Criss Jami | Official Musings

007 Objective I

2020-02-04T15:38:01.450-08:00

This is a compilation of some of my original quotations and aphorisms. I do understand that a great number of individuals are often too preoccupied to sit and read books or long essays, and because I enjoy quotations and archiving things, I am using this post to build a collection of aphorisms that I find useful in summarizing much of my writing. Usually, I cannot just voluntarily sit down in deep thought and begin writing, nor would I want to. Nearly everything that comes together comes together in pieces, out of life, so this post will probably be updated on occasion:

"Strength is only the tip of the iceberg; control of that strength is the hidden mass, which moves oceans."
"The world's best advice on note-taking: Don't overdo the doodles."
"Backstage, even the wisest sage is still a student."
"Regarding Christian denominations and political affiliations, consider me everything and nothing."
"Most people throughout history, both the terrible and the great, were, to various degrees, under the spell of their age: a genius is simply one who breaks the most spells."
"Let facts be your Hadouken, and truth your Shoryuken."
"A man of might, honor, and integrity is always careful about revealing his plans: words cannot fight and conquer reality."
"Reading philosophy at any hour is like waking up at 5:00 a.m. to run a mile."
"Just as science is strengthened by rigorous testing, so too are the scientists themselves because, like politicians, they can be bought and compromised."
"An adult's hunger for power is like a child's cry for attention."
"Know that some of the worst people are also the biggest accusers (since they have to convince themselves that others are just as abusive)."
"Knowledge without wisdom merely puffs you up until you can hold no more, and when it bursts, out comes ignorance. The average mind, however, with not a great deal of wisdom, stays at the threshold: halfway learned, puffed up, 'fat', and still carried by the herd. When it comes to the realms of history, philosophy, political philosophy, or theology, the herd is not completely ignorant, but neither is it as intelligent nor as original as it imagines itself because, naturally, the less you know within these subjects, the more unprecedented all your ideas seem."
"The idolatry that is scapegoating runs deeper than its blame game: it's the returning to the same villain to explain all your problems."
"Corrupt authorities have long given the people an excuse for lawlessness."
"Talent is not always required if you don't take yourself too seriously."
"The ego is like a brute who confuses being corrected with being disrespected."
"We often value more what's not our norm, and are drawn toward what to us is foreign."
"The trouble with a controlling person is not so much that they're controlling; it's the inherent bias that comes with their need for control. Anything that doesn't involve their hand, they view negatively; anything that does involve their hand, they view positively. This makes for unreliable judgment."
"He forms the light and creates darkness; He makes peace and creates evil. There is not enough calamity in the universe to subvert His sovereign holiness."
"First-world problems are when matters of entertainment become serious enough to make people miserable."
"There are patterns in life for which you grow to brace yourself - as long as you recognize them in advance - and one that I have witnessed from childhood to adulthood is this: there will always be a few bad apples spoiling things for the many."
"I'm like an open book, but my pages are blank: I write 'cause words I say don't convey what I think."
"So the vagabond told the boy, 'Truth is worth more from the lips of a nobody than a lie is worth from the most powerful name on earth.' The boy paused for a moment; he then replied, 'Maybe. But the world doesn't care about truth or worth...only power.'"
"For the perfectionist, there is often this compulsive feeling that nothing is ever finished - that the most important thing is always the flaw, and how it could be better. As a writer with the same tendency, you can become trapped in that never-ending cycle of returning to your own vomit - as you see it - cleaning, polishing, editing, and correcting even the smallest details. Sometimes you clearly overdo it; some revisions even take you further away from perfection. It is both a strength and a weakness. There is consolation, however, that some consider it a touch of the legendary for one to be that way about himself so long as he is easy on others."
"One thing that the smartest among us can do, that those of average intelligence cannot, is meet the dumbest where they are."
"'Thy will be done' is both Humility's favorite prayer and the ultimate prayer."
"There is a sort of precritical thinking where many ideas seem right intuitively until exploring the reasons behind them reveals otherwise - even in the mundane. For example, it seems right that bats are flying rats and owls are flying cats; or that 'w' should be pronounced 'double-v' and 'm' should be pronounced 'double-n'. But biology, taxonomy, and historical linguistics might disagree. This is perhaps the purpose of education."
"Most admirable, for she has never sold her soul (going so coldly for the gold). 'Cause she's a soul that holds all those coins only as tools (before they're some ultimate goal)."
"As long as you can still suspect that you're going crazy, find hope in the suspecting itself: it means you have not yet arrived."
"Reality has its own wrath: while it ultimately corrects itself, the more we defy it, the worse things get before they get better."
"Perpetual adolescents demand freedom and equality until the principles of others prove more fruitful than their own; then they demand force and equity."
"I sometimes put myself in other people's shoes and feel pity for those who have to deal with my awkwardness."
"Those who dress from wardrobes filled with fashions that are perhaps frozen in a former time, they are often just preserving for themselves a much happier and more joyful time."
"In every village, there lurks a witch; in every church, a Pharisee; and at every workplace, there is that one permanent busybody."
"What is truly conflicting with human nature is perfect gratitude. No living person can possibly count how many times a delay or mishap might have actually saved them in some way, unknowingly - and many would choose not to even if they could. In frustration there is bliss; in gratitude there is conflict."
"All men are created equal, but not all creations of men are created equal: cultures, religions, ideologies, philosophies, opinions - these are very often creations of men, and ages come when ideas which seek to demolish provoke their own demolition. Equality of men is no argument for equality of ideas."
"High fashion and streetwalking: two lines of work built on wearing everything but clothes."
"For the Christian, the conscious prioritization of any worldly culture - prioritizing the white Christian, or the black Christian, or the yellow, the red, the brown, the polka dot, anything (just fill in the blank) - before being a Christian, this is idolatry. Racial tribalism is incompatible with the culmination of one surrendering their identity wholly to Christ."
"They are so angry yet so passionately sure of it precisely because they know so little; they fill the gaps in their knowledge with megaphones of gleeful prejudices and satisfying untruths while avoiding unsatisfying truths. Emotions alone hold sway."
"At the end of the day, people are just peopling in ways that people have always peopled."
"Messiness leads to chaos, chaos leads to a loss of control, a loss of control leads to a loss of agency, and a loss of agency is essentially defeat. In the human psyche, orderliness, cleanliness - these antidotes to existential degeneration - can bring even as much as hope for a person's future."
"By both extremes, both obsession with and apathy toward the natural, we are routinely diverted from the supernatural perspective God has given us to perceive his existence."
"A painfully imperfect Christ is a Christian, a painfully imperfect body of Christians is Christianity, and a painfully imperfect Christianity from time to time begets a painfully imperfect rebellion against an absolutely perfect Christ. This is, however, by divine and sovereign design: Those who are able to find Christ through the bloat find Him only by genuine faith in His saving grace for painfully imperfect people."
"Train. But mainly because the brain can be tricked into a moment of courage, like a sword drawn without skill. It is not the confidence but the consequence of it all which draws that very fine line between bravery and foolery."
"It is sometimes much easier to love when you keep in mind that the individual is in fact a complete simpleton. Part of what makes many dogs so adorable to their owners is the dog's limited intelligence mixed with unadulterated enthusiasm. I imagine that God looks upon genuinely innocent, human stupidity similarly: with love, patience, and a compassionate delight. (I do not mean evil, but stupidity.) We know that the dog's urges and instincts often win before good behavior, we know that the dog doesn't fully understand, we even know that in many cases, the dog is not capable of understanding; but knowing this grants us mounds of patience for the dog. In the same way, God-intelligence is on another level from human-intelligence. One thing that has long given ammo to blasphemers is that the word 'god' spelled backwards is 'dog'; however, it is much stronger a nod to the lesson of Love's relationship with Stupidity, of God's relationship with Humanity."
"Those who vote blindly - with no minds and no eyes - most go and vote idly for their own demise."
"If ignorance is not the root of all evil, then explicitly so, it is very much the water to the roots."
"Many great and memorable philosophers, scientists, theologians, poets, artists, writers, and musicians were at odds with the majority during their times - not simply because they sought to be rebels or revolutionaries - but because they utilized a gift; and for this they are now highly respected."
"To disparage in someone what the Creator's endowed is to disparage the Creator Himself."
"The Devil's hierarchy is a cesspool where evil floats at the top, and naivety settles at the bottom."
"Athletes are considered heroes by many, but their true function is much more an aesthetic one. When isolated from the wealth it may generate, the talent itself is of no practical use to the betterment of society; but rather the athlete is a living sculpture, embodying a discipline that showcases certain heights of human potential."
"The most treasured mind is possessed by neither the free thinker nor the critical thinker: it's possessed by the clear thinker."
"A critical thinker can think of ten different reasons why something might have happened while others are quick to anger over an assumption."
"It's only after the conspiracy theorist gets it right a few times that he becomes so drunk on conspiracies that he can barely see straight."
"I'm about as fond of communism as I am of that guy in high school who would bum a pen every day, only to need a new one the very next."
"Success comes to the nerd with an inner jock, and to the jock with an inner nerd."
"Each promise is like a gamble, and with shifting probabilities, like gambling: there are a million and one different things that could overturn what one promises tomorrow. It is better to not make a promise at all than to make one and not keep it."
"Why is it that some men consciously want to prove that they're so secure in their masculinity that they can just as well play the feminine? Reason doesn't appear to be on the side of anyone who throws something away merely to prove that they possess it."
"You'll face what seems to be a never-ending sea of resistance simply because you're doing the right thing; but never get discouraged by those who jump ship early on, as most aren't used to the crashing waves of righteousness."
"Part of the problem is that everyone knows there's a problem. That's a problem because the solutions of a significant number of dupes are wildly counterproductive to solving what everyone agrees is the problem."
"For some authorities it isn't that they're evil - or even that they're incompetent - but rather they just don't care enough; and not caring enough produces a corruption of the same magnitude."
"Where politics are a nuisance and dialogue is abusive, everyone hands out their two cents but no one cares about nuance: Remove this snare on the truth then let silence cure our confusion, for the Lord cares for the 'stupid' and hears prayers where the air's putrid."
"In trying times, or in times of great moral crises, it is not political ideology - neither liberal nor conservative, progressive nor reactionary, left nor right - that can protect someone from a reprobate mind, but only Christ Himself; for without the light of Christ, it all connects on the dark side of the moon."
"Racism doesn't always manifest through hostility; it sometimes manifests through being too nice out of fear."
"In the cold, cold winter, we long for a hot summer; in the hot, hot summer, we long for a cold winter. This cycle of seasons, this 'partnership', portrays in part our eternal human condition."
"Slowly, it flowed on its own, his pen wrote, 'There is no nobler 'cope' than 'hope' itself, and by hoping, you might see why: for these rhyme for a reason.' So he felt lumps in his throat, and then gulped, 'Whoa, was that the Holy Ghost who spoke? Who knows?' But this he was told at just the right time, the right season."
"An arrogant and perverse generation will confusedly seek out 'progress' only to find and celebrate degeneration."
"Inside every adult lives both a teenager and a child: the child stays completely hidden, but the teenager is let loose only in the privacy of close friends."
"It is often the safe and timid man who criticizes everything equally rather than actually taking a stance because taking a stance would make him subject to scrutiny."
"There are some people, not good people, who will always need a target on which to project their vitriol, but due to their cowardice, they wait for permission from the collective."
"Propaganda is the evil twin of Fiction: while Fiction is the art of telling the truth without ever telling the truth, Propaganda is the art of using the truth to tell a lie."
"The faithful are often mocked for saying that God works in mysterious ways because it sounds like lazy thinking, or a cop-out answer; but it's actually quite conclusive in many cases. One should consider the concept of omniscience: that a Being worthy of being called 'God' would know and utilize 12-D chess while humans are still playing checkers."
"...But on social media, everyone is an 'expert' judge: for sure anyone can get it right through deep analyses and in retrospect, sitting comfortably at home, typing on their soapbox after the fact; but at the same time, most people will get it wrong when forced to act or speak on impulse, in a panicked, heat-of-the-moment situation with no time to think. In its self-righteousness, or in any way whatsoever, the creation can never fool the Creator."
"You are under not a single obligation to follow people who are always mistaken."
"Avoid being force-fed by those who enjoy eating poison."
"Slander does to a soul what cancer does to a cell."
"Ambitious humans! We seek the glory of being heroes without first the service of being helpers...and find only humiliation."
"All slander and most gossip are cancerous to truth - not just because of the way they spread - but because of the uncontrollable growth they amass around a person's true character; and while this obvious parallel is perhaps known by most, very few care, as evidenced by their prevalence in everyday life."
"Being excessively competitive in every single thing is what makes men jealous, then takes jealous men, and creates snakes with stakes always desperate to win."
"For the masculine man, it is sometimes hard not to be angry at weakness and emotional immaturity in others, but to activate this lack of patience is what would make him the same as the very thing he's angry about."
"He was the one scapegoat: the man with a love so deep that somehow he would bogart the crown, bearing namely the one for the most hated person alive; and secretly, he wore it so that no one else had to."
"Stand for those who cannot stand, but for those who can stand, stand not for them but with them instead."
"With age comes a lack of shame for your quirks, or for whatever makes you seem particularly peculiar. I later became more secure in the things that made me strange, especially after learning that so many of those things were also shared by the greats."
"Metal music is like alcohol: the more you consume it, the heavier you can tolerate it."
"Always work towards a dream, or you'll always dream of working elsewhere."
"Honestly, one of the biggest honors in life is when a child regards you as larger than life. In such cases, be authentically the superhero those little ones believe you to be."
"Whether it seems like it or not, even one man against the world, when backed by Christ, possesses the strength of the majority, and for that, he should expect persecution from the darkness that his light oppresses."
"On patriotism, I have very little political trust for people who love their country only when their preferred party is in power."
"Sanity can defend a man's poor behavior only up to a point, and that point ends when he refuses to help himself; but any defense beyond that becomes insanity, and sometimes even complicity."
"Lord, have mercy on me, a winner."
"It is never that people hate the truth for the sake of hating the truth. Like anything else, they only hate it when it makes them uncomfortable, or when it makes them look bad; and the deeper they're invested in an untruth, the more they will hate the actual truth."
"What crushes a man weakens him; what angers a man strengthens him; but what softens a man makes him behave."
"The biggest appeasers are often the most foreign to those they appease because there is a sort of fear and reverence for the unknown. A brother doesn't hesitate to roast a brother when he needs to be roasted; a friend isn't afraid to criticize a friend when it's meant to be constructive. On the contrary, a society full of people so easily offended by one another is a society intimidated, fearful, and divided, and the end result is the masses trampling on trust and on the concept of telling the truth. It is at the heart of it all, at the root, where many are called 'victims' not so much because of convictions, but because of a lack of connection; where everything's an offense not so much because of conscience, but because between them there is this vast distance; where pain stood not so much because they could bear only the good, but because they lacked brotherhood. For perfect love casts out fear."
"Like a true jester, even his own pain was just a joke. He would stub his toe, and laugh and dance and sing different songs he never wrote. Out of his mouth, he would go, 'Ouch! Without a doubt! Shout it out loud! And pout about it!' And very much so, they all loved such a dumb way to cope."
"Completely cutting others off over mere opinions is rooted in cowardice; but being the one cut off is grounded in courage."
"If anything under the sun must be divisive, men, in some cases, are right in letting it be precisely those matters regarding politics and religion. On questions of eternity for yourself and your neighbors, or the general well-being of nations and communities, these are the main things worth being so genuinely in love with the truth about that it risks one's being exiled. On the other hand, the people to be most concerned for are those of the crowd who do not care about truth at all; they are the ones who march us like troops in perfectly synchronized steps over the edges of cliffs."
"Our media regularly publishes hit pieces, and a large portion of the people are like its attack dogs. One might say that those are the useful idiots: they become like dogs, and their owner says, 'Sic 'em!'"
"One thing that differentiates actual victimhood from a victim mentality is the presence of Envy. The former requires outer work while the latter, inner work. Resist becoming too resentful in life to learn and discern excellence."
"It all makes sense: that God blesses also the godless, for this is the best lesson on grace and abundance."
"Most real-world villains do not really see themselves as villains, and they despise heroes generally because they do not recognize heroes. An evil man assumes that anyone willing to do the right thing is no less rotten on the inside than he, and that there is always some ulterior motive. He hates the righteous man not because he hates righteousness, but because he knows only how to project ill will."
"In many cases, it is not so much that the Lord works in mysterious ways, or even in miraculous ways, but rather the Lord works in ridiculous ways, ways in which the most arrogant and the most proud - and those without faith without a doubt - may in their derision be humbled and exposed."
"Truth is divisive only to those who cling to delusions."
"Truth, the slayer of lies, is often perceived to be a hateful enemy by people in love with illusions."
"A safe space for freedom will always feel like a danger zone to those accustomed to a safe space for feelings."
"Even a civil people can live mostly with ease in a society littered with evil; but where evil is considered good and good considered evil, peace gets a little bit lethal."
"It used to be said that a picture is worth a thousand words; however, today, in journalism and across social media, a picture is worth a thousand out-of-context speculations."
"A photograph is reality taken out of context."
"Refined and distinguished, the human soul is quite like what has often been said of the snowflake: Just as no two snowflakes are the same, no two life stories are the same; but just as all snowflakes are formed with six dendrons, all souls are formed in the image of God."
"Over time, the loudest people become the easiest to ignore."
"You can love someone without liking them; but liking someone is what makes it a pleasure to love them."
"One tragedy about the shy-guy is that he doesn't usually realize until later in life that he might've been her crush, and that the guys she always seemed comfortable talking to were the ones who were friend-zoned."
"You might be called crazy and a madman over what you believe is right, but that's what people do. In turn, give them that permission in order for you to take back your power: let the useful idiots and know-nothings mock a courage they'll never possess."
"In a battle of egos, narcissists clash with other narcissists."
"Home is the safest place to look homeless."
"Superficiality is a mentality. Those who love for superficial reasons will also hate for superficial reasons; those who vote for one candidate for superficial reasons will also dislike the other for superficial reasons; those who live for superficial reasons are more susceptible to burying themselves deeply in an existential debt, and then it comes: regret when on the bed of death."
"A man can easily be stupid without being evil, but never, in even the most profound genius, is a man evil without in some way being stupid."
"Like all fads which come and go, all are familiar with those types of people who want to seem tough, who for some form of acceptance want to impress others with their rigidity; but there is another kind of person that does the very same thing when espousing 'love': while some pretend to be tougher than they really are, others pretend to be lovers when they really aren't."
"Ironically, some of the most foolish, prejudiced comments made were the ones by wits and grumps trying to impress others with their brains."
"There are certain levels of faith - relevant and necessary ones - which are too advanced for most adults, but not too advanced for children."
"Wrath would be of no use to a rather cold and distant god, but a loving God, on the other hand, a loving Father (whose heart burns like a consuming fire), might find it appropriate when protecting His children from evil."
"For those well-acquainted with making mistakes, it's more likely that your spouse will stay your best friend as long as the phrase 'I'm Sorry' stays your second."
"Unfortunately, we've rewarded a sort of cowardice by calling it 'kindness', and this has made us utterly spineless when truth finally hits."
"May all your tears from grief water the flowers of hope, as though the more the tears, the more the flowers'll grow."
"It is not so much that love is blind, but rather it cannot be fooled by ugliness."
"Some were made ugly for seeing the ugliness of people, whereas the pure saw beauty and were made beautiful."
"Much credit goes to the creative mind, which finds beauty in unlikely places."
"In this blind rage, they throw their fists at Christianity and hit Common Sense, then Common Sense enters the fight."
"Love is boss when everything you hear about a person is filtered through their enemies, yet you still choose to love them."
"I agree that every saint has a past, but not that every sinner has a future. In this life we see a great many sinners dying precisely and directly because of sin."
"Everyone has a right to be wrong; it is only when you have been persecuting, demonizing, and hating on those who were right all along that it takes something special to forgive. This is all the more reason for humility, for being patient with those who disagree with you: because it is you who might be wrong, and later, them proven right."
"Denominations aside, Christians are largely partitioned by those who bother to be accepted by the world and those who do not, by those who are embarrassed by those who are not."
"Realistically, we aren't always able to leave things better than the way we found them, but it's fair to ask that we try not to leave them worse."
"A purely and passionately political person, as I understand, is a person who can find anybody pleasant so long as Politics is never present."
"I see all the more reason for debate by the man who does actually 'believe his own lies' - for that debate is at least One versus One. But if even he doesn't believe them then it's really just a waste of time, or rather Won versus None."
"In this world, by law of gravity, it seems rather the nature of things, and a reality, that 'slippery slope' is hardly a fallacy."
"Call it pious, but whether unified or divided, the civilized will try to live worlds apart from violence."
"It is easy for one to be a hypocrite unashamedly because so often knowledge leads to justification: we know ourselves and our own reasons behind our actions; whereas a lack of knowledge, or uncertainty towards the other, is largely replaced by suspicion of something darker when others do the same."
"When it comes to politics, there are far fewer truly smart people than there are people who merely know how to play the game of seeming smart."
"A refusal to grow up is like crouching while pulling others down."
"The weight of youth is light, yes, but life generally grows heavier into adulthood. This, embedded as deep as the most human social construct, reaches even territories of natural law: we call it 'responsibility' - or the harmony kept afloat by able grown-ups carrying their own weight."
"We have been warned frequently about the dangers of science without ethics, but history without ethics poses a similar threat. Too often are events suffered in the past remembered only to justify evils done in the present."
"As for politicians who demand you follow the science, if in the opposite direction you also follow the money, you might find about nine times out of ten that the two paths are conjoined at the end."
"Just because a supposed finding's hurled beneath the banner of 'science' does not mean it's of peak reliance, and in theory any layperson will tell you that obvious fact. It is in practice that the word itself, 'science', rings like a dinner bell for those hungry to expel religious dogmas."
"Some sects of Progressive Christianity have devolved into a religion in which Jesus condemns his own followers, Christians, but praises everyone else in the world. It could be inferred in this religion that he is revoking his Kingship (thus turning his back on those who regard him as King); it could be inferred in this religion that instead, mankind is King."
"One cannot despise Christians and love Christ at the same time. Too many are fooled into the self-righteous notion that those who stand boldly in the faith are nothing more than religious zealots and Pharisees, and that they themselves are closer to Jesus by communing with the mockers."
"The sin-ridden heart does not fear God but fears man, and when saying it loves men, it loves sin."
"We cherry-pick our favorite traits and words of Christ and run with them - amplifying some parts while silencing others - to suit our personal visions and preferences. In doing this, rather than the true and the whole, we create caricatures and distortions of His character - false Christs made in our own images - and are left with no mystery as to why He would say we must deny ourselves daily in order to follow Him."
"Know your enemy the devil without giving him the satisfaction of too much attention."
"Calling people stupid with no real solution of your own is a fool's reach for superiority."
"There was once a very, very proud man who sought, with all of his might, to beat God the Almighty in something...anything. He tried everything imaginable, but always, he failed miserably. His efforts continued to no avail, until one day he heard a voice, and it said, 'God is an awful sinner...' Desperate to win at something, he chose to listen to the voice. He chose sin. He out-sinned God with flying colors, and laughed until his heart stopped beating. Ultimately, his victory against God claimed his life; because sin leads only to Death."
"The herd is the larger mass, the mindless portion that wanders off the cliff; the mob is the subset and the moshpit that pushes the ones that resist."
"There are 2 types of revolutionaries: those bred through a rich education, and those bred through a poor education. But there is truly only one revolution, and that is of a populace fed up."
"Hold just enough ego to be a man of your word, and to stand against evil mobs who force the absurd."
"In terms of pure and humble objective morality, a right just feels right to have; however a privilege is, in a way, sort of in the way, and almost feels wrong to have (by the principle that if you abuse it, you lose it)."
"What looks to be the cleanest political party, for a period, will often prove to be the filthiest in the end. Just like any form of corruption, this one plays dirty. It drags its enemies through the mud and scrubs itself clean before morning. It throws rocks and hides its hands. It gains power by all methods but the Truth: on the one hand, by pandering, flattery, and appeasement (quite like Satan, 'the father of lies'); and on the other, by deception and ruthlessness, constantly slinging accusations and smearing its opponents - posing as an angel of light (quite like Satan, 'the accuser') - and doing it hypocritically. It projects, gaslights, intimidates, manipulates, and confuses its subjects into adopting the narrative that it is the intellectually and morally superior party. Believing itself the greater good, and the ends justifying the means, it is able to persist in these things and sleep well doing them. Therefore in the rags of politics, because of this party, it is often the case that individuals painted as villains by the media are heroes in reality."
"Dispel the lips of Gossip with a sip of the Gospel."
"With starry eyes we forget what is literally the oldest trick in The Book: that the very first 'liberal' was one of deception - a snake in the Garden - and he corrupted paradise."
"Consider it commonplace, the self-proclaimed empaths who cannot empathize with those individuals most antithetical to their politics."
"It's as though human emotions have speed limits, and their tipping points vary depending on the person and which cog(nitive) gear is set: So typically, men go off the rails briefly when they're furious, whereas women, when they're frightened; but children while excited."
"The trick to having an incorrect take almost 100% of the time is in being tethered to some socio-political narrative, and within that sphere, being tethered completely out of touch with your conscience."
"A theism that denies theology is deism."
"Theology is basically the study of the nature of God. A Christian faith that all-out rejects theology is showing not much else other than pride by false humility - as though one's personal relationship with God is closer than that of any other persons, writings, or anything outside of their own experience, and as they interpret that experience. This is often a side-stepping of true obedience to God: How are you wholly and obediently, honestly seeking His will if you are not willing to dig deeper? And how do you genuinely love someone you do not care to know more about? Our Father is everlasting, His history is worthy, His past is vast and His character is real. A sincere theology is not a trap to be avoided, but rather a gift to be opened."
"God allows the persecution of Christians from time to time in order to grow His garden: to weed out the counterfeits who blend in and cower while, even if only visible from the heavens, the real ones stand strong and bloom."
