On a lighter note... Celebrity Lookalikes

I found out today that I resemble some very attractive male celebrities, although you couldn't tell by looking at me!

Make sure that you go get yours. It's too funny. Hehehehe.

Open Letter to the Anonymous Comment-leaver

Dear Anonymous Comment-Leaver,
As you may be aware, I already know who you are.
If you have a problem with me, you know where to contact me. I think it is highly inappropriate to confront my supposed sin in a public forum without any regard for privacy or for your own responsibility for your actions. I fail to see how my sins are worse than your apparent love for rudeness and gossip. Since I know you have no firsthand knowledge of the current moral state of my life, I can only assume you think you have some 'inside information' on my goings-on. I think you have been grossly misinformed. And the fact that you chose to "confront" me publicly on my blog rather than confront me personally, shows that you're not at all concerned with my personal holiness, my witness, the kids to whom I minister, or my family. Your concern is only to share your juicy bit of gossip, apparently with anyone who will listen.
If you were really concerned about my lifestyle, you would take the time to contact me personally, rather than share it in this form, anonymously.

Sin is sin, and gossip is no exception, so I will no longer allow anonymous comments on my blog, constructive or otherwise.

Beyond that, I don't know why you chose to single out the particular sins you singled out: drinking and cussing. For the majority of Christians currently and throughout church history alcohol has been a matter of conscience. It takes a very naive view of church history to think that the current mores of American Fundamentalism constitute what is and isn't sin. As far as cussing, you're right, and I repent here publicly, although I rarely sin in this way publicly.

Thank you for confronting what you considered to be sin. I only wish you had the integrity to confront it appropriately and in a way that wasn't itself sinful.

Forgive me, brother, if I have sinned against you in anyway, and may God forgive us both.

Eis mian hagian, katholiken kai apostoliken ekklesiao

[And I believe] in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
I'd imagine that all the Christian denominations/traditions today affirm the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, even if it is with some reservations.
The above statement appears in that ancient creed.
A lot of Christian groups are going around trying to help people "believe in the Bible" and encouraging people that they can "believe every word written there". I came across the "Creation Science Club" on campus at SEMO this week. They're there to help college students know that their belief in a literal six-day creation is consistent with the best science.
Also, this week in a discussion about Scripture and Tradition, a friend accused of replacing the Bible with the Church. I'm pretty sure that the Protestant Reformation replaced the Church with the Bible 500 years ago.

This creed, which was affirmed in council by Christian leaders and lay from all over the known world at the time, affirms belief in the Church. How did that that faith come to rest in the Scriptures, instead of the actual Body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

It is not wise to argue from the absence of any statement about the Holy Scriptures in the Creed. However, it should be noted that the Church is treated as an object of faith (eis) just the same as the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

What does this mean for us in our practice/understanding of the faith?

reply to an anonymous comment

a) I would prefer not to have anonymous comment potshots taken at me and my admittedly confusing life.
b) I'm not a youth pastor and I don't know what that part of the comment was meant to imply.
c) I am trying to be an example to my children. Not of perfection, but of being perfected. Yes, I make my fair share of mistakes (in fact, I make everyone's fair share of mistakes), but I own up to my mistakes when they are pointed out to me. Particularly when someone has the respect to tell me personally rather than leave an anonymous comment on my blog.


Please forgive me if I've offended you in any way.

Reformed

When I visited my home church over the weekend I was surprised to find out how "Reformed" this church has gotten. The John Piper video was a dead give away.
Anyways, in case people from my home church find their way to my blog, here is a helpful explanation of Orthodoxy written specifically to Anglicans, Lutherans, and Reformed Christians:
http://www.tserkovnost.org/reformation/index.html

Hopefully that will answer some of the questions of my Protestant friends.

