photo by purticorico

none.

Absolutely none since it doesn’t give you any skills that you can use in the real world right?

I was a Literature and Writing major with a Writing emphasis. I often think about my education and what practical skills it has given me and has it aided me in getting a job? Am I any better off than a high school graduate? Should I have spent those years getting work experience instead? There are those colleges that espouse the benefits of a liberal arts education (here also)… but are they lies?

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photo by g-hat

The race issue has finally come to the forefront. Barack Obama has to answer questions about his pastor’s racially divisive comments and 90% of blacks are voting for Obama whereas 80% of whites are voting for Clinton in the Mississippi primary.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is Obama’s pastor and is supposedly very close to Obama. He even inspired the title of Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope. So the fact that Wright is making racially incendiary comments about Hillary Clinton is quite disturbing.

The thing is, most of his comments are probably true:

Rev. Wright said, “Hillary ain’t never been called a n—–!”

“Hillary never had a cab whizz past her and not pick her up because her skin was the wrong color…”

“Hillary never had to worry about being pulled over in her car as a black man driving in the wrong nei…”

“Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single parent home…”

“Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and culture controlled by rich white people…”

Check out the video on youtube.

What’s so interesting about his speech is that he gets everyone really riled up. Everyone is going crazy resonating with every word this guy says. Clearly it’s not just one man who feels this way. Clearly at least a decent portion of the black community feels this way.

This leads me to believe: Whites do not understand. Black people live a different existence and struggle with more difficult circumstances than white people do. The anger in his voice is because white people do not acknowledge that there IS a difference. “Rich white people” do not acknowledge that they don’t understand. They don’t know that they don’t live the same lives as black people. Black people ARE oppressed and we’re no longer acknowledging it. That’s part of the oppression. Those in control have the privilege to ignore those less privileged. Blacks cry out about police brutality and what does the government say? “It’s rare occurrence.”

So many people today feel like the race issue has been “taken care of.” Clearly it has not. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. We choose to ignore it. We choose not to think about it. It’s there. At least we’re talking about it now…

Check it… John MacArthur is now going after Mark Driscoll… who is supposedly very conservative in theology:

http://www.crosswalk.com/11530376/

Wordpress is so awesome for blogging!

I’m in the process of setting up a new revamped blog for Orange Turtle Photography and I’m discovering all the neat powerful features that wordpress has over other blogging tools. There are so many themes and plugins! It’s like you have the whole world updating wordpress with new features. It’s especially powerful when you host it on your own domain! It’s so cool that I am tempted to ditch this xanga and integrate my personal blog into the Orange Turtle blog. Not decided on that yet, but I’m thinking about it. Xanga’s best thing… the networking… is gone because nobody comments or reads xanga anymore .

The blog is not complete yet, but when it is, I’ll reveal the site address. Stay tuned for that!

Its funny the way different communities work. They have their heros, hot topics, rules, abbreviations etc. One of the things that stand out is that every community has its heroes. These people are “famous” in their particular circle, but are nobodys in other circles. And it’s not just, “oh I know them.” No, it’s “WOW, OMG I’m talking to _____!!!!!!!” If you’re a part of the community, these heroes are every bit as famous as Britney Spears or President Bush. And the most interesting thing about these famous people is that they all know each other and are like best friends with each other. It’s like a “cool” crowd or “in-group.” I thought tHere are some examples:

The Counter-Strike Community
I remember clan members from certain high level clans were so respected and worshipped practically. Seeing a member of -si- or $ik was like WOW. We would watch the videos of X3 and listen to interviews from them and everything. We would go and get invited to be a part of a chatroom that had a couple -si- members and $ik ppl there and they would just chat and I wouldn’t say anything. I would just be like… WOW, I’m in awe!!! I remember when I found out [$ik]Rast was Brian Rast from high school, I thought… WOW… then I realized that hmm he wasn’t that WOW in high school. Maybe these people aren’t that cool.

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According to ontheissues.org :

Barack Obama is a “Hard-Core Liberal”
Hillary Clinton is a “Hard-Core Liberal”
John McCain is a “Populist Leaning Conservative”

I like going to sites like these and factcheck.org as my main research tool for the presidential elections.

One major difference between theologically conservative Christians and more liberal Christians is the word contextualization.