"Take care of your mind and your body. Even if you do not care about yourself, do it at least for the ones you care about: If it is indeed true that in a marital union you become as one flesh, then disrespecting yourself is disrespecting your spouse."
"If the philosopher is but a lover of wisdom, then philosophy is like a love letter for future generations."
"There is, however, a place in the world for conditional love. It is often that people take an unconditional love for granted: they cease putting any effort into the relationship, treat their partner like dirt, and are left to the surprise that, after so much abuse, so many chances, all the times forgiven, the other person had finally endured enough and ran for their life."
"Humans find it rather natural to believe in some sort of Higher Power; but it takes something supernatural to actually find that Higher Power...And finally, to believe it."
"You might say that you are a thinker, and through some degree of introspection, a 'deep' one even. But there is another saying: and it says that you are not a very 'big' thinker until you are bothered less by what people think about you, and more by what they think about the universe."
"Evil is entertained by a people entertained to death."
"Grief is a form of growth that in gradual excess becomes graphic and grotesque."
"Just as some of the toughest fights physically are between those mostly alike, the roughest of fights verbally are between fighters emotionally alike."
"The real fool is not necessarily the one who does foolish things, but rather the one who knows those things are foolish and still takes a fancy to them."
"A professional is, for sure, one who scores more and more with a decorum like he's scored a million and four times before."
"In some cases, trying is better than doing because it indicates that you are attempting things hard enough to fail."
"The mind once-fragmented, when it contemplated one more closely resembling 'God', it thought essentially in terms of power; but only through the power of the true God could it be regenerated and made more accurate, and therefore prioritizing holiness. Without delusion or illusion, true holiness is of rarer, greater value than power."
"Just as a good man makes a good woman happy, a good woman makes a good man great."
"Right conscience must always be your best friend of influence: tied closer than even the yes-men who can send ruin."
"See, the people for whom you least want to pray are the people for whom you most need to pray; but the others on which they all love to prey, make them brothers: then place your love in their way, laying what comes from up above on display."
"The hard-noses, in their softness, were able to be convinced that kindness is actually wrong, but that is wrong. It is just that kindness is sometimes not enough."
"There is a deeper reason as to why some nice guys are frequently deemed the weaker, and that is because niceness is weaker than love."
"He was a chronomancer in managing his time, a true magician with it. He had duties; everyone has duties, but he knew that not everyone has to be late because of them."
"If, as a companion, you just try not to be harmful, if you are not helpful either, you might still be harmful."
"As a young Christian, what I asked was that Christians did and said things in such a way that made people not want to do and say the opposite."
"Envy is much like a heart that sheds innocent blood, but brands itself the dam to a magnificent flood: menacing you'll become to what could lift you above - not from your hands it starts, but your inner parts it loves."
"Motivation bears its fruit when watered by discipline, but wilts when it isn't; motivation, without the momentum of discipline, is mostly a momentary emotion; motivation works best under the supervision of discipline, but can serve as not only an ally but also an enemy. In anything that requires self-discipline - whether going to church, going to classes, going to workouts, completing a job, studying, living well - the more times you skip, the more relaxed and motivated you are to keep skipping; and the next thing you know, you've quit the fight altogether. To put it simply: the more you skip, the more you'll skip until you've quit."
"What was in store for him was, at the core, far more than Legion: As he ran toward Jesus, his former lord tore to pieces; because in order to reach Him, he was forced forth by meekness. It's like he was poorer than poor (before meeting the Teacher - who managed to fit a camel through the eye of a needle). For this rich man'll shed his riches in time for the Kingdom, and dismantle all that'll cease him, keep him from Christ's freedom (or, in a manner of speaking, to be crowned in right season) - now his counsel is, for good reason, like treason to demons - in this example: How the One who wore thorns mines His people."
"The very last thing on earth to be is depressed simply because your life does not seem like the rest."
"The work of a genius must be opposite himself in that it must retain some capacity of being understood."
"Those who do not seek Wisdom do not see Wisdom, even when she passes them by; they see only that which appeals to their lusts: and this substitute becomes their variation of Wisdom."
"Masculinity and femininity attract one another, and their attributes are complementary; however this entails more than simply a male being attracted to a female: What actually complements the immature man who runs around, or cheats, or neglects his duties, is the masculine woman because he needs her to lead and to take charge, to take care of him. Immaturity is a state of need, and one of those needs is the need to be kept in check."
"A know-it-all poses to know everything, so he will therefore tell you anything; although his brain forgets that one crucial thing, which is that other people, too, have brains."
"What many may call 'the silent treatment' is sometimes merely a matter of some individual being angry while trying not to be angry - that internal war and self-reflection on whether or not the bomb should be dropped, and if so, in what way shall it be dropped."
"It is rather pitiful how obvious it is, and usually how simple it can be, for one to be blunt and critical, all the while fooling oneself into thinking that it makes him look sharp and analytical."
"Contentment seems almost a happiness happier than happy because it's happy without reason. I for one am a shamefully happy person - a person so happy that he doesn't long for company when he doesn't have it."
"A mind inclined to misery is a mind that must keep busy."
"A man of the world understands the world, but a man of God understands life. For in their purest of forms, the one comes through perhaps that application of human knowledge, but the other comes through that of a proper and divine wisdom."
"The educated man has his own ignorance in this tendency to view all life in light of his own expertise. Just as a blue lens makes the yellow sun look blue, or a pink lens makes the green grass appear pink, or a yellow lens makes the blue sea seem yellow, one's field of profession gives influence to his perception of reality; and while that is harmless in some cases, in such that the sea is already blue before peering through a blue lens, wisdom is knowing when to humbly remove the specs in order to see the spectacle as it really is."
"A man is meant to sacrifice many things for a woman, save his VIP: his Verity, Integrity, and Probity."
"Suspicion, like superstition, is something fear-fueled - for the former is a sort of death, firing at the natural, while the latter is a life frozen by the supernatural."
"Discernment has a doppelgänger, and her name is Suspicion."
"Your brain is your own personal property, a little bit like a private part, so whatever it decides to think of me is therefore barely my business."
"Tough men are tough not because they want to be tough, but because they have to be tough. Outgrow the adolescent fawning over being a tough guy, and you will become a tough man."
"A procrastination of procrastination is procrastination mastered."
"With pronounced crowds around him - towns rowdy with loud shouting - without pouting childishly, while making his case soundly, he announced it quite proudly (mouth smiling undoubtedly (without clouds of doubt frowning)): 'See, this wild thing about me: I don't live life without me. So, how now shall you crown me? No need to bow down for me, or drown me in salary, or go tout my mastery (like an ounce is astounding); or oppositely, clown me, and just sound like a mouse squeak. Though none are better than me, no one's ever less than me; and it rings out hourly, like a vow surrounding me, a thousand pound pact to me, an infinite galaxy (that fits in this house of me (as if it's my fallacy (like 'limitless boundaries' (within this reality)))) - it's what gets the best of me - my ground and my gravity, as once said by Bukowski, 'I've never met another man I'd rather be.''"
"The crowd, or the mob, has always quite enough fighters with a fire to fight alongside the 'underdog', but it fights, or it tries, while lacking the discernment or facts to determine the actual underdog."
"Although at times I might fail, still, I shall try to wish well and not Hell on even my worst enemy: this is so because no person deserves Hell for sinning against a sinner, but all persons deserve Hell for sinning against a perfectly holy God."
"Dare to be the most charitable friend that one can know - therefore, care for the orphan and the poor and the widow - share everything through prayers from your heart to spare a soul, so that you barely do it for the credit or for show (hardly for rarity, too, although you reap what you sow). Through sincerity do what you trust; it scares many foes. Also, show no partiality: 'too unfair' must go. Plus know it's a slow, terrible thing to love just to boast; there's no scarcity of things true being cut in the throat: and blown up, such harsh realities roast us coast to coast (as though love's some dark noir since neither good nor bad may gloat (doesn't matter if you sacrifice your sun or a goat)). But regardless, much to the contrary, all seeds need growth; thus, deplorable, horrible or not, we'll bleed love's flow. More pouring out meaningful ways to keep the boat afloat; less rowing for it seems eternal days around a moat: because good deeds, clichés, these are what make the world still glow, placing smiles on its face while it toasts to our Lord of hosts. It's like grace is needed most when even one's been brought low, so dare to be the most charitable one you will know."
"The sincere and serious thinker who thinks first and then sets out on his journey of learning, who then explores deeply and historically the sea of thought and the land of reason, is nevertheless bound to discover that many of his best discoveries have long been discovered."
"Loneliness, in all its stresses, and all its pressures, possesses 2 oppressive dangers: the potential to make a man either depressed with himself or obsessed with himself; in his own mind, he will become like either a beast or a god."
"Through one's tears for the past, one's future becomes blurred."
"In some respects, generations revolting against their parents result in a resemblance to their grandparents."
"That looming feeling of being unloved is but a lie from the demons, from the legions in the deepest pit of Hell, specifically designed to hurt, harm and therefore harden a man's heart. But still, suppositionally, if the entire earth really did despise him for whatever reason (or lack thereof), or rather ignored him or showed a complete and utter indifference toward him, the love which comes from Above reins more than enough to lift him up from even the deepest and darkest of mires. 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.' And thus, one must never, ever forget God's grace, and always, always remember God's love."
"One of the shining exceptions in personalities is that writers do not need to be charismatic in their own persons; they are free to be dull by each of the human senses as a void for other, more powerful realities. Some have the ability to dwell almost completely in their imaginations, living vicariously through the stunning characters and fascinating worlds they create by using only words on paper. In this way, people are much like books: we can try judging them by their covers, but alas, there is always that possibility of ourselves being deluded in doing so."
"The old heart must give up on itself so that it can depend upon God, but the new heart, when it gives up on itself, it is also giving up on God."
"The audience was highly pretentious and somewhat vain at gazing deeply into what was fundamentally shallow; so in this vein with thoughts flowing, and past that vane with minds blowing, it completely missed the point."
"Like royalty disguised in rags, those who live to serve undertake a higher calling which most folks overlook."
"The enemy that is Envy is trigger-happy; he's pretty much a gunslinger who wields a silenced Demotivator - sent with sabotage, suicide, and suppression, he assassinates in secret, and so hopes to exterminate, to kill what was meant to motivate him - in simpler terms and less expression: he shoots the messenger."
"He wanted to prove to her, every step of the way, that she had been true through grace (through his every mistake), that she had great taste for once choosing him in the first place."
"When you are constantly reacting to having been wronged (or perhaps to what you may regard as a wrong); when you are always giving in by practically living to defend, retaliating one time after another, again and again, you then spend double that time trying to prove the whole story: because to third parties, you will frequently appear to be on the attack, and therefore potentially receiving attacks once more - henceforth an unending pattern of misunderstood retaliations."
"'A certified, bona fide nutcase': Although he was indeed someone, he believed that he was more of a nut than a man. He just needed somebody to break him, to make him lovelier, but that somebody had to be even nuttier."
"For some, their 'self-love' was really just a hell that felt numb; they'd made themselves so protected, so delicate, that like jail-cells their boundaries had become."
"Societies sometimes smear Wisdom and her natural, symmetrical beauty. She is at times caked beneath the extreme makeup of dirty politics and yellow journalism. At times she may appear to be the red, far-right extremist to a majority that has drifted too far left - and at other times, the blue, far-left extremist to a majority that has drifted too far right. 'She' is Wisdom, a beacon in the center of hope and a lighthouse to be utilized. She is truth that must be washed by the sea of Love."
"Before awakening, the order of the day brings quite the bite (or sting) - a find in light of dreams. Like nightmares' love supreme, phenomenology sings of the unconscious this highly common theme: '...Seeking sovereignty...Using fragments of things...The mind, it tries but pines...For a rise by false wings...And hides one's shortcomings...Behind the heights of these...Lofty philosophies...And faulty prophecies...' And that's the fall of kings."
"For his enemies' sake, the good boy, the really dangerous man, fights to never fight again; whereas the bad boy, the proud man, fights that he might never fight again."
"So it seems the case that plenty of everyday people are in deed 'hate-filled' (but it's unreleased) - the beast within is caged - until they unleash it, this secret, in 'agreement', on some common foe, and though like a freer bill, the pay is still rage."
"Every now and then, even the best driver around can still crash - granted, if the surrounding people are sound asleep at the dash."
"Implore to self and pray for country, in your patriotic hearts, to be raising the flag of countless gratitudes while torching that one of idolatry."
"Christ is the Master - and the Answer - at navigating through peak Foolishness and the height of Evil (with a twist): He's been handling man's crimes since before mankind - from the fallen angels way before there was time. Raised high on any mountain we climb reads a Sign; and His point's to say, 'Just trust Me. Now, come alive.'"
"Seamed a certain way, they seemed just the same: she was an extrovert, with a style stuck in the period she'd experienced the most fun; he was an introvert, with an intellect entwined at the harbor he'd ensured the most safe."
"Following his rant littered with narcissism, she calmly responded, '...You have quite the little ego, don't you?' And with little thought, he then quickly retorted, 'What do you mean 'little'!?'"
"She's tragically scarred with an avant-garde, spastic heart - yet radically guarded (anti-romantic garden) - tactless, though perhaps smarter; and so her soul carries an ego too heavy to be swept off her feet: Modernity's narcissist."
"We want the mind of God; we seek the heart of Christ - and even pray it, then receive them to a degree. But people are unable to bear these fully: for He is both stronger and more sensitive than we."
"Accustomed to himself, he then felt not so interesting. He knew himself too well; he thence hid out for some mystery."
"Your emotional intelligence welcomes a maturity which can, if need be, mentally separate your neighbors not from yourself, but from their faulty opinions."
"The earth freezes for the man who normally lets it slide: he frees curses, only once in a blue moon lets them slip."
"The one thing I'll be: Me - whatever that might mean; and even if nothing, in that I'll still be king."
"Amid the holy and celestial, humility's what's 'cool' under pressure. Humility stops being humble when it realizes itself humble, and cool stops being cool when others realize it is trying to be cool."
"He was simple and yet he was complex in his perception of the other sex. Remembering himself, and how he dealt with females, he often said: 'The easy gals are not for you - they're for themselves; the impossible girls are not for you either - they're for somebody else.'"
"It came 'before the next' as what some may call the foundation - beyond traditions or old texts, and rationalizations: Education comes second, the progression of a nation; but 'Common Sense' is the treasure that sustains generations."
"But I do not know much - except perhaps the One - as it is written thus: 'Nothing except Jesus.' Yet even added up...just copy-cat expressions, wanna-be humble platitudes, try-hard lip service, feel-strong sayings, feel-good quotations plus virtue-signalling slogans and such...these things are not enough: because He must know me."
"You might see that I am a writer for a reason. In speech and from my mouth we taste the words unseasoned. It's teasing the truth which to my mind reeks of treason."
"Men are beastly and natural, and when touched by God, the One who is supernatural, they become as 'mythical creatures' - only more true and just, and therefore all the meeker."
"As far as she'd discovered, she could have any man in the world, and for that, she would settle for no man on earth."
"Better a curse from God than a blessing from Satan."
"A young man will sometimes have all the conviction in the world, only for it all to witness his love interest sway him."
"Self-awareness is a good which still can, in some cases, steal one's innocence - for it is often much worse to know better without the discipline to do better."
"God enters through the cracks of broken hearts, as do the demons when given their way."
"I have a poet's heart: whether manifested through rage or manifested through grace, certain loves never really go away."
"Love the ones you love like there's no tomorrow. Literally."
"Through even perhaps no one's making but their own, there are people out there who don't at all feel themselves designed for other people because they're seldom understood; howbeit not in some rebellious, angsty way - just really, gravely mistaken."
"How puzzlingly fitting one can be, a couple of opposites. She was loud and fiery; he was quiet and cold. She always defended him verbally; he always defended her physically."
"Whether natural or cultural, he was not sure; but he finally faced it, gave up, caved in and played their game, which later became serious business, and it stated this: 'Aim at wealth and you will get women thrown in; aim at women and you will get neither.'"
"Don't be fooled by those with some smarts in mockery. Some are forced into wit because they're always wrong."
"Not too fashionable, still, she was admirable, intellectual; and yet to many, factual, though fairly objectionable, when met through claiming: 'I don't respect you unless you respect truth.'"
"A once-high society lowers itself when having little to no respect for even a decent honesty, and it's at its lowest when, at last, truth is frowned upon."
"One might call it the 'mighty surrender': it's sometimes necessary in order to appreciate true greatness in another - this is because there might be a clash of egos, or envy even, or jealousy - and it is through a similar struggle that men and women deceive themselves into rejecting God Almighty."
"One of the most common sense things about real world progress is that progressivism must never steer into its own dogmatism. One can be sure, at least every so often, that there eventually comes a point either to stop, to turn around, or to make a turn; lest a wall is pummeled, a cliff be tumbled, or a mere cycle is tunneled forever."
"In all of our souls, pray the awful parts call out for solace - the false and the faults, the fears and the flaws, the 'F's and the fouls, the fakes and the frauds - now facing facades, these aches will fall off; they'll break while they crawl: ailments from failures, preyed once and for all."
"Kids forgive one another much easier than adults forgive one another because to kids, having fun is more important than having an ego."
"Reality now and again becomes like a vengeful troll, and most notably so when it comes to passion: When reality and passion divorce, reality makes passion seem crazy."
"The hardest and hardiest and heartiest defense comes squarely from where it can empathize with the artiest and sharpest and smartest offense."
"Idolatry is not only excessive reverence, but also excessive abhorrence - that other side of the coin which runs the risk of establishing a false gospel under the implication that, for example, if you hate this certain individual, you're a good person no matter what; or if you love this certain individual, you're a bad person no matter what."
"By far, the hardest part regarding a work of art, apart from the start, is knowing precisely when to stop...It's growing up, finding that most glowing and top spot, ascending to where its highest peak is reached...before descending for the deepest, darkest drop."
"I have more flaws, more faults and more sins than common sense can comprehend; and the condescension in this sentence 'consequents' in more to end."
"While it might make a noble standing stable, a label stands a lie away from libel."
"The true challenge of charity is not in the gifting of your trash but of your treasure, not your worst but your best."
"God will bore through mountains of intellect for a grain of faith - for it is not the intellectual who finds Him, but He who finds the intellectual."
"...Just as some men are counted as book smart but not street smart, a man of sound theology is not necessarily a man of sound politics. If he is naive and ill-informed in the current culture, or in the spirit of the times, it is possible that he will enact his right faith for the wrong forces."
"I have heard some amid the world's 'progressive' movements declare that Jesus is not a Christian. To serve a christ who is not a Christian seems more of a personal admission: it is to say that he is a hypocrite and does not follow his own teachings. While the debate as to what it truly entails continues for many, being a Christian is merely roughly translated as being a follower of Christ."
"Even by itself, the raw strength of deception is yet its own deception. Whereas the truth might become obscured by such, deception is limited to gaining any real power strictly through the masses, those high volumes of large numbers and subtle repetition."
"Smear extremist labels around like ketchup and your country will soon witness bloodshed."
"Younger persons tend to care more about what other people think, but at the same time, less of consequences. Older persons often appear the opposite: They tend to care less about what other people think all the while much more considering consequences. Duly note that this is a general point, and with plenty of room for exceptions, but the deeper reason is that, for better or for worse, persons who are more heart-centered think in the present; those who are more mind-centered, they feel for the future."
"In my understanding, there are a number of souls, particularly those of the crowd, who are forever subconsciously looking for a mere human system or human being to be a godlike figure for the masses: one to wear the crown, to take the throne...which is why it seems for the lives of them they can barely cope when they feel the wrong one is holding that throne."
"Upon returning, the bloody, wounded warrior needs only to laugh at the spotless, armchair critic."
"There's no scarcity of lukewarm believers who, by cultural standards, deem themselves far too cool, and therefore wean themselves a bit too cowardly, to live as fiery Christians."
"The lust, the hunger, and the thirst for power - and thus it is brewed, clearly, the heart's deadliest poison to integrity."
"Every now and then there are those extremist and fanatical, legalistic times, those highly charged political climates in which the mob aims to execute its own fantasy of 'fighting the power'; and therefore it, by and large, whether in target or in tactic, fails to imagine being dead wrong in every sense."
"I would hope not to be like the artist who has to depend on the naivety of his audience for applause."
"A conspiracy theorist is a critical thinker playing out of bounds; although - and this is clear enough - free thinking does not automatically ensure accurate thinking."
"The mob, in the spirit of the age, obsessed with being on the right side of history, often ends up on the wrong side of history."
"The mob is the most deadly of all critics in that it thinks critically only towards critical thinkers."
"I sometimes think as if I am corporate media; I put myself in their shoes: If I could profit off a situation, how would I spin it for the maximum amount of traffic yet still be taken seriously? This, I believe when listening, reading, or watching, helps to discern truth from fact and decipher fact from fiction. It helps to weed out the sensationalism, and you gain a more accurate depiction of the world's actual condition."
"She's the sister of bigotry and the daughter of tyranny; she imposes her own emotions onto others, then falsely calls it 'empathy'."
"When we deny reason we are prone to holding the rest of the world hostage through the worship of our feelings, thus making feelings no longer sacred and personal and delicate things we can express. Oppositely, this way of life confuses the world and further pushes it to being heartless and unfeeling."
"You do not have to die to self and acknowledge Jesus as Lord of your life when you regard Him as simply a penniless beggar for His followers to imitate. Of course, we are to worship Him through love for the poor and the oppressed in order to be brought low (rather than being filled with pride), but many of us, in a rather half-hearted fashion, favor this Jesus merely to manipulate others and use as a weapon against our political opponents. This is His sole identity to a number of those who wish not to worship Him wholeheartedly."
"In an excuse to drink lies reason not to drink."
"People want to pick one or the other: but Christianity is both spiritual and religious. You need the Holy Spirit to apply sound doctrine."
"To persons consumed by hate, in their opinion and in their heart, the most hateful thing you can possibly do is love the target at which they aim."
"Christ was of course not the slightest bit envious. His perspective was to take care of the poor not out of hatred for the rich, but out of love for the poor; and though we try to imitate His teachings, due to our corrupt and sinful nature, oftentimes, this obvious fact is still so easily neglected."
"By His grace let it be that 'sound doctrine' is, in itself, not a burden but a privilege to the Christian life. Let it be a form of worship. It is my belief that God has His ways of entering hearts and revealing Himself to people of the world who, perhaps by no fault of their own, have little to no access to doctrine regarding His character and nature and what He is and has been about; but as a people who claim to be His children, ones saved by grace through faith, would it not be hypocritical to downplay a deeper, more intimate understanding of the Lord of our lives in heart, soul, and mind? Where we display shallow relationships, where we salute an arrogant and willful ignorance of the God we serve and the Christ we represent, it is understandable that truth seekers will turn elsewhere for truth. It is with humility, honesty, and respect that every non-nominal Christian is a theologian and an apologist to some degree, to their ability God has gifted."
"Anything Christ-like about me is born of Christ within me."
"Make way for the sweetest humiliation when you underestimate their intelligence while overestimating your knowledge."
"When reduced to nothing more than principle of the mind, humility will never be low enough for humility. On principle, the man who lives in the small mountain cottage is more large and luxurious than the man who lives in the tiny shack; the man who lives in the tiny shack, than the man who sleeps on the bank; the man who sleeps on the bank, than the man who wanders the desert; the man who wanders the desert at least has legs to wander while many other men do not. To reduce by the standards of men is to morally compete against men, and to reduce by one's own standards is ego-driven. A man can decrease his life to death and never reach true lowliness because humility on principle of the mind is not humility at all but rather its opposite: the pride of competition - only in reverse. Therefore it seems that, perhaps, true humility is nothing one can achieve; it hides in purity of the heart given only by the one perfect Christ."
"God is not boxed with, nor is He boxed in: And ironic it is, how even what a culture may consider to be 'young and fly', to Him, might've already become 'safe and predictable'."
"If the Church is indeed the Bride of Christ, then a Christian who loves hating other Christians is like a wife who hates loving her family."
"The typical modernist is of course only content with lukewarm Christians. These are many of the Christians who likewise regularly deride and demean the Bride of Christ in order to maintain a certain self-image, to keep a safe distance. I am afraid that this is one of today's equivalents of denying Jesus under pressure."
"God, as represented in Scripture, by nature, is the true non-conformist. He does not need to conform to any truth; He does not need to conform to some moral law. It proclaims that He is the Truth; He defines Morality: the Great I Am, the Beginning and the End who radiates all that is Holy. Therefore, and unless we too were wholly holy and omniscient, we would do well to understand at the very least that even if this God were to wipe away all in existence, then despite my opinion or your opinion, His decision would be objectively good and moral simply because He is the one doing it."
"The core tenet of worldly religion and the pure heart of the Lord Jesus are different in that one is centered around being a good person while the other flows from obedience. While these two roads are bound to intersect at some points, they were never promised to always run parallel (namely when considered through the traditions of men, or those who despise Jesus, or those who do not know and love Jesus)."
"There's a certain deeper sort of beauty in the bleak. I see it that bleak is beautiful in part because it is too deathly and grim to fathom itself so."
"Animosity in fact loves, but in a different sense. Meaning it loves in the same way that, as it is often said, misery loves company. And just as love seeks unity, so does hatred crave uniformity."
"Every stance unchallenged is positioned to boast on some victorious moral high ground."
"Wherever it takes disaster to unite, politics generally divide: and in eras of intense uncertainty, a nation's people retreat into the tribes in which they feel the most secure."
"Objectivity of truth, reality, facts, data - they matter; otherwise, you have the 'good guys', the moral persons, in the name of what they call justice, in a fight against what they call injustice, unwittingly adopting the roles of oppressors by persecuting the innocent."
"Charity by principle that God will bless you in return is to give with a heart of greed rather than with a heart of love."
"The order of the day is people are constantly nerve-stricken after previously following the permission to live lies. An overlap into discomfort largely comes from an excess of comfort."
"Envy is Pride's infection on inspiration...while Angered then Eaten by the Greed of a Lazy Lust."
"Narcissists often feign oppression because narcissists always feel entitled."
"...There are also those who inadvertently grant power to another man's words by continuously trying to spite him. If a man gets to the point where he can simply say, 'The sky is blue,' and people indignantly rush up trying to refute him saying, 'No, the sky is light blue,' then, whether they realize it or not, he has become an authority figure even to such adversaries."