Churchlands

This semester I am taking a dreaded class in the Philosophy department at SEMO: Mind, Meaning and Value. It is a course that explores current neuroscience which basically reduces all of our human-ness to brain activity, doing with away with any dualistic concept of some non-physical entity which drives the body and which could, possibly, survive death.
First of all, it should be stated that setting parameters that only observable (i.e. physical) evidence should be used would end in a thoroughly materialist conclusion. What else could they come up with? It is interesting, however, that contemporary physicists and astronomers can postuate the existence of undetectable objects, dark matter, and alternate universes without an apparent contradiction with the tenets of science.
Also, as I hear often that Orthodoxy is less dualist or even not dualist at all, I wonder how the Orthodox Church would view it if science reduced humanity to brain patterns, chemicals, and electric charges.
Any ideas? Please comment.

Eric, Wade and me at the reunion.

We all went to Gull Lake Bible Camp together the summer after our senior year. Sweet!

Almost every time I go to Michigan I have to visit Georgio's in East Lansing, which is the home of the best pizza in the world!

 

Michigan in August

This past weekend we made a trip to Michigan for my 10th class reunion. What a trip! First of all, it is just over nine hours of driving to get to my mom's house, so we drove almost a day to spend just a day and a half there. Oh well.
The reunion was lots of fun. One friend in particular was thrilled that my family and I are converting to Orthodoxy.
Another friend offered to put me on the prayer list at her church. Hehehe.
I'll post a few pictures fromt the reunion and trip soon.
Craziest reunion moment: a girl who I was fairly good friends with in high school, but lost touch with within a few years after high school walked up to me and said, "you look so familiar..." I stuck my hand out and said, "I'm Levi Hadley." She said, "Oh, no you're not!" and gave me a big hug. Man, see if I ever gain a 80 pounds in 10 years again. Gosh.
I spent a lot of the time at the reunion either drinking beer with Eric or explaining to my Protestant friends why I no longer consider myself Protestant. The offer to put me on the prayer list resulted from both, I believe. The funny thing is, she still goes to the church we grew up in.
So, if anyone from the reunion is checking in to see why the heck I am turning Eastern Orthodox, read it all. If you need some more info, I recommend checking out Our Life in Christ, which is an internet radio show which is done by two Protestant Evangelical converts to Orthodoxy and gives an apologetic for the things that we do in a non-confrontational kind of way.
I'll probably have to post some more this week as I think more about this weekend's trip.
Blessings.

Weekend

Did I mention that last weekend (7/22) Amy and I went to see one of the final performance of the National Company of Les Miserables? Now, I'm not exactly a big fan of the musicals. I get really distracted by the way they keep breaking into song. Couldn't we do something about that?
Anyways, the show was amazing. And almost as amazing was the Fox Theatre in St. Louis,
where we saw it. Unfortunately, they don't allow any pictures to be taken in the theatre. None at all. So, we didn't even get a picture of us all dressed up for the show. Unfortunate. We were stunning. Especially my wife.

So, this week was a long one of lots of hours spent at the package center.
Today we're taking the kids camping, hopefully at the state park about 25 minutes from here. This will be our first attempt at camping as a family. In fact, even though Amy and I both loved camping growing up, we haven't ever camped as a family. We bought some new camping gear yesterday- hopefully we will camp more now.

Israel-Lebanon Pt. 3

John, your comments have been well-thought out and genuinely challenging, so I thought I would copy and paste yesterday's in a post and respond to you line by line (or paragraph.)

Yes, Israel is attacking Lebanon, who has a military that is unwilling or unable to contain Hezbollah. Hezbollah initiated this recent round with the firing of rockets and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.
I understand why the war started. I understand that Hezbollah instigated it. However, if Israel is destroying the infrastructure in Lebanon, doesn't that lessen the Lebanese Army's ability to contain or disarm the Hezbollah militia? This makes absolutely no sense.

In war, innocent people suffer. If we used the logic that we have to make sure no innocent people get bombed or killed, Hitler would have won World War II. The nature of war is that innocent people will die.
Yes, in war innocent people die, which is why when war must be waged it must be contained within standards of decency to keep the number of civilian deaths to an absolute minimum.

