narrative but you are rejecting the scientific validity of sociological analysis of religion. You asserted your beliefs and that's fine but we agreed at the beginning of the course that even when sociological analysis is uncomfortable, we would engage in it. After all, that is the content of this course. You obviously studied the theories so I will grant you 50% credit for your answer. 5) Excellent analysis. 6) Posting to Discussion Forum: Thoughtful analysis. 6) -1 Response to Another Posting: Sociologically (and scientifically) speaking, there is no absolute truth. However, you're right when you assert that a religious belief system has to distinguish itself from other belief systems. Your comment about Mr. Obama needs clarification. I think most Christians would agree that he at least behaves in a Christian fashion. For example, he is married, takes responsibility for his children and is faithful to his wife. Bwhahaha. Right. December 11th, 2008 New website design is up and running. No new content really, just different design and layout. I also finished my guitar jury(performance/hearing) today as well as my finals. So I am officially going home on break this thursday. Awesome! December 13th, 2008 I am back home in Raleigh for the month of December, and then I have one more semester of school until I graduate in May 09. I am real excited. Today was commencement/graduation for those who graduated in the spring semester, and I had to play Pomp and Circumstance about 19 times in a row. Next time I hear that song I will be walking across stage getting my diploma. Honestly, I might graduate absentia and not have to talk like a good friend of mine did. It makes a lot of sense and I hate the ceremonial part of graduating anyways. I updated photography and designs on the website. Everyone should check out www.bookmooch.com. It is an awesome site that Mike Graham showed me, I already have 1.7 points and a bunch on my wishlist. December 22nd, 2008 Chris Tomlin is touring with Israel Houghton and New Breed. WHY? I don't understand why. It is so hard these days to find praise and worship leaders who stick to the truth and practice it without wavering. Chris Tomlin has written a lot of good contemporary songs. I personally love hymns, but he has done a good job at implementing new lyrics with new tunes to create some good praise and worship songs (not all of them). But Israel Houghton is the praise and worship leader for Joel Osteen's garbage church. New Breed plays on the same stage as Alicia Keys and at MTV events. Ridiculous... December 25th, 2008 Merry Christmas! I haven't written a "rant" in a while via this journal. So here it goes... I am sick of christmas being taken lightly, taken as some schmeezy holiday that is about Santa Clause and his reindeer. I actually saw a "santa tracker" on TV the other day for kids to watch... how ridiculous! I will never try to convice my kids into believing there is a fat man that hands out presents to people on christmas eve that lives at the north pole. Also, I know the concept of gift giving and receiving is not sinful and wrong in itself and is merely a tradition and can be a very enjoyable time to spend with family, etc... but some people take it WAY TOO FAR. The media these days tries to sell you anything and everything they can.. it's all about the dollar! But Christmas is NOT ABOUT MONEY. I am sick of seeing it everywhere.. billboards, tv screens, radio, store advertisements, the list goes on. You hear it all the time to "remember the reason for the season"... but do people actually realize and know and love the reason? Jesus Christ came to this earth and was born in a manger, a very humble birth for the Savior of the world don't you think? The most important person, most important birth, in history.. and we belittle it with songs about Rudolph and chesnuts roasting on an open fire. My favorite christmas songs are Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful, and O Come O Come Emmauel, and Joy to the World. Interesting fact: The christmas carol, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" was originally used in the 15th century for the funeral hymn of French Franciscan nuns. That has nothing to do with my arguement, I just thought it was interesting. But those hymns are so theologically rich and truly carve out the true meaning of Christmas for us to see clearly as we boldly should proclaim them when we sing. Christ is risen today, dear Christian! Rejoice in that! Rejoice in Christ alone. December 26th, 2008 I have had tons of time to spend with family the last few days on my mom's side, and next week I get to spend time with my dad's side of the family. I got a digital piano from my parents (they paid half) and I loved it, but anything past half gain/volume and the sides of the speakers rattled almost the entire keyboard. So... I returned it and bought a cheaper on online and saved a few pennies in the process. Oh well, it will still be fun to use a weighted-88-slim-key-whatever piano on sunday mornings hopefully. I have been playing tons of disc golf recently. It is quite the addicting game. I've even got my little brother Scott and my friend Eric and his friends playing as well. Mike Graham is preaching this sunday at church. It should be pretty good, I am pretty excited about it even though it will be a smaller than usual Sunday more than likely. I am playing all by myself up on stage. So if any of you feel like networking with me and helping to find musicians to come alongside Fellowship Raleigh and help out with music, let me know! Anyway, I have been in the long process of re-doing and updating my chord/lead sheets for my P/W book. So far I've gone through most of them and reformatted and proof-texted and added copyrights, etc. It is a long process, but it will help and be a blessing in the long run I hope. I also bought a Fishman Aura dreadnought acoustic imaging pedal along with a boss volume pedal on musiciansfriend.com so I will have to redo my pedal board pretty soon! Thats all for now.. December 27th, 2008 I'm in sort of a contemplative mood tonight. The past few days I feel like a lot has happened even though essentially nothing major has occured. I watched some special on TV tonight and later found this article to post it here. I normally don't post links, but I will anyways. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-31-indiana-mistaken-identity_x.htm The story is very tragic and joyful and just very moving in general. It really proves that you should not and cannot cling to anything in this world and must rest your trust and your hope and your joy in Christ alone. We need to cherish the time we have here on earth with the ones we love knowing that it all can be gone in an instant. I think we tend to take people for granted. I don't want to get all sappy, but it is true. I know that one day I will die and spend eternity in Heaven with my creator, and that is far better than anything than this Earth can give to me. Sometimes the Lord will give and the Lord will take away. Stories like this one help me realize how short our lives here can be, and to appreciate the time that we are given. Also, here is a link to the families blog, also very moving. http://whitneycerak.blogspot.com. “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement...” Philemon 1:4-7 NIV