Healology

2016-01-13T17:22:00.001-08:00

"There is this difference between the growth of some human beings and that of others: in the one case it is a continuous dying, in the other a continuous resurrection." ~George MacDonald

You may have heard of the portmanteau "killosophy", which is also the name of my previous book released in 2015; but here and now, in 2016, it is marked: the birth-year of my latest work and book number five, Healology. Philosophy and theology, as one might think, are 2 of my favorite subjects; symbolically, I see them as the question and the answer, or the co-pilots of wisdom, or maybe, in a sense, like the many dualistic elements as represented by yin and yang, or perhaps even like in the heartagram: the pentagram and the heart. The essence of Christianity is to lose one's life for Christ's sake in order to find it (Matthew 16:25); hence, Killosophy (the question/"the killing of knowledge") came first, then came Healology (the answer/"the power of Christ").

Healology was constructed as a partner of Killosophy, so it characterizes a continuation of that format. The first half, "Healing Power", contains more of my original aphorisms on key topics - e.g. life, love, relationships, society, art, Christ, apologetics, and countless others. I imagine this section being most welcomed by the intellectual and the truth-seeker, the one who appreciates a good brain teaser, or who perhaps needs to ruminate on some brief thoughts of influence from time to time.

On the latter, "Studying Christendom" is a book comprised of all of my latest poems and lyrics as well as a number of previously unreleased rhymes from my earliest of writing days. This I believe has plenty of room for the adventurer and the creative artist; it includes themes ranging from steampunk to cyberpunk, nursery rhymes, the return of the fictional character Sgt. Griffin, and a variety of others, both fictional and non-fictional.

The extent of creativity to which I admire in an individual is his ability to be richly creative while still, in a way, telling the truth. It is the fool who creates only his own lies, and the bore who simply repeats what he is told. If you enjoyed Killosophy, you might also enjoy Healology.

"Is Satan misunderstood?"

2015-06-10T17:36:00.003-07:00

Many good people throughout history were misunderstood; it is sometimes even considered a mark of greatness. Could one also apply this to Satan? As, in Christ, we are moved to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), I do not doubt that any Christian thinker, theologian, or apologist has at some point asked (or been asked), "What if Satan is actually a good guy but just misunderstood?" But perhaps God responded, "What if? Would that really matter?" With this I concur - a question on that caliber may be best kept a mystery among men and left fully answered only between God and Satan. At any rate, just because one could be misunderstood, and even good-intentioned, it does not always mean that they are right in their convictions. Rebellion against God, whether man or angel, is and always will be the biggest mistake one can make, mainly to his own well-being.

A utopian system, when established by men, is likely to be synonymous with a dystopian depression. The only way for perfect peace by man is absolute control of all wrongs. Bully-cultures find this: with each and every mistake, another village idiot is shamed into nothingness and mindlessly shut down by the herd. This is a superficial peace made by force and by fear, one in which there is no freedom to breathe; and the reason it is impossible for man to maintain freedom and peace for everyone at the same time. Christ, on the other hand, transforms, instead of controls, by instilling his certain inner peace. This is the place where one realizes that only his holiness is and feels like true freedom, rather than like imprisonment, and, too, why Hell, I imagine, a magnified version of man's never-ending conflict between freedom and peace, would be the flesh's ultimate utopia - yet its ultimate regret.

Even in my short time on this earth, it seems I am already seeing much in repetition. Perhaps from now to the beginning, even before man, there is nothing new under the sun but that of the Son. Man's rebellion against God has always been because he would rather fall in pride than rise in humility. This brings me back to what George MacDonald wrote, "[God desires] not that He may say to them, 'Look how mighty I am, and go down upon your knees and worship,' for power alone was never yet worthy of prayer; but that He may say thus: 'Look, my children, you will never be strong but with my strength. I have no other to give you. And that you can get only by trusting in me. I can not give it you any other way. There is no other way.'"