The problem is Hezbollah blends into the local population - and the local population seems to let them. They are doing everything they can to win and they are using the local population as their shield.
There is no way that Hezbollah's blending into the local population is the local population's fault! How could they be blamed for submitting to Hezbollah for fear of their lives?

Israel has to get to them one way or another. So if you want to blame anyone, blame Hezbollah who has vowed the destruction of Israel.
Hezbollah may have vowed the destruction of Israel, but the damage to Lebanon is disproportionate to the amount of damage to Israel. Also, thanks to US military support, Israel definitely has the power to remove Lebanon from the planet. Hezbollah does not have comparable power.

I am definitely Zionist in my leanings. In essence I am not going to stand in the way of God's covenant with Israel and I take very seriously the word of God which was to Abraham, I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.
Yes, I understand biblical prophecy, and all that. I hope you're not one of those who sees letting Israel attack its neighbors as a way to bring about the end times.
The truth is, from the very first centuries of the Church, the Apostles and Fathers have seen the Church as the rightful children of Abraham. Children by faith and not by circumcision. In Lebanon there are many many Orthodox Christians who are being attacked in this current conflict, in fact an Orthodox Christian monastery was destroyed (perhaps their having a dome was their fault for looking like a mosque). Siding with Israel (God's people) in deliberately targeting innocent Lebanese Christians (God's people) or Muslims is a betrayal of the values which Christ expressed in His life and ministry.

Yes, nations have a right to defend themselves and their people against attacks. What concerns me is the western world's silence in the presence of what is obviously an overly aggressive display of force on Israel's part.
And, you're right, I don't know what Israel can do. They, of course, sustaining more damage from Hezbollah now than before the starting bombing Lebanon. And now they've ensured that Hezbollah will have no shortage of recruits for years to come. How does that acheive the goals of peaceful coexistence in the region?
But then, Israel's (and American Ziongelicals') goal isn't peaceful coexistence, is it? It's the eradication of all the Arab people within the boundaries of the Promised Land. And that's why the world should stand up and prevent the Israeli military from attacking Lebanon.

Statement by the Antiochians

Mind you, I attend an OCA parish, however the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America has published a statement on the current Israel-Lebanon war, which I can heartily agree with.

Appeal For Intervention In the Middle East

It is a worthy statement, even if it might overstate the number of Antiochian faithful in North America.

Lord, have mercy on us all.

Israel-Lebanon Pt. 2

In answer to a well-thought, if a bit extremist in his zionist leanings, comment from John Lunt:

Yes, God is the God of Israel. Sure, I'll give you that. However, many of the civilians being killed and maimed in Lebanon are Christians, those who have received the Jewish Messiah.
Any Covenant God has with Israel does not negate their responsibility to behave in the international arena in a way which recognizes standards of war and the Geneva Conventions.

Are we to assume that because God has a covenant with Israel guaranteeing them the whole of the majority of the Middle Eastern world, that we (the U.S. or Western Christians) should support them in military efforts against their neighbors?

Yes, Israel has endured a lot of terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. However, to decry the wrongness of those attacks and avenge through more attacks against innocent civilians is not only irrational, it undermines the moral highground the victim nation could be said to have had in the first place.

Israel's problem is not with the elected government or the civilians of Lebanon. It is with Hezbollah.

It's interesting that you used the example of "what if Canadians were shooting rockets into US cities? Wouldn't we retaliate?" Under the current administration, that's exactly what we'd do.
However, if we were to use the full force of our military (the world's largest) against the whole of Canada for the acts of a terrorist group, the world would be outraged and rightly so.

Israel, with one of the world's largest and most advanced militaries (thanks to the US) is currently attacking a nation whose military power totals to all of 35,000 infantry.
In the current conflict, 10 times as many Lebanese civilians have died as Israeli.

The fact is, the best definition of terrorism is any deliberate act of violence (state-sponsored or otherwise) against innocent civilian bystanders in or out of a time of war. If the aggressor nation was any but Israel, the western world would be outraged. Apparently, terrorism is acceptable when it is the tool of American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Forgive me. May God forgive us both.