Most would agree that the bible is the ultimate authority for life, but what exactly does that mean? Because the bible is the ultimate authority, and we had the bible 100 years ago, shouldn’t our interpretation of the bible be the same as it was 100 years ago? Afterall, the bible doesn’t change, only we do. God doesn’t change, only the culture does. If our interpretation of the bible has changed in the last 100 years, then it seems like something outside of the bible is influencing our interpretation of the bible. Do we let our culture help us interpret the bible? Is that wrong? Shouldn’t the truth be the same yesterday, today and tomorrow?

My opinion is that the bible is the ultimate authority in life, but not the only source of truth. Our interactions with our culture will inevitably influence our interpretation of the bible. We cannot separate ourselves from our culture. Therefore it is futile to “not let the secular culture influence us.” We see only in part (1 Cor 13:12), but God will reveal more and more of his truth to us as we continue to struggle with it and think through it.

Isaiah 57:16-19

16 I will not accuse forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me—
the breath of man that I have created.

17 I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.

18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,

19 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him.” Isn’t that beautiful? I went looking for that one.

The context of MacArthur’s interview is his ripping of Doug Pagitt. (BTW MacArthur ridicules the concept of “context” in the interview also.) He calls Doug Pagitt, “not a pastor and not a Christian.” Do you think MacArthur has a right to call into question anyone’s salvation? I think that right is reserved for God alone. I don’t agree with everything Pagitt says, but MacArthur has no right to rip him.

I think calling MacArthur a loser pales into comparison of what MacArthur did to Pagitt… What’s worse… calling someone a loser? Or calling someone “not a Christian?”

Its one thing if he does it based on solid biblical truths… but in this case, he’s just wrong about the bible also. In otherwords, he strips Pagitt of his salvation based on incorrect interpretation of the bible. So he’s wrong about Pagitt, AND he’s wrong about the bible.

If you don’t agree, then tell me where in the bible it says that the church’s ONE function is the truth? The emphasis of MacArthur’s ministry is the truth. While you may say that the truth encompasses love, I think its clear by MacArthur’s ripping of Pagitt, that MacArthur will sacrifice love whenever he gets the chance. Christ emphasized LOVE in his ministry. MacArthur emphasizes truth… and sidesteps the love issue by claiming “love is included in truth.”

Its great that MacArthur has a big church and has been preaching for many years. That doesn’t make any of his teachings correct. Just because someone has a big church and a good ministry means that you listen to anything he says? You need to judge his teachings based on the bible. Judge the merits of his teachings based on the teaching themselves. Don’t say, oh he’s been preaching for such a long time, he must be correct. That’s just lazy. There are so many people with big churches that are teaching lies. Are you going to believe them too?

Yes I want the Ephesians unity of the church. That’s the entire point of this post. MacArthur’s teachings are ripping apart the church. He called Doug Pagitt’s church “not a church.” He called Doug Pagitt, “not a pastor.” He called Doug Pagitt, “not a Christian.” MacArthur needs to be held accountable for those claims. Wake up people. Stop drinking the MacArthur kool aid. Think, actually think about what he’s saying rather than swallowing it whole. I’ve seen MacArthur’s teachings directly destroy the fellowship of so many brother’s and sisters. His teachings are divisive, myopic, and the worst part, they’re just plain unbiblical. Again, tell me where in the bible it says that the church’s ONE function is the truth?

Anyone who rips apart the church based on untruths IS a loser.

Man John MacArthur really is a dinosaur… he said it himself:

“I’m going to seem anachronistic if not an outright dinosaur at this point. I believe the church has one function, and that is to guard the truth, to proclaim the truth and to live the truth. So you take the Word of God, you teach it, you proclaim it, you protect it, you defend it, and you live it, and that’s a church. The Word of God rightly divided, rightly understood.”

Where the HECK does he get this crap from? That’s what a church is? I don’t think the Word of God EVER gives that definition for the church. Proclaim the truth.. YES. Live the truth? YES. Guard the truth? Where in the bible does it ever say to GUARD the truth? As if the truth needed guarding? I think the truth can speak for itself. Defend it? Protect it? The truth is not so fragile that it needs us feeble minds to defend it protect it.

Not only that, but equating guarding, protecting, defending the truth with the church? And to claim that the church has ONE function? ONE function? Ridiculous. What happened to love? Clanging gong… Resounding cymbal… sound familiar? This guy sounds so SCARED, that his culture and way of life is melting away.

I can’t believe such a respected pastor, teacher, theologian, would make such unbiblical claims and not even attempt to back up his claims with the Word of God that he claims to want to “protect.”

What a loser.