Mission: Impossible Briefing II

2015-01-12T17:12:00.002-08:00

"You say that you trust no one, but I don't believe you. You trust constantly - even when you don't realize it. At the intersection, you trust that the other drivers will stop when their traffic lights are red; you trust the architects and builders when you walk into a building, the engineers when hopping onto a roller coaster, the cook when you're eating the meal prepared for you. To some extent you trust countless strangers on a daily basis. Just as you would have an extremely tough time surviving in this world with a full trust in all people, you would have an extremely tough time surviving in this world without any trust for any people."
"However true or not they may be to us, the trouble with all those tired, platitudinous, hackneyed mantras, which go along the lines of 'Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship,' is that many of us use them not as cries to embrace the grace of God but rather as licenses and/or excuses to celebrate sin. Make way for our beloved and ready, willing and able Christ to clean up your life already."
"Static people love to compensate for their inability to change themselves by always trying to change the world."
"The vision of the Progressive has often been but to walk forward while facing backward; the business of the Reactionary, but that of walking backward while facing forward; henceforth the fallout is oftentimes, and obviously enough, but the formulation and the construction of obstacles in life and hurdles on-site, as long as there are cliffs on edge."
"Imagine a personality so taking that others would pay their last simply to be in its presence. Then of course a number of people go for the polar opposite, too (the one not 'as well'): the one so toxic, others would rather pay their last for it to go away."
"There are some who never try, get left behind, forever dying, they just sit it by on the sidelines while they criticize, hide and scrutinize; but then there are others who are tough enough, who stand to risk their wrongs, flying high, as they rise up in this life and thus, fight right through the lies."
"By some need to appear intellectual, non-thinkers will instantly and without question subscribe to the opinions of those they feel other people think are educated."
"On a social level, secularism is safe. As literally the world's most fundamental conformist, the secularist wants to call himself a revolutionary all in the same. In most parts of the present world, rebellion against Christianity is not really much of a rebellion if one is to consider 'rebellion' something of a courageous sort or a bold act. Long ago Christ was crucified, and in some form or another, to this day, the scorn continues for 'little Christs'. The world hates Christians, and according to Christ, it is supposed to hate Christians. A true Christianity is a true rebellion; and for one to be 'freed from Christianity' is for one to religiously conform to the pressures of the rest of the world, for one to be freed from freedom."
"Pride can make one a stronger person in the one sense, or so it is often believed, when based solely on the surface, but in the other, and much more frequently, a stronger devil. When pride is undeniably found out of an evil, it saves face by doubling down."
"'God helps those who help themselves' is common sense, 'God helps those who cannot help themselves' is sound theology, and 'God helps all the living', a simple ideation."
"History fancies itself linear - but yields to a cyclical temptation."
"In some countries, the strictly Progressive man reveals himself to be just as much as if not more prejudiced than the typical Reactionary. There is at times a sort of arrogant condescension in one's gushing, bleeding-heartedness, in that, behind the mask of social activism, one is acting on behalf of one's perceived 'inferiors'. He may promote himself as the savior of the world; he may pat on the head all those he insidiously assumes to be the lesser, whether in status or class or ability, and treat them as helpless children: but the biggest danger of all is that by his own conscience he may feel for them, think for them, and thus, decide for them. It is with such, this artificial brand of empathy, and self-righteousness and narcissism, that we always naively yet so ignorantly pity 'the others', and ultimately, in our schemes to secure them, we merely hold them down."
"But what good is the popular opinion, if the lot of us just process like minions?"
"The poorly sophisticated, since many of us are, as presumed to be, lacking in good arguments, we are then prone to being well-versed in insults."
"Mock and ridicule men who refuse to use reason and logic; use reason and logic against men who know only how to mock and ridicule."
"Our entire lives we witness individuals, the ones who break some of the most culturally sensitive moral codes, ruined permanently by the media - i.e. shamed ruthlessly by the masses - i.e. dragged horribly by the village. While this is often intended to serve as a deterrent for the rest of us not to do anything too stupid, many of us choose to do stupid things anyway; and surely it is because the lot of us regard it simply as a challenge to bravery and a temptation to try to rise above or sneak past the law, to outsmart the justice system: I'm afraid the notion 'It'll never happen to me' is one of mankind's greatest hits."
"Other than out of a pure curiosity and the aim for veracity, or perhaps for educational purposes, why should it matter to you the color of Jesus? Would you love Him and what He has done for you any more or any less? If so, that would be idolatry."
"Any coward can be a peacekeeper! In fact, that comes to one naturally. But they are blessed, the peacemakers...and all those who know the difference."
"Freedom of speech is detestable only to those who have no desire to think for themselves."
"One can only return to the fact that even the most ordinary, good-hearted, intelligent people are literally prone to believing the most blatantly nonsensical untruths. And this comes from the realization that there are some opinions and some beliefs so incredibly inane, we may actually on occasion feel insane for not believing them; and that is probably because in giving the benefit of the doubt we self-doubt, we convince ourselves into lame passivity and blind acceptance, we tell ourselves, 'Maybe I'm just missing something here.'"
"Best to live and love by the maxim that 'silence in the face of evil is evil itself', but when it's evil fighting evil, let evil kill itself."
"Fanaticism can often be a normalized phenomenon, and the unwritten recipe suggests that it starts and ends with absolute certainty. If you are always certain about everything, you might just live in an echo chamber, or there might be a lack of ideological diversity among your sources and friends. Only, there is no size limit to this echo chamber as long as there is consensus: and the bigger the chamber the more solidified the fanaticism, and the more solidified the fanaticism the more the outlier will be seen as the liar and the fanatic."
"Christ is our Friend; He is also the Righteous King. God is our Father; He is also the Sovereign Lord. Christianity can be said to be both a religion and a relationship. You may often hear the cliché that it is not a religion, but a relationship only - which, I believe, is a bit too vague a statement - 'religion' has long had different meanings and implications depending on who you ask or where you are coming from. Honestly, it is sometimes the case that Christians like to think they are too cool and free and up-close and personal with God to be like other religions. Perhaps that could be argued, that could be the case, as it is written thus: 'You are no longer a slave to sin, but God's child.' So we might very well assert that Christianity is not at all some stale philosophy centered around legalistic guilt and empty rule-keeping, as the modernists so commonly define religion; although by other definitions we might as well be boasting that it is 'The Religion' simply by claiming that it is too real and too special to be deemed 'just another religion'."
"In their minds, it seems as though people don't often have the same answers, but in their hearts, they do very frequently have the same questions."
"As for the belief that humanity is mostly good, Secular humanism, when in that alignment, always presumes the existence of a higher power, or some god-like influence on man. Because it then becomes the belief that people are generally good and should be protected from the wiles of religion, as though this dark, vague and ignorant force once fell from the heavens, latched onto the purer hearts and minds of men and women, and, in all its forms, controlled and polluted the whole of human history. He says, 'When we defeat religion, humanity will be free.' But, if he were duly consistent, if he were really at all as secular as he claims, he might as well admit to what is actually an underlying brand of nihilistic cynicism: 'When we defeat humans, humanity will be free.'"
"Men often want to be known as gods, or, at the very least, to be their own gods; and indeed, they most definitely act as though they are gods...Which is to say: exigent, sure gods of (mass) confusion. In a political sense the liberal man is like one shouting over the voice of God thus making it difficult to hear God; the conservative man is like one standing in the way of God, making it difficult to see God."
"Speculation, movements having abandoned rational thought, echo chambers, projection, hypocrisy by little to no self-awareness, bewildering minds brainwashed and manipulative hearts manipulated - one is sure to find these à la people cock-sure in their biased and fanatical, immovable despising of persons. We would all do well to humbly re-think from time to time: 'Whom do I really hate? For what purpose?'"
"They say the crazies come out at night. I say the crazies come out during election year: Elections have the power to turn once seemingly normal people into certified loonies."
"If you are not there for other people, do not expect them to be there for you. In many a case one might conclude that this is part of God's sovereign justice. His grace, however, is that He Himself will always be there for you, no matter what."
"I am not convinced of the argument, 'I want to believe; it is only those awful Christians I hate. They get in the way of my belief.' If you hate Christians more than you love Christ, you do not love Christ. The question comes to mind, 'If you do not love your brother or sister whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen?'"
"Store up knowledge. Then question your own knowledge in order to expand your mind, both to build and to create more space. Then store up more knowledge. And so on. That is wisdom."
"People assume that repetition is always a static thing, but I beg to differ. Repetition is just as often the complete opposite of that: or a sign of rapid personal growth. In this repetition manifests one's ability to go on experiencing again the very same thing from a different perspective and in a brand-new light."
"We live in an age so legalistic, we find it hard to imagine someone wanting to obey their Lord simply because they love their God."
"The long-deluded will at last see the truth, and thus their expressions will have seen a ghost."
"When disinformation is running rampant, there are two ignorances that may emerge: the one is actually positive, a sort of pure and intentional emptying of the mind; but the other is of course negative and clogged and polluted."
"Christ commands his people to love their enemies, because if not, that would rule out pretty much the entire world."
"Respect elders; protect children. This I do believe. As a young man it is sometimes, in a charitable sense, difficult to shake the sentiment that every elderly person is my grandparent, and every child is my child."
"If I do not love my fellow man, I can be sure of it that I do not love Jesus Christ. And I would do well if guilty of loving Jesus Christ even more than I love my fellow man, because only by this may I fully come to love my fellow man."
"Comedy to me has always seemed a social tightrope for the comedian. For all axioms emotionally sound the general public would prefer to be amused, but in those intellectually sound, it then chooses to get offended."
"To be respected is not my concern. So long as I seek to live in obedience to my Lord, respect will come accordingly from the people He deems it necessary."
"He has a way of drawing His loves back to Himself. A psyche separated from the peace (and the freedom) of Christ is liable to entangle itself in all sorts of folly and vanity, or confused witchcraft. On the one side it will preach, 'Empowerment!' But on the other it will scream, 'Oppression!' Yes, you now have the power to be oppressed: because as long as you look to be a victim, you will find yourself to be a victim."
"April Fools' is the only day to take people seriously."
"It is not enough to call yourself a 'free thinker' just because you can change your beliefs. A whole mess of people change their beliefs based on what is fashionable rather than what is factual, which, by always following the crowd, would be the complete opposite of the beauty of a free thinker."
"A spirit ushered by false teachings is like a body nourished by sweets. The adult, as opposed to the child, will come to understand reasons one cannot live a healthy existence on nothing but candy; so likewise, the Christian must come to understand that one cannot know and love the will of God under false doctrine."
"God is so omnipotent yet man so impotent, the Divine masterpiece was not even in creating the universe, but in making sin boring to sinners."
"Our big mistake in modern intellectualism is first and foremost its lack of nuance. We have made science synonymous with atheism - a presupposed conception and yet, another means to non sequiturs - and therefore, to a number of enthusiasts determined to go further, anti-theism. Hereby let us observe that science has long served best and should be, if none other, the one discipline, if at all possible, free of potential ideology, pro-religious or anti-religious, and/or biased presupposition in order to maintain the true authenticity and the full reliability of its nature."
"There is not one harsher, more sure-fire way to fail than that of the man who tries to be like Jesus without submitting to Jesus."
"Let them spend their time condemning every action of persons they do not like; by this let them revoke their own condemnation licenses: no one will take them seriously when it comes time to condemn something that really needs to be condemned, and thus hear, hear, despite the excess noise, the reasonable voices may prevail."
"The worst evil is that most subtle evil. It is the evil that is merely 'base' which is more evil than evil itself. For it is the one closest to righteousness, the one indistinguishable and doused in virtue."
"Self-awareness - the commendable ability to be oneself without being a nuisance to someone else."
"Even the devils are theists. I am of all people one of the least qualified to judge, but I do believe that some atheists are closer to God than are some theists. With Him, it is better to be distant in the mind but near in the heart than it is to be distant in the heart but near in the mind."
"Is it 'Stockholm syndrome' when your God has never once misguided your steps? I think not! Let the lost ones dart across the darkness, bashing into walls, pretending to love their ways as we delight in obedience to the footsteps of Christ which bring us to freedom. By Faith we wander - not because we are lost, but because we are free."
"The legions who attempt to love without Christ, without a new heart, are indeed able to love amongst themselves; however this love is made possible by restraining any anger or hatred deep within the old heart, only to release it all on whichever village idiot(s) they collectively feel a crucifixion would be justified."
"As for the secularist belief that says 'if we were to eliminate all religions, the world would know peace,' this is the Atheist Heaven; thus it is so important to him (although perhaps more laughable than some say the Christian Heaven). It is about as useless as saying 'if all people were true Christians, the world would know peace,' or 'if all people were devout Muslims, the world would know peace.' And even yet, the secular dream could remain active only for a time before generational rebellion and freedom of thought were to kick in anew."
"To merely blank the page and vaguely assume that 'religion' is the cause of all the world's problems is, on the contrary, an allegation brought about by nothing more than cognitive lethargy; it is when unburied, unpacked, and exposed but a stale conclusion and a misdirection for the one overwhelmed by centuries of sound theology, scholarly thought, and spiritual development."
"Our poor world aspires simply to point out where Christians have gone wrong, and that is pretty much where it goes wrong. It is as though many of us, when of the world, are actually all the more judgmental: for we are stuck on a bad Christian while the Christian is pinned to a good Christ."
"I need not adapt in certain ways. I am in fact but a visitor to this world, an ephemeral gasp within its long, tired history, and, before anything else, a follower of Christ. By this alone I have the power not to shuffle away from the Faith, the power to break loose from these marching-shackles of ongoing cultural and political pretense."
"The rather difficult antagonists towards the Church consist not nearly of the cruel and heartless, nihilistic intellectuals who hate God and humanity, but the well-meaning spirits who for the most part lack an understanding of the Spirit."
"Peace ought not to be regarded as the height of civilization, or else like barbarians we forever battle for peace."
"Rebuke without love is abuse. But, a love that would never rebuke? I dare to admit that that, too, would be a kind of abuse."
"Life is about discovering things worth dying for."
"'It is not that men become too intelligent for God,' says the Apologist, 'but rather they become too arrogant for intelligence.'"
"They call good evil and evil good. There are those who are so easily offended that they lose their ability to ever discern any truth, and this is often derived from a sort of frenzy by way of their own masked prejudice."
"Civic duty? Perhaps it would be a little naive to try to coerce me into voting. I assure you my basic standards of healthy living are very different from yours, which is the reason I do not vote. You should note that, as nonsensical a scenario, if forced to choose I would most definitely rather live in a failing, Christ-honoring, God-fearing nation than a flourishing one that mocks said Creator. Beware of my personal ambitions."
"Growing up I sometimes imagined that for Christ's return perhaps He would appear as 'Black Jesus' to white people and 'White Jesus' to black people just to screw with the racists."
"Sure, some of us humans might be angry at a sovereign God about Hell, but know that that is about as meaningful as a few germs being angry at humans about bleach."
"The way of the consumerist culture is to spend so much energy chasing happiness that it has none left to be happy."
"That most pleasant weather to feel is the one never felt."
"There is a certain delightful sort of hope which the introvert can receive only by having company over...the hope that they will leave soon."
"The talk of sin is of course to many a big turn-off; to others, an even bigger myth - because in reality, sin is like the spiritual equivalent of a microscopic parasite, or a virus, or better yet even, an infectious disease. And just as one might never know of, until visiting a competent doctor, the tiny pathogens progressively eroding one's body, so we might never know that in sin we are eroding our being and losing direction until hearing the Word of God rightfully applied. Therefore I ask, which of the doctors would then be the more competent: the one who finds the problem and gives the solution, or the one who willfully ignores the problem (or rather finds the problem when it is much too late)? Seldom does anyone write off the knowledge of medicine for the physical body as primitive practice, so neither must the knowledge of the Word of God for one's spiritual well-being remain written off as primitive practice - quite the opposite really. As it is written thus: 'Lean not on your own understanding.'"
"They have a special confidence in Christ, plus thoughtfulness plus faithfulness plus humility: for there are no things, in all creation, more beautiful, more rare than the so very disciplined and free, joyful and principled daughters of God."
"You are the enemy and a vessel through which the cure flows - if Christ lives in you, then you are an embodiment of the very shot this hostile and crying world needs as it, in every waking moment, struggles belligerently to resist."
"Always have there been great numbers of individuals who were very much eager to fight for good causes. Always there were these, but then there were even greater numbers of trendies who would then become wholly and completely misguided in the efforts."
"...And maybe one day you will wake up as an infant in a completely different universe, and your entire life thus far was just one big dream."
"God is not some lesser employee, as many try to make Him out to be: rather He is the ultimate Treasure. He works in a man; He works on a man; He works through a man; He works around a man. Know that He does far more than simply work for a man. And yet, even as He Himself needs no one else, everyone else is ever in need of Him."
"Perhaps not everything happens for a reason. That is, until you make it so; because for everything there is a season, which can, in fact, become beautiful."
"Do not tell someone you are hungry if, whenever they feed you, you do not eat."
"It is by continuing to put out good work that the artist best shows his gratitude."
"It is sometimes but the mere hope for enjoyment that allows one to enjoy something, even when he is not really enjoying it at the moment."
"When it comes to moral dilemmas and matters of discerning right justice, my natural sympathy so often happens to land on the opposite end of that of most of my peers. I sometimes wonder if this is nothing more than the misguidedness and the wickedness of my own heart. I wonder other times if God wires some of us in such a way so that fair discourse might then be provided, so that honest and unbiased, due process is ultimately more likely to be carried out. Perhaps it is all necessary for variance of perception, for mindful debate: that the heart is meant to create a bit of bias on certain issues; as between one another, they weigh and balance. For not all hearts are the same."
"When you meet someone and you find that they are prejudiced against your kind, it might be your chance not to confirm but to be the one to finally change their mind."
"Even the self-assured truth-finders and self-proclaimed freedom-fighters reject Truth. As admirable as such endeavors may be, they still only really want it so long as it to some extent confirms what they had already presumed to be true."
"If we all knew who God really was and what he really wanted for each and every one of us, we would all know that only a fool could really deny him."
"I do not recall our Lord ever saying one could not be 'cool'. It is only a problem if one esteems 'coolness' above that which is righteous and true, which is, when we give it its way, really what many of us do. 'Coolness' is too transient to be of any real and meaningful, lasting significance, and it is often in great conflict with one being one's most honest, most vulnerable self. That, and in reality, some of the coolest people are actually those who least concern themselves with being cool anyway, those who make 'trying to be cool' less evident."
"The only sort of pride that may serve a man well on that rarest occasion is his hatred of being wrong. It keeps his mouth shut, his ears open, and his research extensive. And yet this is also the deadliest because when he is in fact proven wrong, he absolutely refuses to acknowledge it. It then keeps his mouth open, his ears shut, and his research inexistent."
"The Christian who loves his Master needs not fear any longer for himself. For it is then completely irrational, as it is written thus: 'Perfect love casts out fear.' However, it is very much rational for one to instead fear for the enemies of God."
"Christ died not so that you could freely go on sinning, and therefore, continue dying; He died rather so that you could freely grow in obedience, and therefore, start living."
"Christians sometimes make themselves into elephants afraid of mice. You have the Creator of the universe on your side; not to mention, you've been given eternal life. 'Whom or what shall you fear?' To be afraid of anything other than God himself is like an insult to God."
"The introvert's anthem for not wanting to hang out is 'It's not you; it's me.'"
"Dismally enough, some of us are insecure in such a way that we cannot bear the thought of the sovereignty of God, the thought of His Being as greater than ourselves; it moves us into feelings of insignificance. Nonetheless, allow me to personally and peacefully maintain that if I were to worship and obey anything, I would like it far greater than myself or any person or human system, preferably to a point where it, in all its majesty, makes me feel lost and even 'creatural' in my basic humanity. Only this God - He who is great beyond human measure, yet still considers His creation precious - I find to be more than worthy of praise; otherwise, I bow down and worship nothing. And if the thought of such a superior and almighty God were to indeed offend me, I would have to remember that it is because I am only as significant as the things which I am idolizing, things which are ultimately separating me, the creation, from my ultimate Creator."
"It's not the end if you're too shy to say, 'I love you.' It's only the beginning - because you're first meant to show it anyway."
"On the one hand you had people constantly fighting Hell; on the other, you had people constantly fighting Hell on earth."
"To understand even remotely the holy omnipotence of God is to understand at least from mostly to wholly the magnificence of Christ."
"To fear man's judgment more than God's judgment is to fear man more than God."
"Sanity for anyone is pretty much out of the question, as both the saint and the sinner appear only equally insane: the saint appears it for actually believing in a place of eternal torment; the sinner, for deciding to risk going to that place of eternal torment."
"Everybody knows basically what is right and what is wrong. Everybody knows better than to hate others. In fact, most people teach against it, and yet we still see it on the daily. But why do you think that is? It is because the problem was never really humans not loving humans enough; the problem was humans not loving righteousness enough. We must empty our own love for the world so that it can be replaced by the love of Christ; only then will we begin to love people as Christ loves people, as He always intended."
"Much like humans, opinions come in all shapes and forms, but in the end, they are just what they are; and may yet still be categorized in nature. The first you might say is the Indoctrinal, which is, of course, dictated by community and necessity, by the human need for acceptance; secondly, there is the Personal, and this is often dictated by individuality, by the yearning to seem interesting and intelligent, or free, or special; and lastly comes the Emotional. This is most commonly dictated by circumstance and bitterness and excitement. However, rarely do we find the case in which any of these are dictated by reason in the pure state: it is by this we see that at the core of a number of false opinions lies not always misinformation but quite often some issue of the human self."
"It's a huge disservice to classify all minds as either closed or open. I find the best minds are closed by openable windows."
"Know the word of God not in order that by doing so you might be saved; know it rather so that unlike the many you are not easily deceived. You may find that, evidently, a great many of the so-called novel ideas of the present were made without a clue that 'God', if you will, already laid profound discourse on or against them ages ago: no man has gone against God in such a way that God, from the beginning, did not already expect him to. Then, insofar as this, you will remain clear in that it is not at all that the Christian should be against newness; quite the opposite really - for a major point of Christianity is about one constantly being made new in Christ - it is only that many people are not actually bringing true newness to the table, and this is precisely because they do not first apply (or let alone even know) the wisdom of old."
"Time and time over it is the ones who try a little too hard to be innovative rebels - and for the sheer glory of being considered innovative rebels - who then turn out not quite as innovative or as rebellious as they would like to think they are."
"The Christian God seemed the most offensive to people precisely because he was the most godlike. He was too perfect even to be coaxed by human efforts, and therefore sent his son to do the job."
"God's judgment is not like man's judgment. It is not a suspension of His Love but an extension of His Love. His justice is always righteous, so His judgment is always Love."
"That which you love most will then become both your strength and your weakness."
"On the whole the modern world has been conditioned to have a chip on its shoulder against devoutly religious people. I disagree with this in some instances - particularly in, believe it or not, matters of integrity. Deep down I would often rather believe the man who honestly thinks - or better yet even, prefers - that he has an omnipotent Judge breathing down his neck, holding his every word and his every move accountable, than the man who much like his modern peers, and ironically enough, claims or wishes to bask in complete independence. It appears that the former is more free of guilt than the latter."
"You are believing not in your god but in yourself if your god knows no better than you do...and yet, in this alone, I am afraid, you have already been fooling yourself."
"But perhaps we are speaking, on the contrary, somewhat poorly of God when praising Him, or when wanting to praise Him, only during what we perceive to be our highest of moments. After all, that is in many cases the mentality behind one's unbelief altogether: the failed attempt to control God, to lower His standards to one's own level of understanding in doubt of His foresight and omniscience, His goodness and power. He wants to know if you are faithful enough to praise Him even when, to you, all seems lost."
"Through Christ, the sting of death is but a gentle pinch to the soul; and the mourning is light. Perhaps, someday, in that glorious place, free of sin, we will meet again."
"I wouldn't think that God is quite as much concerned with whether or not one actually sins as He is with whether or not in one's heart one genuinely wants to turn from sin; and therefore, continues working passionately with Him in doing so. It is not some pleasure of God's, as some might imagine, to stand around critiquing, arms crossed, holding a whip. I suppose that when someone weeps over their sins, He extends His hands; He wants them to lift their head and embrace Him and the mercy He's willing to show. But when someone is proud of their sins, He delivers His justice swiftly and righteously. Sin does not intimidate God - although He takes it very seriously - it does no real harm to Him whatsoever, only to the sinner and to other people: and He loves people."
"The actual confident man, the man truly sure of himself, is not he who esteems himself higher than others, but he who is sure enough that he can bear to esteem others higher than himself."
"Generally it appears the case that, when faced with all life's problems, the baby, he wants to cry about everything, the child wants to question everything, the teenager wants to rebel against everything, the young adult wants to solve everything, the middle-aged adult wants to protect everything, and the elder wants to accept everything."
"I do not believe it possible for one to genuinely love Truth more than people (or vice versa). One might fall into the snare of loving the search more than people, or the pride of having exposed something or someone, but not the truth itself. For if you love Truth you love people; because to love people at all and without illusion, you must also love the truth about them."
"I do not much trust the man who cares solely to inspire - he does not really inspire me - only the man who cares mostly to tell the truth, whatever that may do. For when the man who cares to tell the truth happens to inspire, I, in addition, find it easier to believe that he in fact does his homework on how and when one should truly inspire."
"Heroic ambition seemed to have been the cause of much of the world's pain then - quite like it is now. No villain ever saw himself as a villain: he only saw himself as a hero; and this goes just as no hero ever saw himself as a hero: he simply did what he had to do. No true hero initially sets out with intentions of being deemed a hero."
"Keep your finger on the pulse of society, take controversies with a grain of salt, lick your finger and then lift it to the wind; always know what is going on, my friend, so this world can never steer you wrong again."
"I am not convinced within myself that to its core and as a whole, humanity has, as some like to assume, progressed a great deal over the millennia. Human technology? Of course. Human beings? Hardly."
"Pride has quite a bit to do with hatred. In many a case in which one hates another, one subconsciously begins patterns of cherry-picking and selective hearing: he continues to look only for things about the other person which he can use to justify his hatred, things which will then make him feel less guilty about hating someone. In this regard, hatred is not so much an emotion as it is a decision."
"Heresy would like to think of itself as 'invented Truth'. But of course, all Reason and Logic would agree that no man can ever create Truth; he can only discover it. If heresy were ever at all beneficial, God would use it really to bring one right back to Truth, as countless 'inventions' have brought men to discovery."
"So the paradox goes: No man who is really ignorant is ever aware that he is ignorant. That is its finest, most faulty manifestation; there can be no true ignorance without first some claim of intelligence or consciousness, or superiority or enlightenment."
"There are those who feel that the world is ultimately moving closer to Truth and to prosperity as the times evolve; then there are those who feel that it is ultimately moving farther away from Truth and into self-destruction. From this, and if it were really that simple, one might get the impression that life gravitates slightly into two types of people who are diametrically opposed in spirit."
"In my experiences, the common critic of Christianity, when he thinks of Christianity, imagines a sort of elementary, Sunday School blunder of elements: fiery Hell, an angry God, 'try not to sin', 'be good so that you can go to Heaven', absurd miracles, hyper-fundamentalist tales, religious hypocrites, and Jesus telling people not to judge. There is no horse more dead than such. I maintain that understanding Christianity and the Bible is quite like painting a piece of art. Let a toddler paint a puppy; then let an adult who is a long-time painter paint the very same puppy. They are both paintings of the puppy, but one is far more detailed, rational, realistic, and believable than the other. One is distorted and comical; the other is proportional and lively. One can write off Theology if he so pleases, but he might not be very wise in using the toddler's painting when it comes time to identify the real puppy or when trying to confront actual men of the Faith."
"People will seek the ends of the galaxy to avoid that which they need most."
"The sacrifices we make to stay healthy, to look good, the tasty foods we skip, the guilt trips, the exercising - all these things require great discipline, care, and even a paradoxical, self-denying self-love of sorts in order to be properly executed. However it is regretful that so many of us today are not as passionate about our spiritual holiness as we are about our physical health. They are indeed both important - we should worship in every aspect of our lives - and one even, in a sense, entails the other. Although, this disproportion in said priorities is still very much expected: we humans have always taken a liking to trendiness and the temporal side of things, doing what is judged vainly in the eyes of man before that which is judged vitally and eternally in the eyes of God (i.e. "cleaning the outside of one's cup while leaving a filthy inside"). But in a way, it all goes to show that the man who fully hates discipline hates himself fully; for within the spirit is where The Holy One judges true wellness or malady."
"We are not as some people like to assume nowadays 'just being real' by embracing passively the sinful, fallen versions of ourselves. Quite the opposite really: our true selves were, from the beginning, intended to resemble the example which was then set by Christ Jesus; hence God wants to restore us to how we would have been had original sin never once befell."
"Worldly religion is that which replaces Faith with mere wishful thinking. One must not make the common mistake of putting his faith in all the things he thinks God ought to bless him with; he should instead keep his faith planted in God Himself. Present to Him his needs and wants like a child to his Father, but have faith only in His wisdom and goodness like a servant to his King. God must always be one's Everything before He is one's token to everything."
"One's suffering, one's melancholy is, in itself, really only looked upon as failure or as punishment, as detestable or sinful or socially unacceptable in the eyes of man; but this is not so in the eyes of God: for He is close to the broken-hearted."
"Men promise freedom while establishing laws; God promises laws while establishing freedom."
"Of course, if one does not fully trust the promise of God's Kingdom, he will have a hard time taking risks and making sacrifices in this life. A gospel centered around the temporal self - fleeting happiness, earthly success, vain prosperity, things such as these - is the primary ambition of the half-hearted Christian; the one who somewhat believes he is subject to an eternal death; the one who just might believe in men before God, who morbidly fears seeming less than anyone else. The man of this school feels deeply that he has but one life to live, that this must be his only chance, and therefore must have it all in his favor - from glory to comfort to riches - and have it right this instant. He is but hinting that he is overcome because he insists always that he must overcome, that his judgment comes now and by the persons around him. The point is, however, in this sense, that by grace the Christian is indeed free, but only for as long as he wants to be free - the practicality of true freedom: that of God which offers not so much freedom to be like the world as it does freedom from the pressures of having to be like the world. For Divine Law is based solely on love and freedom; whereas secular law, pressure and imitation."
"One is not necessarily made self-centered because he is foolish, but one is very often made foolish because he is self-centered."
"Some skeptics believe religious people are religious because they fear Hell. It's about as fair as saying skeptics are skeptics because they fear the ridicule of modern society."
"If you want to know how negative you are, pay attention to how much you hate negativity in other people. Fragile, artificial positivity needs always to be surrounded by more positivity in order to stay positive, but the ability to be positive, happy, and even, at times, appreciative around 'negative people' is the mark of real positivity."
"Pride is pride not because it hates being wrong, but because it loves being wrong: To hate being wrong is to change your opinion when you are proven wrong; whereas pride, even when proven wrong, decides to go on being wrong."
"There is this common notion that young conservatives are the few, that most people had liberal worldviews when they were young. If this is true, then it is with great irony that a number of old liberals must never have progressed into conservatives as they grew older."
"Never marry when under the guise you need to 'see if it'll work', but rather marry because in your mind you want to make it work."
"Where God is like the sun, the Devil is like a raindrop. There is no 'God vs. Satan' because they aren't even that close in power and authority. The former is very patient; the latter is at mercy."
"The pride of man hopes but to blame God for the evils of the world, and to praise himself for the good."
"It is in the nature of man to want what he does not have. This modern concern for happiness seems a real testimony of its absence."
"A true prophet would rather be believed false by many but actually true than believed true by many but actually false."
"Perhaps it is true that, by some definitions, Satan is more religious than God. Many of the particularly proud sinners are deceived into thinking that Satan is anti-religious, that he likes seeing people do immoral things simply because he likes immoral things. Doubtful; Satan likes for people to do immoral things so that he can blame them for doing immoral things. The Father of Lies laughs not with his teammates, but at them."