Israel-Lebanon

Okay, so I'll admit. I'm pissed about Israel's attack of Lebanon in retribution for the actions of a terrorist group. Their argument is with Hezbollah, not the government of Lebanon and certainly not the innocent civilians of Lebanon.
Lord, have mercy.
Meanwhile, the American government is refusing to push for a ceasefire. How many civilians do the Israelis need to kill before a ceasefire is necessary? Is state-sponsored terrorism somehow justified in their 'war-on-terror' foreign relations agenda?
Here's a link to a site with pictures of the damage in Lebanon and a petition. Warning: these are real pictures of war. Some images will be disturbing.
God the Father of orphans and Caretaker of widows, protect these innocent ones from the acts of an aggressive nation, and the inattentiveness of an apathetic world.
Lord, have mercy.

War

I'm concerned with the current situation in Israel. I don't know about the prudence of attacking a nation in retaliation for the acts of a terrorist organization. Of course, I'm not in the position of making such important decisions.
May God protect the innocents in this current conflict. Lord, have mercy.

One month since my last post

Well, I have been a busy guy, and my blog has suffered for it.

What have I been doing? Let's see, I have gone to Young Life camp in Michigan, bought a car, started catechism at Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church and worked a lot at UPS.
Other than that, not a whole lot. I guess I've read some.

Timberwolf Lake was awesome. It was a little sad, as it was most likely my last ever YL camp trip, as this fall I will be too busy in the evenings to be involved in Young Life.

I had a great time. Our cabin of guys were some of the nicest and most open guys with whom I have ever shared a week of camp. Plus, it didn't hurt that the camp was in Michigan (my home state and the most beautiful in the 50).

We finally bought our new car. It's very nice. I'm glad we waited and waited and waited for it. (We borrowed someone's minivan for over a month!) Anyways, it's a fairly low mileage car, so it should be nice and dependable for the next few years.

Saturday we had our first meeting with Fr. Tom. It was great, and to top it off he is hilarious. I never heard more funny stories in all my life. It was especially funny to hear his stories from his days at St. Vlad's- his impersonation of Fr. Alexander Schmemann is really funny. All in all, Amy and I are excited to be moving forward in our journey to the true ancient Christian faith.

Work has been pretty good. It has rained a lot lately, so the mosquitoes are really bad at the center. I hope I don't get West Nile Virus or something worse. That would be bad.

Reading? Lately, I'm re-reading Fr. Alexander Schmemann's For the Life of the World, which is a great introduction to the integrated worldview of Orthodoxy. Very meaty read. Also, I got the new Again issue on Orthodox Unity in North America. It has articles highlighting the situation here in North America where there exist 15 canonical jurisdictions, instead of one united Orthodox Church of North America. The authors were hopeful that restoring Orthodoxy to its united state here in North America (which it was prior to the Bolshevik revolution in the 19-teens) would assist in efforts to evangelize the continent.

Mostly, I have been adjusting to my new job and figuring how to spend time with my family, so blogging has been a ways down on my to-do list. No apologies for that.

I included lots of links, so everyone who reads here can follow them and find out more what's going on in my life. Check out MY myspace.

Doing it for the kids

Well, I got a job at UPS. I'm not actually loading trucks like I thought I would be. I'm in some sort of manager/supervisor role.
The pluses are:
Good pay
Good benefits
Part time hours

So, I'll be able to keep this job in the fall when classes start again. It'll be really nice to have a decent paying job now and the insurance won't hurt either.

I'll be working every evening (Mon-Fri) at the package center supervising and doing paperwork-type tasks. Not too hard.

Along with this change, I have decided I will have to totally step out of Young Life involvement. Obviously, if I'm going to be working every evening Mon-Fri I won't have time to be at Young Life club. So, I will go to camp in a couple of weeks and then that's it for me, as far Young Life goes.

This weekend we rented a car (since we still haven't bought another one) and spent the weekend in St. Louis. Saturday we went to the zoo in Forest Park (it's huge, spectacular, and free!) Then, Sunday we went to Liturgy at Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which I guess has become our church home over the past few months. I talked to Fr. Tom about finally starting catechism. He said, "Good," like he's been waiting a while for us to ask about it again.