"As cliché as it might sound, I'd rather lose than win by cheating. The latter is a much deeper, more personal loss in that one is admittedly whispering to himself his lack of competence. His cheating then begets more cheating, as he is ever-privately, ever-subconsciously insulting himself; thus, gradually deteriorating any remaining confidence."
"A great many skeptics are unfortunately put to waste, in that they vainly focus their energy on ridiculing a certain tiny denomination of Biblical fundamentalism, a denomination seated just one chair away from unbelief. They, the skeptics, cannot believe because they are the most literal of fundamentalists: of those who must interpret Scripture as simply an obsolete, absolutely dead compilation of intellectual incompetence. Nevertheless, by all means, because, after all, that is supposed to happen - Scripture states of itself that all thought and interpretation is folly without the Holy Spirit - however the ironic thing is the case in which one believes that the Bible is, in its true essence, completely outdated. And like flashes in a pan, he hints at his naivety, that he knows little about the world around him, little about those who live in it. Either that, or he knows little about what Scripture really says in relation to the world around him, little about what it really says in relation to those who live in it. It is as though he is the one dead to the world and it to him. He has not the Spirit to give life to his own spirit; he can only possibly understand Scripture as long-deceased rather than the modern world's very living narrative."
"I'm not a political Christian; for the most part I allow people even their vain, earthly rights. And I certainly don't see anti-Christians as bad or evil (as if they actually have the power to pose any kind of threat against God Almighty), but rather complete idiots I was commanded to love."
"The hype cheapens the hyped, as right things are then made wrong by exaggeration."
"Humility is by far the most spiritual virtue of the lot. The only way by which one may cease obsessing over himself is to wholly step outside his flesh. But who could do this by himself? And who would really want to under his natural pretense? And even if somehow he could and he succeeded, would not it be artificial? Would not he seem far too aware of his own talents of achieving humility for it to be such? Alternatively, he would need a distraction, something else to love; it is not that the Humbleman thinks poorly of himself, nor highly for that matter, but rather he does not think of himself at all - and this is because he is too busy loving something or someone else to do it. For the humility of this kind 'rears its head' as the most love-driven and free, spiritual of virtues; whereas its opposite, pride, the most self-imprisoning human vice."
"False humility is quite like the worst of both worlds: both that of Meekness and that of Conceit."
"Now what religion has never had sects? Rest assured, Extremism is always the derrière."
"But the Egotist is stuck somewhere between his hidden triad of pride, fear, and insecurity; he is forever fighting to prove himself, instigating battles the Humbleman has unwittingly conquered, already sealed some time ago. Yes, the day he finally accepts face-to-face such an irony as humility - the irony that humility is indeed the mother of giants, that great men, having life so large, as needed, can afford to appear small - the world will then know peace."
"You might be an introvert if you were ready to go home before you left the house."
"To respect a mystery is to make way for the answer."
"Creator of all Things, to sing: At the Potter's House, you see, we are His Pottery...Because God writes (in) Love, and speaks (in) 'Poetree': The Nature of Things, the King of Kings, oh Kingdom of the Holy, we sing!"
"The denial of truth does not harm the Truth; it only harms that which denies the Truth."
"Some of the most polished ideas are discovered through healthy, honest debate, so if you don't argue with yourself every once in a while, other people will gladly point out if, in any sense, you missed a spot."
"Assuming what people want is about as controlled as using fireworks to start a fire."
"Their doubt is your fuel for dreams. You just have to drive."
"In the heart of appeasement there's the fear of rejection, and in acts of fear there are mirrors of oppression."
"Nothing amuses people more than a cocky guy who starts losing."
"There are 2 kinds of fighters: those who fight because they hate, and those who fight because they love."
"We often use the Bible as a source for personal validation and defense, a sidekick and a shield, but these will prove ineffective without first the other part. We must also allow ourselves to be wounded by it. We tend to forget its authority - that it is a double-edged sword. Our decrepit, depraved hearts must be completely ripped out in order to welcome that of God."
"The fans are always more radical than what they admire."
"Plot twist: everything goes exactly as planned."
"If beauty is relative, then any and everything when compared to the beauty of God is absolutely hideous."
"We must not allow our pride to be the motivation behind our apologetics; rather, philoverity, the love of truth must be the full and complete motivation. For pride corrupts truth."
"If your doctrine changed for the better yet your character changed for the worse, you changed for the worse."
"On athleticism, God knows no favor. It seems rather he is in the business of teaching winners how to lose and losers how to win."
"Only to the short-sighted, through the fog, would it appear that God is a monster."
"Some of the simplest of truths are also some of the most difficult of truths, but such is Christianity: 'If it's not about Christ, it's not about life.'"
"No matter how kind you are, always expect a few imbeciles."
"To be naive is to be unaware of how foolish and cruel other people are; but, by some definitions, ignorance is nearly the opposite of naivety in being a kind of cynicism, in being unaware of their intelligence and humanity. It seems to be a normal although unfortunate case that the great many of us consciously abhor ignorance in others yet subconsciously practice it ourselves: as naivety is apparent and well-known to inflict its damage upon oneself; whereas the alternative and the easier, ignorance, its damage upon others."
"By(e) pen, I've tried my hand at poetry; only to see how boring it is to me. That is, unless I get a chance to destroy each and every piece while doing it as I please."
"The best of fiction, as we know, of course, doesn't tell the truth; it tales the truth."
"After each of his books, the writer, for a while, feels once again that he can now die happy."
"The extent of creativity to which I admire in an individual is his ability to be richly creative while still, in a way, telling the truth. It is the fool who creates only his own lies, and the bore who simply repeats what he is told."
"With enough mental gymnastics, just about any fact can become misshapen in favor to one's confirmation bias."
"You can perhaps, in a number of circumstances, tell yourself that you can't have more than you have until you do better than you're doing, but by all means steer clear of its reverse, the creed of defeat, in saying that you can't do better than you're doing until you can have more than you have."
"Like all great things which then become fashions, science, as now the universal stamp of approval, probably receives more abuse than any other field of study. Glaze the word itself over whatever vague ideology one may presume ratified, no matter the degree of pseudo-science or lack of scholarly credibility packaged within, and the many will consume it like gravy on a feast. My thought for the time is that as the promise of true science increases, so shall rise its many more superficial counterparts as provided by the agenda-bound trendies and hyper-ambitious laypersons to boot."
"All knowledge meets an end at the question '...Why?'"
"To the loyal and to the blood-lovers, in the good families and in the fiery dynasties, life is family and family is life. It is the same people who give advice and their vices to live well who turn out to be the ones who give resource and reason to live long."
"Work was intended not to give a man a reason to live, but rather to give him a means to live."
"If you assume that the new - and simply because it's new - is always to be better than the old, chances are you've never known anything valuable."
"Pure wisdom is the fruit of life; banal platitudes, the bane of existence."
"If you don't like the solution, change the problem."
"Jealousy from a love affair is something (to which) even God can admit."
"Law without reason is criminal."
"God hates sin not because he wants us to be good little boys and girls, but because he knows sin destroys that which he loves most: sinners."
"Truth is not fully explosive, but purely electric. You don't blow the world up with the truth; you shock it into motion."
"I sit and ponder my existence: how I'm here, what put me here in these thoughts, these feelings, birthed from a timeless sleep, what it felt like, or rather the lack thereof, to not have been and now to 'be', and suddenly, I realize how absurd I am to exist, the fragility in my understanding of existence; I then wonder why the supernatural, the thought of other beings, of God or of gods, must be distinctly absurd - by which I am no longer sure. 'If I exist and I have made myself absurd to me, then why not they exist while merely believed absurd by me?' Perhaps it is true that in a wandering head, one full of wonders, the natural becomes supernatural and the supernatural becomes preternatural (or rational within the sights of discovery and explanation), just as the return home after a life-long journey feels, for a moment, foreign after the many experiences."
"If I were to believe in God enough to call him a murderer, then I might also believe enough that he, as a spirit, exists beyond death; and therefore only he could do it righteously. For the physical being kills a man and hatefully sends him away, whereas God, the spiritual being, kills a man and lovingly draws him nigh."
"Few endeavors, if any at all, I find to be inherently mature or inherently immature. Maturity is neither defined by one's particular preferences nor by one's particular activities; rather, it is defined by the strength of one's character."
"Initially, the God of the Old Testament might seem overwhelming and domineering to you, or tyrannical, or perhaps even evil, which is good. It is the first telling that God is indeed God, by sheer definition, and not some ear-tickling fairy by which one in his depravity is guaranteed to find another form of stale romanticism or love at first sight. For such a first impression as the latter would be problematic to the essence of Christianity. Therefore the Christians are right in saying that the nature of imperfect men cannot ultimately co-exist with the nature of a perfect God; and that the hope of each man is now desperately found in God's sending of Christ."
"For the case that one thinks he has plateaued in life, God has already set yet another peak for him to reach: and a much more challenging peak than his own, one that is to serve others."
"My belief is that, morally, God and Satan are vaguely on the same page. According to the common understanding of Satan's origins, 'holiness' is, metaphorically, frozen stiff in his veins: and at that a corrupted formula - i.e. legalism. The vital difference is that God is willing to offer grace for our sins; he delights in grace. God is the one and only holy and just punisher of sin, yes, but that is partly so because punishment for the sake of punishment is not something he loves. Whereas Satan, as the accuser, and as it is written, actually seeks God's permission to punish; he, being a seasoned legalist, delights in finding wrongs and will defy his own morality just to expose immorality. This is why both the anti-religious soul and the violently religious soul are, whether consciously or unconsciously, and sadly enough, glorifying their biggest hater: Satan is not only a lawless lover of punishing lawlessness, but also the sharpest theologian of us all. He loves wickedness, but only because he loves punishing wickedness."
"Question like a child, reason like an adult, and write like a sage."
"In each generation, there is this certain wisdom of the ages that gets reburied in the fleeting drivelings of modernity; then, like a diamond in the rough, it is yet again unearthed by a very small minority who not only restores it but also polishes it and presents it as something new, something highly valuable and refreshing as understood by the current generation."
"How easy it is for so many of us today to be undoubtedly full of information, yet fully deprived of accurate information."
"I'm always talking to God about whether or not he exists - that's how I know I'm a theist."
"God will save whomever He chooses to save. The Christian should proselytize not because he thinks he can change everybody; he should proselytize because the Gospel being shared is the ultimate act of love: because he thinks he can love everybody."
"All things remarkable are surprisingly simple; albeit difficult to find."
"Whether you try too hard to fit in or you try too hard to stand out, it is of equal consequence: you exhaust your significance."
"Every exceptional bias against Christianity I find to be evidence for its validity."
"Together, we form a necessary paradox; not a senseless contradiction."
"Without Christ a people may always have the freedom to do, but never the power to complete."
"Any halfway clever devil would decorate the highway to Hell as beautiful as possible."
"Because you're always learning, the chief lesson remains: you still know nothing."
"It is a healthy approach not to expect persons to turn out precisely how you would have wished."
"The consequence model - the logical one, the amoral one, the one that refuses divine intervention - is really only a problem for the hypothetical rationalist. Towards God, I would rather be grateful for Heaven, which I do not deserve, than angry about Hell, which I do deserve. By this reasoning, the rationalist within must choose either atheism or theism; but he cannot, through good reason, choose anti-theism. What guides him instead is mathematical law (not divine justice): 'This equation, this path, will consequently direct me to a specific point.' Whereas the alternative, which he denies, says: 'God will send me wherever He wills, and do so strictly for His own sovereign amusement.' The consequence model, the former, seeks the absence of God because within that model, no God exists to rescue one from one's inevitable consequences. Therefore, the angry anti-theist within - the 'logical' one who wants to be master of his own fate - can only contradict himself. I do not think it wise to be angry at mathematics."
"Those small moments of pleasure men get from sin, from defying God, are perhaps grace - His final gift still to those who hard-heartedly choose to deny Him. Godless men may blatantly enjoy offending God not because they are free-spirited, but on the whole because He moves them to enjoy it. Sin is, in a sense, still touching God: for a strike involves a touch. Perhaps this is His divine kindness. Faithful men find everlasting fulfillment in His good company; but godless men who strike at the Author of Joy, who are completely ignorant of the greater, for them - and by God's love for His enemies - there is yet this small recoil known as 'pleasure' before the fall."
"Even the richest of brands are robbed by poor character."
"What's simple is that everything good comes from God, and everything bad comes from man. Where it gets complicated is that everything seemingly good but ultimately bad comes from man, and everything seemingly bad but ultimately good comes from God."
"Fashion is simply a guideline for style-less people to appear stylish."
"Trends are about as fickle as the direction of the wind; as are the legacies of those who flow with them."
"The truth exposes some people so deeply, their last defense is to front a carefree insanity."
"Always seek justice, but love only mercy. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice."
"To me, many of what seemed to be Bible contradictions only pointed to the grace of Christ. It is not so much a rule book on how to be holy as it is a prophecy of the One who can make you holy. In this, I see God as the least bigoted of all in existence: While men always, in their hearts, delight in vengeance for being wronged, God is the only Being who wants to free you from the penalty of His own laws."
"The problem is that politics is made a sport, almost as much a sport as football or baseball. When it comes to politics, adults and politicians do more finger-pointing and play more games than children ever do. Too often are we rooting for the pride of a team rather than the good of the nation."
"Of all individuals, the hated, the shunned, and the peculiar are arguably most themselves. They wear no masks whatsoever in order to be accepted and liked; they do seem most guarded, but only by their own hands: as compared to the populace, they are naked."
"One may suffer the long-term in order to grow in appreciation for the small things. For in short-term suffering, one only notices the large."
"The study of Scripture can be quite like mastering an instrument. No one is so good that they cannot get any better; no one knows so much that they can know no more. Professionals, in just about anything, often have this special degree of humility which is exclusive to professionals. Yet an amateur, or a lack of practice, or a lack of experience can be spotted from a mile away. His technicality, his discernment, his spiritual ears, they are razor-sharp. He is familiar with the common mistakes, the counter-arguments; and insofar as this, he can clearly distinguish the difference between the honest critic of the Faith and the mere fool who criticizes what he knows nothing about."
"I suspect that 'Kindness and Cruelty' and 'Mercy and Justice' all have secret affairs, as though they rendezvous only within certain sophisticated souls: those who hate being offensive, but love telling the truth."
"The first reaction is surely the most natural one, but not always the most correct one; thereupon, the invention of apologies."
"One either cares what others think about him, or cares what others think he thinks about them. If you want to find someone who doesn't care in the slightest what anyone thinks, try a lunatic asylum."
"Science is knowledge meeting humility meeting curiosity: ever-evolving, always learning. Atheism is often but knowledge meeting arrogance: a masquerade under the wing of the beauty of science. Religion is infamously a weight under the one wing; then under the other is atheism, the championed masquerade."
"Speaking a painful truth should be done only in love - like wielding a sword with no hilt - it should pain oneself in direct proportion to the amount of force exerted."
"The funny thing about the heart is a soft heart is a strong heart, and a hard heart is a weak heart."
"Character that is fruit-producing can be summed up in the mastery of these 5 qualities: morals, but a sense of humor; love, but respect for criticism; intelligence without pretense; humility without self-loathing; and a mind open, but with solid convictions."
"Although I would probably think quite differently, as far as I can tell, if I were an atheist, my message to a number of the Christians of today I imagine would be somewhat along the following lines: 'Please, remember my autonomy. Do not confront me like yet another life coach, although with a shady, self-serving religious twang, and although ironically, telling me how to use god for my own agenda in order to 'live it up' for the umpteenth time. I did already attend a secular university for 5 years; I heard all the best, generic, lame success seminars out there; I know success; I know prosperity; my narcissism is well-fed. What is so special about your offer? Your religion is fake; your god is useless. Show me how to Jesus. That is the gem, but you seem nothing like it. Sincerely.'"
"Misguided good men are more dangerous than honest bad men. It is because they are seen as good that, in and by good conscience, the mob will always, stubbornly back them without question."
"I treat my thoughts like an old person treats their valuables: I cannot for the life of me proceed to throwing them out."
"A prophet is always underestimated, and part of what makes one a prophet is that he doesn't really mind it."
"Every category has its snobs: music, books, movies. There are so many things a man is only pressured into liking or disliking."
"God loves each person, I believe; although, just like we do in our private homes, He reserves His kingdom only for those whom He enjoys."
"Some days you feel like you're the worst of sinners; others like you're the most righteous person on earth. I am convinced that the former is when you're closest to God."
"The purest regret, no matter what, is thinking you didn't love enough."
"Nothing frustrates people more than a cocky guy who's still winning."
"Confirmation bias is the most effective way to go on living a lie."
"If only we were all better educated. If then, higher education would at last be a journey for skill and knowledge rather than for power and status."
"The internet is where some people go to show their true intelligence; others, their hidden stupidity."
"If Christians always seemed to be the most intelligent and the most righteous of men, I'd be a skeptic."
"Today's zealots are mostly those pretending to be anti-religious."
"Christ didn't join in. He saw which direction the rocks were being thrown, and became a shield."
"Good friends will allow you to be as innocent and free as a child when in private, and as wise and mature as an adult when in public."
"I once began to ask around what constitutes a good poem. It felt petty, in a sense. A boy would need no help in deciding which girls he thinks are pretty."
"Power without compassion is like a giant that blocks the sunlight."
"Silence might be a shout for the truth. It might be the speech that someday, in its truest, most uncontaminated, unadulterated state, all will be revealed."
"Still, one can be honest yet quite mistaken."
"Rather than swallowing our pride and simply asking what we do not know, we choose to fill in the blanks ourselves and later become humbled. Wisdom was often, in its youth, proven foolish, and ones humiliated were meant to become wise."
"Man's delight in the Lord is the absolute peak of human triumph. He praises God when full of joy, and when not, he praises God to become full of joy. For to know and to live as though God is worthy of all praise, in all one's circumstances, whether seemingly good or seemingly bad, is the primary definition of joy and the richest triumph for man under God."
"Quiet people always know more than they seem. Although very normal, their inner world is by default fronted as mysterious and therefore assumed weird. Never underestimate the social awareness and sense of reality in a quiet person; they are some of the most observant, absorbent persons of all."
"A man who loves others based solely on how they make him feel, or what they do for him, is really not loving others at all - but loving only himself."
"Who you are in public is a test of your conviction; who you are in private, integrity."
"I pity the man who praises God only when things go his way."
"A good work ethic is not so much a concern for hard work but rather one for responsibility. There have been a great many men and women who have in fact used work or hustle or selfish ambition as an escape from real responsibility, an escape from purpose. In matters such as these, the hard worker is just as dysfunctional as the sloth."
"The disruption of science is one which abandons the method and seeks to conquer grounds outside its territory. It is not at all religion but this pseudo-science that is the enemy of science."
"Only the man who thinks himself a fool is as wise as he thinks."
"There are no keys to success - only tools."
"Unsettling are the days in which everyone is an expert."
"Reality. It is sometimes brought through foreign eyes; because if you do not know any better, you cannot see the worse (and vice versa)."
"God is not a God of confusion, although at times one's judgment, for a period, may become clouded in the mi(d)st of one's growth process. I stopped fooling myself into thinking that Christ is always for the cool kids and never for those upright and uptight religious people everybody hates."
"There is nothing new under the sun but that of the Son. Man's rebellion against God has always been because he would rather fall in pride than rise in humility."
"I never feel unsafe except for when the majority is on my side."
"There are 2 kinds of artists, essentially: those who want to make something popular, and those who want to make something dignified. But then there is still that rare hybrid case, and perhaps by that unintentional stroke of genius, in which one's work uncontrollably becomes both popular and dignified yet beyond its time."
"As for the majority, it is not so much race as it is political affiliation that really divides it today. What was once an issue of physical difference is now one of intellectual difference. Men have yet to master disagreeing without flashing all their frustrations that come with it; the conservative will throw half-truths while the liberal will throw insults. Combine these and what do you get? A dishonest mockery of a country."
"With no positivity, there is no hope; with no negativity, there is no improvement."
"To claim that one can never live a positive life with a negative mind is a very negative claim to make!"
"You wander. You work nearly every job known to man, it seems, only to arrive at the wonderings of philosophy."
"There is this common notion that people are shallow and ignorant until they go out and see the world. I, on the other hand, went out and in comparison realized I was in pretty good standing."
"To be happy to be sad and sad to be happy is to sing an echo in that beautiful language called Sorrow."
"A number of our scientists boast intelligence but lack wisdom. I find those to be the predictable ones."
"The petty man wants to use God for himself; the ambitious man wants God to use him for God."
"Knowing the truth is so minuscule compared to having the nerve to say it...and even more to live it."
"You can receive all the compliments in the world, but that won't do a thing unless you believe it yourself."
"As for those who spite you, and seemingly just because, it's only evident that they're learning from you. Maybe you taste bad - kind of like medicine, kind of like truth - and to them, you're thought unsafe. There is flattery in being chewed out and spit up. Humans have always had a hard time digesting foreign things."
"To esteem what makes you holy over what makes you happy - that is the greatest dare."
"A utopian system, when established by men, is likely to be synonymous with a dystopian depression. The only way for perfect peace by man is absolute control of all wrongs. Bully-cultures find this: with each and every mistake, another village idiot is shamed into nothingness and mindlessly shut down by the herd. This is a superficial peace made by force and by fear, one in which there is no freedom to breathe; and the reason it is impossible for man to maintain freedom and peace for everyone at the same time. Christ, on the other hand, transforms, instead of controls, by instilling his certain inner peace. This is the place where one realizes that only his holiness is and feels like true freedom, rather than like imprisonment, and, too, why Hell, I imagine, a magnified version of man's never-ending conflict between freedom and peace, would be the flesh's ultimate utopia - yet its ultimate regret."
"Growing up, I always had a soldier mentality. As a kid I wanted to be a soldier, a fighter pilot, a covert agent, professions that require a great deal of bravery and risk and putting oneself in grave danger in order to complete the mission. Even though I did not become all those things, and unless my predisposition, in its youngest years, already had me leaning towards them, the interest that was there still shaped my philosophies. To this day I honor risk and sacrifice for the good of others - my views on life and love are heavily influenced by this."
"I respect traditional people - they have the eyes which see value in the tarnished. This is a gift in itself. Tradition requires a wealth of discipline in order to be adhered to, hence it is rarely found in youth."
"The hardest chore to do, and to do right, is to think. Why do you think the common man would choose labor as a distraction from his own thoughts? It is because that level of stress he most abhors."
"An anomaly has his own ambitions. You can try reasoning with him, but that's like using money to bribe a beast."
"So, how close are love and genius, really? We know that they are both mentioned far more than lived."
"Trustful people are the pure at heart, as they are moved by the zeal of their own trustworthiness."
"You can never make someone like something they don't like, but you can always help them to better understand it."
"The survival of poor opinions can make a thinker feel as though he is failing humanity."
"It is a harsh reality that some of the most important and respectable jobs which deserve high salaries might be better off with low salaries. A politician, or a minister, or a teacher is sure to be working sincerely and selflessly for the good of the people when through and through there is little monetary reward guaranteed. This is how the charlatans are weeded out of the field."
"Take lightly what you hear about individuals. We need not distort trust for our paltry little political agendas. We tend to trust soulless, carried information more than we trust soulful human beings; but really most people aren't so bad once you sit down and have an honest, one-on-one conversation with them, once, with an open heart, you listen to their explanations as to why they act the way they act, or say what they say, or do what they do."
"Mankind, in all his lusts, punishes himself. The gods have to do very little."
"Controversy is a last resort for the talentless."
"The wrath of God is never an evil wrath. God gets angry because he loves people like a mother would love her child if someone were to harm it. There is something wrong if the mother never gets angry; it is safe to say that that is the unloving mother."
"The Bible does not say money is the root of all evil; it says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. A poor man who, in his heart, worships the idea of being rich is more vulnerable to its evils than a rich man who has a heart to use it all for the Lord."
"Nightmares are seldom a foreshadowing of real events, but always a showing of real fears."
"While there may be various tips, pointers, ingredients, and strategies to success, there is no one formula that always guarantees it other than to keep learning from failure itself."
"Be willing to give, but only when you aren't expecting anything in return."
"I am often guilty of expecting the worst so as to avoid disappointment and welcome surprise."
"Pride is born as a mountaintop on a valley, but dies as an abyss in which it is too deep and too dark to see the better."
"When there's music in your soul, there's soul in your music."
"There have been times I've felt so much art in my soul I grew sick of artists."
"Unprovoked hostility is often but displaced self-defense: 'I must stop him before he stops me.' In many of such environments, nobody is really hateful so much as they are just fearful."
"People, generally, are equally insecure. They just show it (or hide it) differently."
"Angels are good not simply because they see bad as bad, but also because they see bad as corny."
"To be intuitive is to possess a godly characteristic: to be bad at second-guessing the good."
"The best people are always the worst. They drive everyone mad by being so good at second-guessing everything bad."
"No man voluntarily expresses his opinion without some intent to make a difference, and even if he does, he shouldn't."
"Trying to be offensive for the sole purpose of being offensive should always deem one the least offensive of offenders."
"Look for the person everyone hates, and love them."
"This is almost always the case: A piece of art receives its f(r)ame when found offensive."
"Never take advice about never taking advice. That is an old vice of men - to dish it out without being able to take it - the blind leading the blind into more blindness."
"If you're not a smart worker, it's about how hard you work double the amount from the heart; if you're not a hard worker, it's about how smart you work but times two from the brain."
"What we fail to realize is we often become like Pharisees in our ruthless attempts to identify Pharisees (and impostors). While indeed some people use the old laws of religious pride to tear down men of God, others use the new laws of anti-religious anger to tear down men of God."
"Naturally, I always place my word over anyone else's simply because I know why I said what I said."
"It often seems as though the silent, humble servant is secretly wiser and more discerning than the haughty master; yet through dutiful (and sometimes insecure) surrender he continues to serve and carry out petty orders in loyal acquiescence."
"Reason begets honesty, and honesty, if given its head, begets confidence; so consequently, there is a sort of grand authority in the stances of those who know why they are standing."
"Let our information and social technologies raise awareness and not propaganda, build connections and not passive-aggression."
"Envy is a sign of insecurity, yes; but so is longing to be envied."
"If you're waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you'll never make it."
"Hopefully, when your actions and deeds - and therefore other people - boast for you, you're made tired of hearing it, too, from your own mouth because if not, all could lose sight of those actions and deeds behind the gong of your boasting."
"It is so easy at times for a lonely individual to begin fantasizing about what the people outside are saying about him and, as a result, irrationally and fearfully, and sometimes angrily, fancy himself a villain."
"The foundation of morality on the human sentiments of what is acceptable behavior versus repulsive behavior has always made morals susceptible to change. Much of what was repulsive 100 years ago is normal today, and - although it may be a slippery slope - what is repulsive today is possible to be normal 100 years into tomorrow; the human standard has always been but to push the envelope. In this way, all generations are linked, and one can only hope that every extremist, self-proclaimed progressive is considering this ultimate 'Utopia' to which his kindness will lead at the end of the chain."
"The wrong approaches to faith and to skepticism are equally detrimental to the path. For the former declares its answers too soon and is later found false; the latter rejects sound answers altogether and hashes itself useless."
"Goodness is sparked by a caution for the sake of what is good, not a fear of what is bad."
"To swear day and night by media slander will make one a bigger victim than the slandered. It doesn't take much to begin to fear a mere illusion of human badness."
"In a society where dirt sells, for every good story told as it is, you will hear the whole of that day's 10 bad stories sensationalized; although in reality, it could be that 100 good deeds happened that day which went unsung."
"Astray from a deep sleep chronic as I write by phonics, like insomnia I will always live the onyx night for revealing, and, upon it, still I'll steal the bright light of day right away just to keep building at speeds hypersonic."
"The complete recipe for imagination is absolute boredom."
"There might come a time to not follow your passion, so to speak, although it must be prioritized. It may be the case that your passion will serve as the medic, your peace of mind, alongside a higher calling, with your higher calling being the point man."
"What I admire about the modern atheist is not at all his logic, but rather his gift of imagination. There will always be the cartoon versions of Christianity further perpetuated by the extremist atheists who do not possess the humility to ask real scholars and theologians its difficult questions. There is little doubt that the atheist has the bigger imagination: the first reason is due to his persistent caricatures of what constitutes a Christian; the second because of his belief that most of his questions are actually rhetorical. From this I can infer that, instead of laughing at one another (the Christian at modern atheist immaturity and the modern atheist at Christian stupidity), we would have a better chance at productivity laughing with one another as we all dumb down what we don't understand."
"Love without humility results in the inclination to act as everyone's parent; humility without love results in the need to be everyone's child; but love with humility results in the desire to be a friend."
"A thief is one who insists on sharing his victimhood."
"The evangelist is the world's hopeless romantic, and just like a hopeless romantic, he must hope for the miracle of God more than the romance itself."
"Friends ask you questions; enemies question you."
"Peculiar, I say, how so often the smallest, most seemingly insignificant details later unveil their faces as vital means for progression."
"One of the bigger mistakes of our time, I suppose, was preaching the demonization of all judgment without teaching how to judge righteously. We now live in an age where, apart from the inability to bear even good judgment when it so passes by, still everyone, inevitably, has a viral opinion (judgment) about everything and everyone, but little skill in good judgment as its verification or harness."
"The hope is indeed that some will experience and believe: The purpose of a number of spiritual gurus is to demonstrate to God-fearing men faux spirituality."
"Even when the truth is in fact simple, simplicity is still relative."
"Be careful not to appear obsessively intellectual. When intelligence fills up, it overflows into a parody."
"I enjoy poetry where I can talk as bizarre as I please, but theology or philosophy, I always respect the truth by taking it a step further."
"Every new generation believes its own period to be absolutely superior intellectually - greater than all past cultures yet equal among its modern cultures."
"If what you create seems to turn out much stranger than who you are as a person, it's probably because your heart is talking."
"God judges men from the inside out; men judge men from the outside in. Perhaps to God, an extreme mental patient is doing quite well in going a month without murder, for he fought his chemical imbalance and succeeded; oppositely, perhaps the healthy, able and stable man who has never murdered in his life yet went a lifetime consciously, willingly never loving anyone but himself may then be subject to harsher judgment than the extreme mental patient. It might be so that God will stand for the weak and question the strong."
"Fame is an island, and right before the castaway, the getaway of being known without being known."
"Where everyone wants to be a leader, it makes one a follower to want to be a leader, and a leader to know what to follow."
"A wise man's goal shouldn't be to say something profound, but to say something useful."
"God wants us to humbly and sincerely ask him things. How often do you enjoy people talking about you without taking the time to get to know you?"
"What men classify as living is often but the discontentment of making oneself itch just to enjoy the scratch."
"Like most arts, the link between the mind and the pen can chain you like an enslaved workaholic. Even on an intended vacation you suddenly have this killer urge to record whatever the vacation may teach."
"Lingering, bottled-up anger never reveals the 'true colors' of an individual. It, on the contrary, becomes all mixed up, rotten, confused, forms a highly combustible, chemical compound then explodes as something foreign, something very different than one's natural self."
"The last thing Scripture should do is make you blind in the world. Instead, you hear everything, see everything, and feel everything because everything just so happens to point right back to it."
"Some people are ignorant of the world but educated in Scripture, and are therefore prone to missing the relevance of Scripture - these sometimes, later, amidst life's challenges and doubts, turn from the faith; other people are ignorant of Scripture but educated in the world, and are therefore prone to missing the truth of Scripture - they are often those who ridicule the faith. The apologist stands somewhere in the center. He articulates where some are prone to understanding the truth in beauty, others the beauty in truth - that of a spiritual Creator in relation to his scientific creation."
"If life is music, I sometimes feel as though I was born on the off-beat of the song, and I love it. As Christian numbers reportedly decrease in America, my love for Christ feels as though it increases. Perhaps that is a little strange, yes, but in all honesty, I now want to be thought unfaithful about as much as a smug aristocrat wants to be thought a hobo."
"My confidence is in the idea that I may be wrong on this or that. No man in this life should ever have to bear the burden of perfection."
"I appreciate a book intended to be judged by its cover. The insincere readers are often weeded out while the sincere readers remain curious."
"Maturity is when you're able to say, 'It's not just them. It's me.'"

Killosophy

2015-01-11T14:56:00.002-08:00

My latest work and book number four, Killosophy, is now published. This one deviated from my original trilogy of poetry books (Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality, Venus in Arms, and Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile) in that it consists of 2 different parts, "Killing Knowledge" and "Loving Wisdom".

"Killing Knowledge" is a book of aphorisms which stretch across countless subjects, ranging from apologetics to love, war and conflicts, relationships and humility, art and music, religion/spirituality and politics, humor and light-heartedness, etc. It is my aim for all to come out from the read with even more wisdom, wonder, and perspective. And while some may find it intellectually challenging, or maybe even frustrating, others may find it a fun and clever read.

"Loving Wisdom" is a book of poems, previously unreleased, which all reflect a very different yet witty and fun universe. This part is focused on imagination, creativity, rhythm, and wordplay as opposed to the rather firm convictions of "Killing
Knowledge".

Also, what I enjoy about the book is that the titles "Killing Knowledge" and "Loving Wisdom" may seem to be some sort of reverse psychology after reading the tone and the nature of the 2 different parts. However, I will leave that for the reader to decide, as in, which part impacted one more or less and in what ways.

I appreciate a book intended to be judged by its cover. The insincere readers are often weeded out while the sincere readers remain curious. Due to my alter-ego, TheKillosopher, I have been well-associated with the word and metaphorical concept of "killosophy". "Killosophers" challenge and question; they have humble convictions and a passion for the truth. It is not the rejection of philosophy ("love of wisdom"), but rather its passion. As "killosophy" is strengthened by the humility of not being a know-it-all, God is left to be one's teacher, the one who leads a man into all truth. I believe that God is, in his sovereign, omniscient wisdom and knowledge, the true "Killosopher":

"Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become 'fools' so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As it is written, 'He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.'" ~1 Corinthians 3:18-19

Skepticism's Compassionate yet Faithless Worries (e.g. "What happens to babies, children, and the mentally ill who suffer and die?")

2014-01-27T21:57:00.002-08:00

While of course, it is in no man's authority to make that judgment, being "the big one", the one where we discern who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell, we must rely on God's omniscience, his infinite wisdom to at least remotely grasp some sensible apologetics for this inevitable question. If we believe that God is indeed a good God, then we must also believe that he possesses a perfect and holy judgment parallel to that goodness.

Now first of all, I want to note that oftentimes, leaning on our own understanding is ultimately what keeps us worrying and despairing. One is commanded not to lean on his own understanding for such reasons as these (Proverbs 3:5); yet it is ironic that many tend to do this for some faux sense of security, especially for the skeptic who doubts the goodness of God thus fallaciously doubting the overall existence of God.

God abhors sin because it brought and still brings suffering to all men and women, including tiny infants in large hospital beds who have never done a thing wrong in their short periods on earth. His anti-sinful nature is a direct reflection of his perfect holiness; his perfect holiness is a direct reflection of his omniscient judgment; and his omniscient judgment is a friend rather than an enemy of faithful men and all who trust in him: if you hate the suffering of the innocent, then, as God does, you must also hate sin, the origin of that suffering.

But to answer the initial question, one might safely assert that God knows the mental and spiritual capacity for each individual and what truths each individual is capable of understanding during the time that he or she lives on earth. I do not think that God has a universal age limit where he must judge whether someone will go to Heaven or Hell. Instead, he takes everything into account for each individual: brain capacity, spiritual awareness, genetic bias, opportunities to understand the truth of having faith in Christ before death, and the extent of cultural influence in conflict with one's God-given conscience. Furthermore we can take into account the idea that God also takes into account, as another tool in his omniscient judgments, his all-knowing foreknowledge regarding who each individual would have become if he had lived a longer or mentally stable life. One might never know that a baby who has passed away could have been saved from a long life of misery or pain or confusion or unfairness or anger, hence receiving what, in reality, seems like a quick, simple flight to Heaven.

God judges men from the inside out; men judge men from the outside in. Perhaps to God, an extreme mental patient is doing quite well in going a month without murder, for he fought his chemical imbalance and succeeded; oppositely, perhaps the healthy, able and stable man who has never murdered in his life yet went a lifetime consciously, willingly never loving anyone but himself may then be subject to harsher judgment than the extreme mental patient. It might be so that God will stand for the weak and question the strong.

Thank God that he knows these details for each individual whether the circumstances are healthy, sick, young, old, wise, foolish, pressured, or excluded and personality-wise, genetic-wise, and culture-wise. Although there may be no way for us to discern them by mere mortal perception, God always knows his babies and his psychopaths. It is okay, ultimately, therefore we can release such worries and instead rely on faith in his good and everlasting knowledge, grace, love, and mercy - which is where Christ comes in. With the One, there is no circumstance or burden which he cannot cover and one cannot sequentially bear. The case of where infants, children, and the mentally ill, who cannot comprehend and therefore accept the love of Christ, go after death is yet another one of the countless reasons Christ died for mankind. Above all human reasoning, it is not by our own works, but by his works, that we are saved. Therefore, in short, it is safe to say that the grace of Christ, like it covers any sinful yet conscious adult, also covers the innocent infant and the mentally-impaired psychopath.

Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality

2013-12-26T17:03:00.001-08:00

At last, my third and now personal favorite book of poetry and philosophy, Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality, is complete and published. After reflecting on all three books, the other two being Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile and Venus in Arms, it appears that the installment of Diotima completed a sort of subtle trilogy. Salomé was my 1st published book, released in 2011, Venus in Arms my 2nd, released in 2012, and Diotima my 3rd, released in 2013.

I am also quite pleased with the name consistency for the books - the ancient female characters, Salome, Venus, and Diotima. Poetry is often the artistic, accessible side of philosophy, hence I chose these characters as a method of symbolism. As Isaac D'Israeli put it, "Philosophy becomes poetry, and science imagination, in the enthusiasm of genius." Many people have a difficult time relating to philosophy: there have been very few recorded female philosophers throughout history, so I feel that the symbolism of the iconic female names is an introduction to the best of both worlds. The phrase in the title, "Battery, Electric Personality", is also a poem in Diotima. I chose it as the title poem because it encompasses much of the nature of the work, as Lydia M. Child said, "Genius hath electric power which earth can never tame." So, the work ultimately works together in considering the fact that the name "Diotima" means "honored by Zeus" (the god of sky and thunder).

In my opinion, Diotima contains some of my most complex and advanced works thus far. In it, where the poetry seems otherworldly, the philosophy is practical. And what I really like about the direction of the lyrics is the iridescence of it all - potentially, one is able to interpret something different and receive a fresh new meaning with each and every read. The often multi-headed puns aim to give interpreting the poems a mentally interactive venture, and because of this, the nickname "the infinite book" has stuck with me when referring to it. As far as the mechanics go, it takes the endless discomforts of a perfectionist to a whole new level, hence providing the perspective of a universe that never wants to stop expanding. I personally consider it a rhythmic adventure executed as a literary musical. Similar to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings being a collection of high-fantasy novels, Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality, at times, reads like a role-playing game in the universe of otherworldly poetry books.

Burning Thoughts and Flooding Ideas

2013-12-15T15:25:00.001-08:00

Burning Thoughts and Flooding Ideas, released in early 2013, is my third anthology collaboration with comrade and fellow author Luke Wood as well as several other young authors. Each time he has been the frontman in compiling the anthologies and bringing them to life, and out of the 3, the other 2 being Yesterday and Tomorrow (2011) and More than a Million Words (2012), this one is most definitely my favorite. Thoughts are like burning stars, and ideas, they flood, they stretch the universe. Content-wise, it is evident that all of the authors included have improved in their own writing skills and literary execution thus raising the bar for poetry, lyrics, and short stories not only for themselves but also for everyone else. It includes 7 of my works, which at the time of its development, were among my latest: Cel-Shaded Gold, Certifiable Kiss, Mobile, Shell from Sawed-Off, Sgt. Griffin, Code Red (Army of Gods), and Battery, Electric Personality. Like More than a Million Words and his own essay/short story book Veering Straight Ahead (2012), Luke was yet again gracious enough to allow me to design the cover. The following link is to the Amazon edition of the book: Burning Thoughts and Flooding Ideas.

Killosopher Apparel

2012-08-09T23:30:00.002-07:00

I am probably known by most as the essayist, poet, and philosopher; however, in my passion for art and creativity, I recently established a new clothing and merchandise store named Killosopher Apparel. I have not only written but also for years competed in various activities under the facetious pseudonym TheKillosopher, so I feel it inevitable that a new chain of designs, a generally accessible manifestation based around that personification, is finally unfolding. In this post are images of some of the most popular Killosopher Apparel items at the moment, and the main store is currently found on Zazzle: Criss Jami | Merchandise and Killosopher Apparel.

More than a Million Words

2012-08-09T21:40:00.003-07:00

I am well aware that this briefing regarding the anthology, More than a Million Words, is long overdo, but recently, after reading the book myself, I was then more impelled to share a word on it. The anthology features several young authors, both poets and short story writers, originally compiled by author Luke Wood. It includes 7 of my works that, prior to the release of the anthology, also appeared in Venus in Arms (2012): A Wry Face, Aesthetically Appealing, Film Noir (Trade Some Resistance), Like St. Raphael, Omnia Causa Fiunt, Slipshod Lover, and The Order of Mistakes. I also designed the book cover. The styles of each writer included are exceptionally distinguishable thus executing a diverse compilation that does not hesitate to switch tones and perspectives throughout the read. The following link is to the Amazon edition of the book: More than a Million Words.

"...As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning."

2012-02-27T22:08:00.054-08:00

There is a greater Christian faith than one which settles for the temporal happiness, and that is the augmentation of faith. The more faithful you become, the harder the obstacles get; but the harder the obstacles get, the tougher your spine grows; and the tougher your spine grows, the less dependent you are on man's approval. I came to know this about Christianity when valuing faith before comfort.

Ever since I was dismissed from college in 2010, life has been a roller coaster. Actually, a roller coaster is an understatement; it has been like surfing through Lorentzian wormholes in outer-space. I feel as though my entire future, as I had once understood, took a whole new direction: ranging from not receiving a degree after 5 years to experiencing the loss of a long-term love interest to spending nights sleeping in my car. Surely enough, prior to these incidents, I had prayed that God do whatever it takes to turn me into the man that he wants me to be. Ultimately this is how, in reflecting, I am certain that everything that happened played a part in my recent successes, and I would be a fool to regret any of it. I have changed tremendously in a single year, probably more in one year than I had in all the 23 years of my life. However, like any change, it has its good points as well as bad points.

Even though I always had a huge heart for every individual I would come into contact with, I have been, what I like to call, a "lone ranger" nearly my entire life. My natural tendencies thrive in solitude, hence it is normally not in my system to feel lonely. Solitude is often what I choose, therefore I have no one but myself to blame for my poor social skills. When I previously wrote "bad points", I meant that it is no mystery that my drive is now out of spite, out of indignation rather than out of a more humble motivation. There have been cases in which I unintentionally hurt others in my spoken or written discourses - my tone and my context is at times off key. Like many individuals who have felt continuously beaten down with only a few who genuinely cared, my heart has indeed grown colder, I have become cocky, and I have a lower level of tolerance. As a man who, for the most part, hopes to think and act in the ways that God wants me to think and act, I often reflect on the things that I say or write; I then dissect them in correspondence with my motives: "What was my initial intent in this? What am I trying to convey? How might others perceive this?" My main conclusion rests in the irony of my own philosophy.

My first book Salomé (2011) was partially inspired by a passage from The Four Loves (1960) by C.S. Lewis. It puts into perspective the vulnerability of love and how one should love despite all its potential afflictions, "Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. ... It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation."

After the release of Salomé, I started becoming the very person the book was intended to help due to conflicts in my personal life, and the entire time, I was aware of it. In hours of affliction, a man tends to harden his heart and lose all feeling as a means to cope; therefore I am still recovering from a deep anger at the hands I was dealt, or, when letting my anger speak, lack thereof. For a while I even neglected my first love: singing.

However the good part of the change has been my stretch in mental capacity and all-new dimensions of creativity. I without a doubt know my purpose on this earth and I am not hesitant when putting my gift to use. Not only has my heart become impenetrable, but on the positive end my confidence has also become impenetrable. I am aware that this can at times be a hindrance in distinguishing the difference between a malicious attack and one's intent for constructive criticism - which is a form of discernment that I need to sharpen - but above all, I am most definitely, rapidly becoming the man that God intended me to be.

Great philosophers become immortal - they make undeniable impacts on culture. Thankfully, at the age of 24 I have accomplished my goal of becoming a globally respected philosopher; although not to its greatest possible degree, but as long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning. Not to mention, merely becoming a respected philosopher was and still is only a part of my true ambition.

Venus in Arms

2012-02-18T01:07:00.001-08:00

I recently published my second poetry/philosophy book, Venus in Arms. I personally feel that it contains some of my best works to date as well as my more profound philosophical insights. It is much shorter than the previous one, Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile (2011), but my perception has matured in several ways.

Venus in Arms was written under times of pressure in my personal life, which I believe influences impenetrable wit and challenging philosophies. At times the book reflects my existentialist views, and it paints a range of psychological emotions warring with the influences of the outside world. We often have things that we feel we must do in order to advance, in order to develop, however peer pressure and social norms push us otherwise. The paradox is the war itself - God uses the battle as a part of our ultimate amelioration. After reading it, I thought about the barriers a man often puts up which prevents his own development. The barrier during self-improvement is not so much that we hate learning, but rather we hate being taught. To learn entails that the knowledge was achieved on one's own accord - it feels great - but to be taught often leaves a feeling of inferiority. Thus it takes a bit of determination and a lot of humility in order for one to fully develop. I feel that Venus in Arms is, in a sense, a manifestation of such times in my life.