Amy and I have been talking and we're ready to start preparing to be received into the Church. It's pretty exciting, but since we'll only be able to go up every other week, our catechumenate may last a really long time.

Well, that's about all that's going on.

A Job

Yesterday morning someone from the church next door called me to let us borrow a car for a while. What a blessing!
The wheel did NOT fall off this one.
Then, in the afternoon I was relaxing at the house watching the Geisha movie with my wife when I got a call for an interview with UPS.
I wasn't offered a position yet, but if I get that job, it would be nice. $9/hr. Part time. Benefits. How many part time jobs do you find with benefits? The part time-ness is key because that means I can keep the job come fall time when it's time to go back to class. And that will be nice. And then when I graduate if we're seriously going to move back to Nebraska I probably can transfer and get a pretty good job with UPs in Kearney. Sounds awesome. Please pray that I would get that job or find a different, better one.

Unbelieveable

Consider this an addendum to this morning's short post.
So, yesterday we started borrowing Young Life's car- a 1987 Mercury Marquis wagon. It's not pretty, but it was a relief to our lack of transportation in a town where public transportation is unheard of and pedestrians are discouraged. We went around a bit so I could look into some jobs and apply at some places. At one point we were driving this behemoth wagon grocery-getter on the interstate at 70 mph. After all that driving we were returning to our house and had slowed down for a light and all of a sudden, boom!, like the back end had busted and the rear end of the wagon bounced off the highway (the busiest four-lane blvd in Jackson). While we're sitting there wondering what the heck happened people are driving by waving, saying, "you should get your kids out of there" and "dude, your car's on fire!" Needless to say, we promptly removed the kids and their carseats down onto the lawn of the business in front of which we were parked.
I looked at the wheel. There was still a bit of axel left on the hub. The axel had apparently been wearing for a while and had broken off. The heat generated also started the fire. A highway crew stopped behind us right away and put the fire out. I paid $50 to get Young Life's car off the road to a towing garage.

We need more prayers now than we did this morning.
Amy said, "I'm sure there's something we need to learn here besides, 'Become Amish'."
I'm sure there is, too.

The Semester Ends With a Bang

Well, my semester is over.
My grades:
Religion & Violence A
Modern Philosophy B
Spanish III A
Symbolic Logic II A

I slacked off a bit, and that's what I get.
Anyways, before I could end my semester I had the foresight to wreck our car (and only means of transportation). Driving home from the University on Wednesday in the rain I was a little bit distracted by the kids in the back seat. I ran into a pick up at a redlight. By the time I noticed the car I didn't have time to stop sliding. I slid right into the pick up, taking off his bumper and pretty much totaling my car. I checked into getting it fixed at a body shop. Just driveable, nothing fancy. It was $1800. The other shop I took it to for a second opionion quoted me the same and said it wasn't worth fixing since its Blue Book value is only ~$2400.

Then... my summer classes got messed up, so here I am taking no classes this summer. I'm registered for 15 hours in the fall, and it'll probably end up being 18.

So... I need to find a car and a summer job.
Pray for me.

I'm excited about the paper I'm writing for my Religion & Violence class, so I wanted to share a bit on a couple of the resources I'm using:
The first is a fairly short and readable biography of St. Innocent of Alaska. It's very encouraging, as far as a godly example and as an understanding of the Orthodox Church in mission. Even many non-Orthodox view Alaska as one of the most successful evangelism efforts in the history of the church. Along those lines I'm also readin Fr. Michael Oleksa's Orthodox Alaska. Which is exactly what I needed, an established, successful instance of the evangelization of a people in which the local culture and religion is respected, maintained and complemented. This is exactly the kind of evangelism needed in our contemporary postcolonial pluralistic world.

Anyways, that is what I'm up to. I just finished writing my modern philosophy paper and now I'm going to go back to reading for the R&V paper.
Grace and peace to all of you.