Mission: Impossible Briefing I

2011-05-13T10:18:00.020-07:00

"The trouble with poetry is it's often written to the sound of a drum only the poet may hear; nonetheless, blessed are those poets who always manage to find unshakeable pleasure in their own works."
"The unteachable man is sentenced to being taught only by experience. The tragedy is he reaches nothing further than his own pain."
"People debate whether Hell is literal according to its traditional description - fire and eternal punishment - because such a fate seems an excessively severe judgment. Yet the greater horror may not be found in the imagery of fire, but in what separation from God would mean. Maybe consider this: if God is the source of love, mercy, and goodness, then to be wholly separated from Him is to be wholly separated from the very things that make goodness desirable. What appears to be the more comforting alternative to Hell may therefore be no comfort at all. Even apart from the imagery of literal torment, there is a profound terror in being utterly removed from the goodness of God while remaining fully confronted by the reality of His holiness."
"Whatever thing a man gets quickly enraged about is his idol, and whatever thing he makes his idol becomes his religion."
"Men seek a great deal, but fatally close, albeit very different, is one's pride in proving oneself right with one's zeal for finding the truth."
"It is the nature of physics to hear the loudest of mouths over the most comprehensive ones."
"I have a thing for things that last."
"A distaste for the new is not always fear of the unknown, but sometimes ambition. Some people don't like the new way simply because they never got a chance to master the old way."
"Your love is as stable as you are: It's not about how good a person makes you feel, but rather what good you can do for them."
"One who enjoys finding errors will then start creating errors to find."
"Competition works best in sports. The caution of it all is when its addiction goes beyond sports and into the pride of life, which seeks not only to win but also to tear down. It is, however, defensible to say that sports are a necessary release for those with an urge to destroy."
"The ones who constantly make us laugh are the hardest of friends to know - for comedians are the caricatures among us."
"People don't care about being duped as long as they're happy, which is the shortest form of happiness; hence 'self-duprication' becomes a habit."
"Music is not my life. My life is music."
"It's fallacious reasoning for the atheist to hate all religion due to men who manipulate religion to fit their own agendas. They are counterparts, therefore, if Truth is true, partners in crime. To believers, the atheist and the religiously corrupt boil down to the same person, the self-righteous: one denies Truth to fit his own agenda; the other manipulates Truth to fit his own agenda."
"One of the Christian's biggest fears is appearing 'too Christian'. God forbid, because that's often characterized as god-awful! We want to be one, but without being 'one of them'."
"Wisdom without Christ brings bitterness; with Christ it brings compassion."
"The artist is often misunderstood because, stepping outside himself and holding most details in great tension, he's about as complex as a shape-shifter; or a head with faces on all sides, but not necessarily in the negative connotation as one being two-faced usually implies. For instance, to be misunderstood can mean to be improperly deemed a troublemaker when that is not one's true intent: you see, to troublemakers, the artist knows that the peacemaker may seem like a troublemaker; therefore he may, whether in honesty or in jest, at times, present himself as a troublemaker for perceptual, artistic flair. But then to the artless peacemakers, because of this they will interpret him as a troublemaker. This is why the artist has so few allies. To the troublemakers he's a troublemaker, yet still the peacemakers a troublemaker."
"When you're appeasing too much, you might be egotistically over-estimating everyone's need for your approval."
"You think you're losing your mind, but do keep in mind, as long as you may, that the ability to go on thinking such a thing means it's not all gone."
"A man of God has many brothers. He is a wounded soldier - he is familiar with the pain one feels in his heart, as a close and loving brother, when a brother falls victim of evil men or turns to evil desires (the latter sometimes even betrayal). Because of this, too, he is and must be well-acquainted with and trained in the strengths of hope and the gentleness of forgiveness and mercy."
"Excitement is a crossroad which runs in all directions. No man lacks personality; he just never connected with you at the intersection."
"Perhaps a seemingly dull, boring person is not so much a person who lacks personality, but rather a person with so much personality that most other things bore them."
"An assumption is the joke; truth the punchline."
"The ocean, in all its vastness, is its own real world, and humans are nature's aliens."
"Good...if you've done things you aren't proud of. It means you have a conscience."
"During the flames of controversy, opinions, mass disputes, conflict, and world news, sometimes the most precious, refreshing, peaceful words to hear amidst all the chaos are simply and humbly 'I don't know.'"
"On the inside, the copycats of the ruffians are more delicate than the copycats of prudes."
"Normality is the new eccentric."
"I believe God himself will someday debate with and answer every objection arrogant men can come up with against him; I believe he will humble us and humor himself. Know-it-alls, pseudo-intellectuals, militant anti-theists, for Christ's sake, or rather their own sake, best beware of getting roasted by their own medicine. Ah! Our delusions of trying to argue against an omniscient Creator."
"I'm not offended until you think I'm offended."
"Society tells me to follow my own truth, but I don't let society tell me what to do. If you need someone to tell you that, chances are you're part of the crowd that will move on to the next fashion that comes around."
"Dreams and freedom are the same. In order for them to be, they come with a price."
"A mature heart for Christ would much rather spend its time praising him than condemning his fanatics."
"What good is there in being blind, you ask? Well, maybe it's to see the beauty on the inside without being vainly distracted, or superficially blinded, by the ugly on the outside."
"You can't be a rebel without the scars that come with it. Truth is, some days scars are just as ugly as they are beautiful."
"It's okay to be honest about not knowing rather than spreading falsehood. While it is often said that honesty is the best policy, silence is the second best policy."
"Extreme right-wingers are known for giving God a bad name; extreme left-wingers are known for giving God a weak name. He's not as simple as conservative versus liberal, old versus new. His wings are balanced. God is both and neither."
"A god who gave us everything we wanted would be the most malevolent god of all. With an infantile curiosity, we insist on tasting the cockroach on the floor while our father is preparing a magnificent feast for us."
"Of course we'll win. And even if we were to lose, we'd win at losing."
"It is neither just the religious, the spiritual, the power-hungry, the evil, the ignorant, the corrupt, the Christian, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Jew, nor the atheist that makes a hypocrite, but being a human being. Any man who thinks himself to be free of hypocrisy while committed to cherry-picking others for such, I am confident, the Almighty can prove to him a great deal of his own hypocrisy even beyond his earthly comprehension."
"It is better to doubt that a concept is stupidly flying under your head than profoundly flying over your head."
"God loves atheists. The former ones make the most compelling theists because they're so empirically familiar with how atheists think."
"Advanced technology does not always promise a more intelligent civilization. On the contrary, the more the common people rely on technology to do their thinking and solving for them, the less practice there is left for their own brains."
"Philosophy may serve as the bridge between theology and science. All atheism is a philosophy, but not all philosophy is atheism. Philosophy ('love of wisdom') is simply a tool depending on how one uses it, and in some cases, logically understanding the nature of God and existence."
"The most mesmerizing of artists is always like one who was merely drawing in the sand and people came to watch."
"What man is really anti-progressive? For he is only anti-certain-people's-visions-for-the-future."
"The thing about stereotyping is it's usually just throwing rocks into a crowd hoping to hit somebody who deserves it."
"It's always funny that you can try and try again to steal all your critics' ammo, predict their responses, but no matter what, they'll still have a water gun stashed somewhere."
"Pretentiousness isn't always just big words and meaningless jargon, but also pretty words that either when put into action don't mean beans or hurt you in the long run. Oftentimes, the former appeals to the intellect whereas the latter appeals to the heart."
"You maintain hope for humanity as an infinite skeptic of gossip and slander. In all mankind's desires for entertainment and exaggeration and sensationalism, when it comes to gossip, the individual always sounds worse than he really is. This is why adhering to gossip subtly affects the mental state of the listener - he goes on holding shady opinions regardless of where the realities of their lights and darknesses may stand."
"Some things are so silly they have a certain brilliance to them. Other things, set as standards for brilliance and therefore exalted by many who don't know why, become tarnished because of it."
"In the modern Christian attempt to take a stand as Christ did, and maybe for others, win the approval of the world, the Christian will often think that it consists of targeting and demoralizing fellow Christians and only fellow Christians. It is one thing to stand against religious hypocrisy when one sees it, but it is another to go on snorting at anything or anyone who might seem 'too Christian' to us. The irony is that by doing this we are further advocating hypocrisy and 'half-hearted Christians'."
"In a sense, discouragement does not have to exist. Allow it to be rather the encouragement to honestly reconsider all the options, then, as necessary, shine on."
"When everyone believes they are the life coaches, who are the players?"
"When enemies, the intellect and the heart only see one another as the hater and the fool."
"Children are the most reasonable about discipline. When they tell you not to do something, it's always because they know why."
"A part of me genuinely wanted to be the worst because I was so sick of everyone fighting to be the best."
"Pseudo-artists think that being an artist means opposing whatever seems to be an establishment. That is not creative at all. True creativity is the ability to gain perspective wherever you may have missed it before."
"I will admit that we as young rebels always wanted fundamentalists to understand our take on their religion, but rarely, if ever, the other way around. The fundamentalists are the real artists. If you saw only a masterpiece of an original painting and someone threw a splash of red across it saying that their version is better, you would be offended too."
"We're very familiar with the idea that some things are so complex they're beyond our comprehension. This not only keeps us solving and experimenting but also distracted. Many things are really so simple we can't see them under our big noses."
"Treat people like people. Beware of pity and patronization because in them, you can't see when you're unashamedly looking down on someone."
"Where neither goes wrong, the naive only see the world as a victim of bad doctrine; the cynic only sees good doctrine as a victim of the world."
"The hardest thing for a sane person to do is not care what anyone thinks, although everyone swears by it, hence our glorification of insanity."
"The most judgmental people are often those who complain most about being judged. The ones not complaining will look as though they're the ones doing the judging."
"Respect? Of course, always, to all, because everything seems funnier when you're trying to show respect."
"Most people want so desperately to be an individual yet are so easily shaped by the media."
"If Christ be a fraud, he was among the most peculiar yet brilliant of frauds in saying that only he was the way, the truth, and the life. This is the importance of grace - some people think that simply being nice and not harming others is morality; others think that following rules and tithing are morality. But without Christ, all moral beliefs ultimately boil down to the one sin which perpetually rails against the concept of grace: man's lawful, religious, and futile attempt at establishing his own righteousness."
"The conscious attempt to be a good person without Christ is as legalistic as an attempt to make it into Heaven through empty religiosity."
"The aim is to love God because the pure heart loves loving God and because the true mind knows He deserves it. Unlike the accusations and beliefs of the critics and skeptics, it is not an obligation of duty; nor a fear of damnation; nor a wish for power; nor a desire to appear more righteous than others; nor because God needs it; but because through all love, truth, reason, faith, honesty, and joy in and beyond oneself and the universe, He is worthy."
"The self-centered man will always expect nothing but praise. He will hope and expect all incoming criticism to be mere self-projection from the critic because when you're self-centered, self-projection is all you can imagine one can do."
"The surface of learning is hearing what your ears aren't prepared to hear, and the core of learning is hearing what your ears don't want to hear."
"It can be a good thing if deeper theology, or philosophy, only makes one more uncertain. It may lead to a healthy doubt; he may throw his hands up saying, 'God, I just don't know anymore. If you're out there, I'm giving it all to you.' From there, after the surrender, he is allowing God himself, rather than theories, books, and documents, to take over and lead him into all truth."
"As time moves on the line will blur. It will no longer seem to be the simplicity of good versus evil, but good versus fools who think they are good."
"The young are often savvy in the cultural world but not so much the intellectual; the old the intellectual but not so much the cultural. But I tell you those who do the most damage during an era are very much aware of both."
"The most fragile, unhappy people destine themselves to live lives of constantly reminding themselves to be happy."
"The height of cleverness is in one's ability to be very clever without seeming clever at all."
"Fresh, solid ideas feel like gifts to writers, therefore every morning is Christmas."
"As a poet there is something about joy I find hard to express, whereas every other emotion is rather simple. For instance, you never feel so bad that you can't describe how bad you feel, but joy on the other hand, is far too divine for human language."
"Frequent risk-takers have had their fair shares of failures and successes, hence, being confident in reaching their goals, they will usually seem insensitive to whether or not they look foolish or cool to other people."
"The factory of love encompasses all, but on some days, does it seem to be one of suffocation, squeezing its target too tightly? And on other days not tight enough? Or maybe that is the breath of a living love knowing when to protect, when to release, and when to protect again. For we are the products of an active love - the Father the creator, the Son the perfecter, the Spirit the supervisor - but just like in a factory, to deny the process is to ultimately create a defect of oneself."
"The only truths worth arguing about are those truths that could prevent or lead to circumstances that may bite us in the rear sooner or later."
"When making a point, there are 2 types of people who may disagree with you: those who can support their reasons, and the childish ones who are too worried about being told what to do."
"People think that fun in Christ is non-existent, but there is fun wherever your heart lives."
"The 2 extremes, neither one worse than the other: the result of bad religion is self-loathing and violence; the result of bad spirituality is self-worship and narcissism."
"The hard part about one being tough yet meek is the illusion of being a punching bag."
"Ingredients to success: know what you do well, know what to do well, and know someone who's swell."
"Intelligent people, as some say, in their openness, are indeed slow to criticize, but conversely, in their openness to the concerns of others, the genuine are slow to fret about being criticized."
"Knowledge is power, as some say. But on some days it is just as much pain and confusion as it is power; and any wise man worth his salt as a wise man at least understands this. One may be able to comprehend all the human perspectives in the universe, but this gives more to decipher regarding what is actually true; and even after discovering the truth, the challenge is in maintaining a patience for the infinite number of opinions that do not reflect that truth. A worldly knowledge ends at the former challenge of confusion, but the knowledge of Christ ends at the latter challenge of patience."
"How to love is the real question. We all know to love and to keep loving more, but man's confusion comes from the differing opinions on how to love. The Church will always be accused of not loving enough by human standards - which should be its motivation to love more - however that is, in many cases, because its focus is and should also be to love on levels of eternal significance. This is the level of love that will inevitably go unnoticed by those who do not believe in eternity."
"Yes, be different, but not for the vanities of being different."
"The vanity of intelligence is that the intelligent man is often more committed to 'one-upping' his opponent than being truthful. When the idea of intelligence, rather than intelligence itself, becomes a staple, there is no wisdom in it."
"To be more precise about it, it is neither open- nor closed-mindedness, but wisdom, discernment, and a pure heart that God wants."
"Love is one of those topics that plenty of people try to write about, but not enough try to do."
"The more we love God, the more unpleasant sin becomes."
"It's easy to make a mess when you're not the one who has to clean it up."
"For those constantly full of joy, they sometimes feel a little guilty for always feeling so good. That guilt is compassion: it flies in with an attempt to share one's joy with others who do not have it."
"In our worldly perceptions of Jesus, we tend to embrace the kindness of his love ('be encouraged') but not the discipline of his love ('and sin no more'). But with the whole scope of his love, or maturity in Christ, we begin relying on him for guidance where we would prefer him to walk beside us rather than behind us."
"The man who sins but wants to purify himself is no more a sinner than the man who doesn't sin but wants to sin."
"You can be yourself without pursuing yourself. Have you ever seen a dog chase his own tail? He just runs in circles."
"They say that people fall in and out of love, but do they, too, fall in hate? Or fall into indifference? It has hindered men for ages the notion that one falls in love rather than decides to truly love, the notion that his lack of control, on the B-side, can also make him fall in hate or indifference without the responsibility to help it or control it."
"My heart goes out to some of those rather hostile yet highly intelligent individuals who may see problems really because they have solutions. That hostility is learned in defense; not offense. An often stubborn and prideful world, in its self-destructive, temporary bliss of ignorance, may be violently resistant to the watchful mind."
"Christianity is at its purest a philosophy about a person, Jesus Christ, and at its dirtiest a philosophy about requirements and law."
"Truth in Christ is not a matter of being near or far like in martial arts when you strive for a black belt. He saves us, then we grow; not the other way around."
"Everyone has a natural slant towards seeking themselves. This gets in the way of seeking God unless God intervenes."
"Part of God's work in his people is synchronizing the heart and the mind thus providing freedom from the deceit of emotion-based beliefs. Emotions are changing while truth is absolute. They don't believe simply because it sounds good, or deep, beautiful, happy, fun, cool, simple, or intelligent to them; but because it's true."
"Conscious minds can, at the most, comprehend that the whole idea of a 'God' is his superiority, his omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience; and therefore, at the least, desire him, someone far greater than themselves."
"The apologist is most entrusted with apologetics when capable of arguing his opponent's position better than his opponent."
"The whole bloated sensation of success is wiped clean when among family. There is no pressure of being looked upon as 'the brilliant one' but rather the comforts of always being the pupil."
"Let me be content with myself to the degree that my capacity to serve others is present, yet discontent with myself to the degree that I may still like to grow in better service for others."
"All men are born firstly with the instinct to protect themselves. But few grow to really love themselves, and even fewer learn to love their neighbor as themselves."
"Wherever there is abuse there is also corruption. Politics, philosophy, theology, science, industry, any field with the potential to affect the well-being of others can be destroyed by abuse and saved by good will."
"A major gap between many of the denominations stems from how people define some of the most basic terms, such as 'religion' itself."
"We are to give (and take) true love without falling into the narcissistic habit of only trying to take it in."
"To spend your time wanting things is to smother your time for achieving things beyond your expectations."
"Growing up I often wondered how the world would be today if, since the beginning of human life, every person acted as I did."
"As a kid my heart would break for the villains."
"The love of Christ is always there and unchanging, no matter what we do, but it is when we are obedient that we actually begin to feel it."
"Good intentions but bad results; bad results but lessons learned. There is a dark corner on every task beautiful and a beautiful corner on every task dark."
"It is not so much freedom of speech but the right to truth that great men protect."
"Man has 2 common problems with God: the one is that there is evil in the world; the other is that free will is limited. The one, he is charging that the world is too evil; the other is that it is not evil enough."
"The most important part of discernment is pinpointing the forces to be reckoned with, both the constructive and the destructive."
"In societies where coolness and being cool is a top priority, the religious replace the word 'religious' with 'spiritual' to make their faiths seem less extreme."
"To believe in the truth of Christ is to be introduced to another form of hatred, and that is not sharing Him."
"Tolerance never exists without negative judgment. It is the sentiment of having a negative opinion about something yet still putting up with it."
"Tolerance is not infinite patience, but slain patience; patience that has lost its hope and love and has thrown in the towel."
"Some people's theologies come across as blatantly wrong when weighed against what is revealed in Scripture. However God has mercy on those who may be wrong but genuinely seek understanding before seeking themselves."
"The pain of the narcissist is that, to him, everything is really a threat. What doesn't surrender in reverence is blasphemous to a high opinion of oneself - the burden of self-importance. The narcissist reconstructs his own law of gravity which states that all things and all creatures must adhere to his personal satisfaction, but when they do not, the pain is far more intense than it is for one who is free from the clamors of 'I'."
"Let what offends God offend me, and what God pardons, I pardon."
"The emphasis and the reason for a pure humility is to result in love for others; not always necessarily the belittlement of self. When there is pride and self-righteousness and being pretentiously too far above, generally, one has a difficult time reaching the compassionate side of love for others, the side that understands (or at least attempts to understand): 'I am aware that I am not so far from falling in the same way.' Humility seeks to understand, and sometimes even relate; and in result, the love lovingly, properly, effectively wills the removal of the destructive sins of another as from oneself."
"To reach only for that which pleasantly enchants you is the least of imagination, if even imagination at all, by the obvious reality of remaining within your means. The greater of imagination is parallel to risk. It extends beyond your comfort zone or haven, or sense of beauty, or what you personally believe suits you in exploration of what may not."
"People love answers, but only as long as they are the ones who came up with them."
"We often hear about stepping outside ourselves, but rarely about stepping outside our generation."
"All the good stuff has already been said by someone somewhere at some point in time. You just have to find it. Today, communication pretty much comes down to understanding - saying what you have to say clearly and effectively...and then living it."
"Man was created to glorify God. Now, that may encompass other things which God has planned for each man, but essentially, man was created to glorify God."
"Love does not dwell on how much one receives in return. If there is ever any balance in love, it is in a contest of who can love who more."
"The real test of love is loving those who we feel are the hardest ones to love."
"I often think that I'm the least judgmental person I know, and that's what makes me self-righteous."
"What further helps to reveal reality is when our personal thinking ceases to take reality for granted."
"The man who is most aggressive in teaching tolerance is the most intolerant of all: he wants a world full of people too timid and ashamed to really disagree with anything."
"The creation of man is evidence for the love of God, the preservation of man is evidence for the patience of God, and Christ is evidence for the forgiveness of God. It is when we are wrapped up in our own little peeves that we begin to displace His benevolence with malevolence."
"Honesty is not the same as truth. That is the obstacle of the notion of relative truths. I would like to put my trust in the lunatic. He is the one least concerned with what I think of him, the mark of an honest man. I can always depend on him to be completely honest in what he thinks and feels, about anything, no matter the consequences laid before him; however, with no course of rationale, I cannot necessarily take his word for even the well-being of him in his own reality."
"We tend to think that refusing to exalt Christ is staying true to our self-will and personal freedom when really we are condemning ourselves. Sure, we can pretend to stay true to ourselves, but if you want to talk about reality, all of that is completely trivial if this life is an island and He's the only pilot with a plane and a flight plan."
"The humble ones are always learning and improving, and their secret is always that it's a secret."
"I still believe that many Americans have a deep longing for that glorious moment when a sermon is more Biblical than American."
"I'm starting to think that my level of intrigue outweighs my fear of controversy."
"In learning and argumentation, the quality brain is similar to a facility of maximum security. What passes the logic test, free of fallacy and pretense, then must pass the test of biblical accuracy in order to proceed as an adopted, reliable truth."
"The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is the pretense of intelligence. The former is teachable; the latter is not."
"If truth is like the terrain, are we the generation who feels it as ones who have worn shoes all our lives, or ones who have never worn shoes? Even so, if the walk starts out as painful, the experience may be well worth it."
"Excuses will become self-refuting. No man who does not believe that Jesus is the perfect, sinless Son of God can, in his desperation and love for sin, reasonably use and misconstrue Jesus' words that unless a Christian is perfect, then that Christian cannot judge sin. Otherwise this non-believer is unconsciously entertaining a belief that Jesus, unlike any other man to ever live, was indeed perfect and sinless in His judgments and therefore that Christian is supposed to be like Him."
"In the end, only God can see the heart of an individual and distinguish between legalistic deadweight and the passion of holy solemnity."
"When comprehending how different people truly are, you also comprehend the absolute necessity of some divine authority."
"If you're capable of despising your own behavior, you might just love yourself."
"It's simple; it's not that simple. Or perhaps life is simple, but the things in it are not. When a man does not understand it, he tends to inflate it. When he does understand it, he tends to deflate it. But in the end, neither image is fully accurate."
"There is a difference between criticizing people and criticizing a people's uninformed ideals. That is, unless one defines himself or others by their ideals, then he is offended, and usually offended secretly. Because oddly enough, this person is the same person quickest to resort to dismissive name-calling, such as 'bigot' or 'zealot'. And oddly enough, he is always the one, the 'open-minded' one, who adamantly protests for, not only himself, but others not to listen to any type of scholarly theological truth inherently for the sake of his own personal, moral beliefs."
"Some concepts are so incredibly risky they take an honest fool to try to articulate them."
"Ask anyone and they'll most likely say their family is crazy, and if they don't say their family is crazy, their friends are crazy. That's because everyone is crazy after taking the mask off. People are most themselves when not really trying to fit in, when either alone or around those already closest to them, and that is crazy."
"I think that most artists scorned would prefer to be known as the one with the genius brain risking no career over the one with the good brain and great career."
"It is ignorance that is at times incomprehensible to the wise; for instance, he may not see 'the positive person' or 'the negative person' in a black and white way as many people do. A wise man may not understand it because, as a catalyst of wisdom, but not wise in his own eyes, even he can learn from and give back to fools. To think that an individual has absolutely nothing to bring to the table is counter-intuitively what the wise man considers to be 'the ignorance of hopelessness'."
"Thunderstorms are as much our friends as the sunshine."
"The weather is nature's disruptor of human plans and busybodies. Of all the things on earth, nature's disruption is what we know we can depend on, as it is essentially uncontrolled by men."
"I enjoy melancholic music and art. They take me to places I don't normally get to go."
"If ever it's necessary to ride the bandwagon, it's done with one leg swinging out and eyes scoping the fields."
"The Christian does not avoid sin to achieve salvation, but rather salvation brings him to a desire not to sin. The closer that one's spirit is synchronized with the holy knowledge of God, the more he comprehends how and why sin is destructive to himself and others in each and every circumstance. The dwindling desire for sin is a premature gift of Heaven - where there will be no sin, where all will, too, possess that full and complete wisdom; all will have perfect reasons not to sin. In this way, free will might still exist, but the shared wisdom of God will simply outwit all desires, impulses, and needs to sin."
"The skeptic says that the believer has lost his own mind under God. On the contrary, it is the people who follow God who are most like his children, who willingly and consciously walk in his will; but those who oppose him oppose him vainly and at their own expense, and, figuratively, seem to be more like his tools. They don't diminish his glory, but instead he still manages to use them in ways of unconsciously carrying out his will."
"Sometimes you feel as though you've slandered yourself, but the joke's on them."
"What decent philosopher was ever an appeaser? The former is a rare catch among the multitudes of modern opinionists. His role is to be one who loves truth. That is a place where his love for humanity is more powerful than his love for hot air about empowering humanity."
"Gloating is a superficial glowing, floating is an idle flowing, and bloatedness is the paralysis of blowing up; because silent movement results in loud victories."
"God is our final say in who and what's negative and who and what's positive in our lives. It is best not to have this so over-simplified as the illusioned superstitionists have it; an infinite being's tests may not always be so flowery, and the things we may see as positive are in many cases simply desires of our sinful nature. We are to protect our spirit without falling into the narcissistic mistake of trying to protect our selfish emotions, which the latter, in turn, is more than unlikely to bring peace and happiness. But rather guilt and emptiness. When one walks around constantly, in his mind, attempting to separate positive versus negative people, he is already controlled by something even worse than those he calls the 'negative people', and that is before he spots it soon enough to avoid it as he hypocritically tries to avoid them."
"For wordsmiths and masters of words, without necessarily being harsh with words, the words have a tendency to shoot straight to the hearts of people, and this either deeply touches them or deeply angers them. Like the apostles in all their loving controversies are those who are masters of words while combining this gift with truth."
"We are to love God most importantly so that we can grow to love people as he loved us, not so that we can feel more divine and worthy than the worldly."
"To be extremely happy but extremely intelligent is a task of being optimistic without being cheesy."
"God gives His deepest discernment and sharpest marksmanship to men who aim to expose His truth before an enemy's lies."
"There's more to logic than identifying logical fallacies."
"An insincere critic of a sincere person never wins."
"It is ironic that constructive thinkers are often misunderstood as negative, as they differ from those longing for positivity: constructive thinkers have been conditioned to find positive in negative rather than suffering from the negative in negative. Or as Paul the Apostle wrote, 'I have learned the secret to contentment in any and every circumstance.' He was right. Indeed the Lord is our strength, especially under the commandment to love one another. Otherwise we are nothing and easily thrown about by both our own and other people's mind control in a painful, mental, physical desperation to run from every thought, every thing, and every one not seeming so positive or immediately beneficial to us."
"When focusing only on one's credentials one boasts his own incompetence in his capacity for discernment of the individual."
"Of course, in our train of thought, we would all like to think we're on the right track, or at least the same railroad company as the right track."
"As followers of Christ, we are to be careful not to remain victims of the many cultural presuppositions of who he is, and what he teaches, insofar as taking for granted our own caricatures of him. Let it boil in both mind and heart the question, 'If Jesus were to appear today, how many of us would actually recognize him and his teachings (or would it simply be a recount of his first visit)?'"
"To love without need or without expectation of restitution, that is how we ought to love."
"If one should criticize one should always have a meaningful explanation to accompany it."
"God knew man would evolve. People think some of the Old Testament laws are absurd now because we live in a very different culture, a different time period. They had their problems and we have ours. God is constant but man is not, and he foreknew the ever-changing world his people would have to deal with; therefore, and if there is indeed an omniscient God, a Christ-like figure would be our only rational, possible connection to a constant, holy God throughout the evolution of culture and social law. The only answer that makes sense when it comes to relevance regarding religions and time periods is Christ, and the chances are slim that men could have invented it."
"It is never just Disagreement, but always Intellectual Dishonesty, paired with its apprentice, Ignorance, that is the apologist's worst enemy."
"It is debatable whether blind faith is truly faith at all. Faith is the perceptive gray area where scientific facts meet an individual's experiential truths - the extreme of the former is left feeling in the dark whereas the latter is caught blinded by the light. By proper scientific method, it is intellectually dishonest for me to declare the existence of God with utmost certainty, but to my individual spirit, I would be intellectually dishonest to deny the existence of God even for a second. This leaves the best of both worlds, as the believer is called to be able to give reasons for his faith, a deviation from mere fantasy."
"Those 'back burner' thoughts, the ones the brain isn't quite sure about yet, may cook the slowest, but they manage to be the tastiest when they come out."
"God speaks of his children shining best in ways that only he can provide. The heavens lift one as a golden child while the flesh lowers one to a child with gold."
"When we find that God's ways always coincide with our own ways, it's time to question who we're really worshipping, God or ourselves. The latter moves the nature of godliness from the King to our servant to a slave, a deduction into the realm of selfhood and then the lower, slavehood. It's a spiritual mathematics in that men who need God in his godhood are humble yet strong and spiritually ambitious while men who need a slave in their selfhood are ultimately paralyzed and will remain paralyzed."
"Usually without realizing it, our ultimate peace starts and ends in the authority of God alone, which means the solution to living in joy, peace, and harmony with our fellow men has been here for all since the beginning of mankind and throughout civilization. I have yet to feel the urge to argue politics: it reminds me of getting off the freeway to sit in raging traffic."
"A sign of a lover of wisdom is his delight in not running his mouth about things he doesn't know."
"When you mature in your relationship with God, you realize how suffering and patience are like eating your spiritual vegetables."
"History does seem to repeat itself hence it's mindboggling to still hear the 'avoid all negative people' speeches from, of all people, supposedly important spiritual teachers. Ironically, their congregations would probably be the ones hiding their faces from the accuracies of truth speakers like Christ. Now, Christ was the complete opposite of negative, however the danger is that truth is often misunderstood as negativity by those who are constantly taught to only seek flattery."
"There's sometimes a tugging feeling you get to push further when you aren't being challenged enough or when things get too comfortable."
"Love in this life is expanded by our anticipation of the next life. Those who love under God are never satisfied with small love, or love bound by the flaws of human emotion. Those who love under God dream of another life where they can experience it and live it in God's perfect form, so they seek to build it in this life as much as possible."
"An artistic perspective will jab at you from a different angle; its logic comes like a pitcher with a curveball."
"Many of us fight for and boast our freedom of what is ultimately the ability to prove ourselves to other people. It is unfortunate that only a few of us are so free in our joy, we no longer feel the need to prove ourselves to anyone."
"The eye of danger and the face of fear are what really pull off a person's mask."
"Our enemies are quite good for relentlessly keeping us sharp and on our toes. This especially goes for sincere philosophers. They use their enemies to challenge their arguments so that they can know the weak points in their own reasoning and how to argue for and strengthen their position. There are just none like one's enemies to always look for his mistakes and do it harder than anyone else."
"Religion, like science, is only noteworthy when it emphasizes a matter of what is true rather than whose belief is greater or lesser or which deity works for whom. Sincere religion and tested science are similar in that their assertions can be argued logically and objectively; otherwise, we get false cults and babble."
"When we look for success, it should be for the sole purpose of boasting sincerely in Christ. There's no other reason for it. Success is only worth it when the more intense it gets for you, the more you find yourself bragging for his glory rather than your own."
"The Christian should never have to put others down in order to feel good about himself. Instead, he can simply check out the media's insistent portrayal of Christianity and feel grateful that he isn't as deceived as the masses who really swallow the garbage. Ignorance is ultimately how people put themselves down, and the mere Christian who knows what entails the mere Christian is ultimately free from such."
"When you find that a theology has nothing more to offer than what the world already offers, then that theology as a theology is impractical, and therefore, useless."
"It is neither judgment nor judgment according to the status quo with which we have a problem, but rather judgment according to God's Word. We sharply dress ourselves, go out into the world, shape ourselves, our personalities according to the world's standards and preferences, allow ourselves to be made dull by the world and its desires in order to appear successful and happy and attractive in the eyes of the world: we love the world's judgment but we hate God's judgment. Absurdly enough, the one which really matters, the one out of the purest of loves rather than that of a mere contract in hopes of mutual gain, is the one from which we so adamantly try to cut off, shut off, and distance ourselves."
"I've come to the point where I never feel the need to stop and evaluate whether or not I am happy. I'm just 'being', and without question, by default, it works."
"Unlike wealth, there is an infinite value in legacy."
"When we begin to reflect Christ, the Bible, when more understood as being centered around Christ, seems to be potentially every man's biography regarding God's promised experiences and truth for him - his individual, unique path of humbling oneself before the Lord and then being exalted by the Lord back into his true and righteous personhood. Many followers may speak of it merely to try to change other people (before changing themselves), but the prophets speak of it as a living word which miraculously tells their very own experiences."
"If I love a dose of (good) theology or philosophy, I probably also love discipline, improvement, wisdom, and challenges. If I hate it, I am probably too comfortable and proud to try to question myself."
"I think that there are excellent and poor thinking habits just as there are healthy and unhealthy eating habits; and when a man really knows how to think, you cannot necessarily assert that he thinks too much in a strictly negative connotation. Perhaps this is in a sense food for thought, whereas the other is fool for thought."
"Genius - the pursuit of madness."
"Hypocrisy versus authenticity among men is not always so black and white, and as is righteousness, humility is often self-proclaimed. The Church is most definitely supposed to be a hospital for the spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically sick, hurting, and broken individual, yet ironically, many of its critics are those who ran away and permanently denounced its members after they visited and felt that they were sneezed on."
"The exaggerated dopamine sensitivity of the introvert leads one to believe that when in public, introverts, regardless of its validity, often feel to be the center of (unwanted) attention hence rarely craving attention. Extroverts, on the other hand, seem to never get enough attention. So on the flip side it seems as though the introvert is in a sense very external and the extrovert is in a sense very internal - the introvert constantly feels too much 'outerness' while the extrovert doesn't feel enough 'outerness'."
"We first become salesmen as children in the confession booths of our parents."
"Great minds think alike because a greater Mind is thinking through them."
"There is envy coupled with disrespect, and there is equality coupled with impartiality: The discernment of true equality may seem to have some degree of disrespect for the accomplished, privileged high and lofty (particularly to the accomplished, privileged high and lofty); but in reality, its difference is that it's simply indifference."
"Create with the heart; build with the mind."
"The crazy creatives are the creatives who never go completely mad. They aren't so easily disheartened by the seemingly endless amounts of scrutiny that creative individuals tend to receive because they, like insanity, are the ones who feed off of opposition and negative feedback and manage to continue along with a healthy ambition. It is the crazy that teaches us to use our gifts wisely and own all the attackers."
"Peaceful disputes are maintained when men sincerely believe that they are morally, logically correct about the issues at hand. It is when neither side is really certain that wars are instigated."
"The only honorable, desirable kind of fear that shouldn't be feared is the fear of harm to a loved one. It's the kind of fear that leads to self-sacrifice and the kind of fear where you would truly jump in front of a bus to save another."
"The love of conflict is most evident when opposing forces join sides to defeat the peacemaker."
"Those who stand for different causes during different generations often experience the same oppositions and the same difficulties as those of the previous and the next generations. That is the basis of history repeating itself."
"There are two circumstances that lead to arrogance: one is when you're wrong and you can't face it; the other is when you're right and nobody else can face it."
"If I were to envy any persons on this planet, it would be mountain hermits. You often hear old platitudes such as, 'Speak out. Be heard.' On the contrary, a breath of fresh air would be something like: 'Silence, think for at least 15 minutes, and then maybe speak out.'"
"The reality of loving God is loving him like he's a Superhero who actually saved you from stuff rather than a Santa Claus who merely gave you some stuff."
"One of the biggest contradictions in self-proclaimed open-mindedness is to say that we're all one but when a true bigot comes around tell him we're all different. It's usually the case that neither side is correct. One might have the right to do something, anything, but sure enough, that doesn't mean it's right and a benefit to other people."
"What may intimidate a man is a woman who thinks with her mind before she feels with her heart. Nevertheless what determines the strength in the man is his ability to accept one when he sees one."
"Cleverness isn't always true, nor is the truth always clever."
"It helps to not confuse theological philosophers with evangelists. There is a difference but objectively neither better than the other: an evangelist's mission is to convert; a theological philosopher's mission is to build an understanding of a position."
"To better understand God we must first shatter our own idea of God - maybe even day after day. Maybe he's too great to stay compressed in the human mind. Maybe he splits it wide open; this is why pretentious intellectualism so often fails to comprehend the concept of God: it is only accepting of what it can explain while in the process finding higher sources offensive. What we may confidently assert is that faith is the opening that allows God, this unpredictable, unseen power, to travel in and out of the mind without all the pains of confusion."
"Just as some people may conceal their own sinfulness thus seeming better than the norm, others expose their own sinfulness thus seeming worse than the norm."
"Those who live as though God sets the rules are not going by their own rules. That is the self-sacrifice, or selflessness, that peace more often than not requires. Those who insist on going by their own rules cannot make that sacrifice. They are the steady adherents of (global) conflict because they are forever fighting both themselves and others to do whatever they think that they want to do."
"It starts off like climbing a tree or solving a puzzle - poetry, if nothing else, is just fun to write. But deeper into each and every piece, you no longer hesitate to call it work. It's passion. A poet's sense of lyrical accomplishment is then his food and water, his means of survival."
"Oftentimes in reality, the genius is in the position of the antihero. Neither the good guys nor the bad guys really trust him because his truth is universal."
"The hated man is the result of his hater's pride rather than his hater's conscience."
"With too much pride a man cannot learn a thing. In and of itself, learning teaches you how foolish you are."
"The idea that all souls are mortal is the only notion surely terminating love and all its forms."
"Don't change your mind just because people are offended; change your mind if you're wrong."
"Think outside the box? Indeed. But to add balance to that, one should not in the process forget what the inside of the box looks like as well. Those who are best at thinking outside the box do it not to puff themselves up, but to see how small they really are. As a contented fish in its fish tank appears to have a small, boring existence to us, imagine a larger, more perceptive kingdom (even by scientific taxonomy) to whom our contented existences may appear to be small and boring. This is where true creativity and massive perceptive abilities spawn a sense of intellectual humility; the kind which God adores."
"I would say that introverts make some of the best international philosophers. The less common attribute of the introverted lifestyle - a close societal connection, as such a connection disappears or changes in relevance as the currents of the winds change - leaves too much room for one's own cultural bias. Instead, introverts tend to turn inward, the laboratory of being and all its forms. This is the most accurate study of the individual human being, which is in turn, rather than those affected by cultural limitations, the most universal reflection of human understanding and human behavior."
"A common mistake we make is that we look for God in places where we ourselves wish to find him, yet even in the physical reality this is a complete failure. For example, if you lost your car keys, you would not search where you want to search, you would search where you must in order to find them."
"We have better relationships with those who truly seek us rather than those sitting on the couch watching us move mountains trying to prove ourselves."
"Genius, throughout history, has been found difficult to classify because it varies in amount: It's rare to find a genius in the context of the noun, but most people, if not all, have a bit of genius in them in the context of the adjective."
"Some virtues, when they become fashions, also become exaggerated. Just because nobody likes a judgmental attitude does not mean that there isn't a sort of spoiled, self-righteous hypocrisy when one man obsessively commands other men not to judge without knowing the circumstances without himself, too, knowing their circumstances behind their judgments."
"The writer's curse is that even in solitude, no matter its duration, he never grows lonely or bored."
"Closed in a room, my imagination becomes the universe, and the rest of the world is missing out."
"Humility is, in a sense, admitting how egotistical you are."
"Even though artists of all kinds claim to put their hearts and souls into their works, it will only confuse you, for example, if you try to discern a painter by his paintings. His masterpiece may be the master because of its iridescence; it may display a hundred different perspectives through his single face."
"Realizing the seriously ruthless, venomous habits and agendas of evil always instills a more fierce passion and longing for a closer God. Men, out of pride, may claim their own authorities over what constitutes good and evil; they may self-proclaim a keen knowledge of subjective morality through religion or science. But that is only if they are acknowledging the work of evil as a cartoon-like, petty little rain cloud in the sky that merely wants to dampen one's spirits. On the contrary, a man could be without a doubt lit with the strength, the peace, and the knowledge of the gods, his gods, but when or if the devils grow weary in unsuccessful attempts to torment him, they begin tormenting his loved ones, or, if not his loved ones, anyone who may attempt to grasp his philosophies. No matter how godly he may become, God is, in the end, his only hope and his only grace for the pressures built around him - it is left up to a higher authority and a more solid peace and a wider love to eclipse not just one's own evils but all evils for goodness to ultimately matter. If all men were gods, each being would dwell in a separate prison cell, hopeless, before finally imploding into nothingness."
"I'm never proud of my old work. I always feel as though my skills have since improved."
"Women show men beauty in things beyond their ambitions. Women tell men to stop and smell the roses."
"When you aren't satisfied with what has already been done, make something better. That is the greatest responsibility and the true freedom of creativity. The freedom is in that it doesn't need to complain."
"Joy, like love, is an impenetrable, God-given state of being. The distinctions between joy and happiness and love and affection are important ones under the notion that happiness is an 'iffy' emotion, a highly dependent feeling both aroused and destroyed by external conditions apart from God. And the distinction between love and affection is parallel to such."
"Old words are reborn with new faces."
"Christianity, like genius, is one of the hardest concepts to forgive. We hear what we want to hear and accept what we want to accept, for the most part, simply because there is nothing more offensive than feeling like you have to re-evaluate your own train of thought and purpose in life. You have to die to an extent in your hunger for faith, for wisdom, and quite frankly, most people aren't ready to die."
"Sometimes a people lose their right to remain silent when pressured to remain silent."
"Never rebel for the sake of rebelling, but always rebel for the sake of truth."
"I'm a lion in a strange land."
"The spirit of arrogance most definitely makes you shine. It paints a bright red target on your own forehead."
"Credentials are like potential energy, the compliments of a name on paper, in documents, word of mouth; Faith is like kinetic energy, the witnessed motion and force. It is, in the end, Faith that really takes you places."
"Great philosophers become immortal - they make undeniable impacts on culture."
"It's not about whether or not someone is a bigot, but whether or not the argument that someone is arguing is worth being a bigot about."
"Deceit for personal gain is one of history's most recurring crimes. Man's first step towards change would be thinking, counter-arguing, re-thinking, twisting, straightening, perfecting, then believing every original idea he intends to make public before making it public. There is always an angle from which an absolute truth may appear askew just as there is always a personal emotion, or a personal agenda, which alienates the ultimate good of mankind."
"Whenever you feel like feeling like a devil's advocate, Bible-thump. That, in a worldly world, is the great irony and satire of evangelism."
"A rumor is a social cancer: it is difficult to contain and it rots the brains of the masses. However, the real danger is that so many people find rumors enjoyable. That part causes the infection. And in such cases when a rumor is only partially made of truth, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the information may have gone wrong. It is passed on and on until some brave soul questions its validity; that brave soul refuses to bite the apple and let the apple eat him. Forced to start from scratch for the sake of purity and truth, that brave soul, figuratively speaking, fully amputates the information in order to protect his personal judgment. In other words, his ignorance is to be valued more than the lie believed to be true."
"Tolerance! The virtue that makes one bite his tongue so that he can tear out his hair."
"Imagination doesn't always make you long for what you cannot have, but rather thrive in what you do not have."
"Great artists are a little too gifted to be bound by boxes and labels, and in saying that, the label 'artist' is to be used lightly."
"Love tames the benumbed beast. A man is put to use regarding a woman's physical safety, but a woman is put to use regarding a man's mental safety."
"A young outcast will often feel that there is something wrong with himself, but as he gets older and grows more confident in who he is, he will adapt; he will begin to feel that there is something wrong with everyone else."
"It is a noble responsibility to not back down when you know that you know that you know that you are right."
"When you're the only sane person, you look like the only insane person."
"Simplicity is a bliss that makes one comprehend."
"To be truly positive in the eyes of some, you have to risk appearing negative in the eyes of others."
"To ask, 'How do you do it?' is already starting off on the wrong foot. When reaching for the stars, there does not have to be a 'how' if there is a big enough 'why'."
"The challenge of abating one with a genuine ego problem is to not try to put him down. Any and all antagonization, in his mind, is merely compensated for by his own descriptions: his feelings of persecution by the envious and his ideals of worth. Arguably, the genuine ego is more of a circumstantial defense mechanism rather than a steady arrogance in need of starvation."
"You have to lift a person up before you can really put them in their place."
"It's much easier on the emotions when one sees life as an experiment rather than a struggle for popularity."
"Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it."
"It's a good sign but a rare instance when, in a relationship, you find that the more you learn about the other person, the more you continue to desire them. A sturdy bond delights in that degree of youthful intrigue: Love loves its youth."
"Every time I create something, whether an idea or a work of art, initially, its supposed completion seems absolutely perfect to me. However the more I think about it, stare it down, the more it marinates in my soul over the hours, days, and weeks, the more flaws I start to find in it; and finally, the more I'm pressed to continue enhancing it. It essentially turns out that whatever thing a flawed and imperfect, human eye once thought was amazing begins to appear quite wretched. This is why, eternally, God cannot be impressed by mere talents or by mortal achievements. To perfect eyes, I imagine that great is not really that great; rather, humility is ultimately a human being's true greatness."
"Discernment is the son of good judgment and the father of self-control. When mixed with an already clear conscience, the ability to read the true motives of a critic keeps one's conscience both clear and at ease."
"The humble sinner will sometimes be interpreted as one of the filthiest in the eyes of man yet immersed in the eyes of God, and this is due to the volition of honesty regarding his own corruption."
"A rebel adult often seems like a glorious savior, whereas a rebel child often seems like a little devil."
"Everything at some point has been declared the root of all evil."
"I am not here to merely argue about the perplexities regarding theism or philosophy, but to be a light to the world and to reach out to those who long to be a part of that light."
"Christians walk as strangers in the world: They are untamed. They are free. To persevere with love, yet untamed by man, is often what leaves that open space for divine revelation when God so wills."
"Intelligence entails a strong mind, but genius entails a heart of a lion in tune with a strong mind."
"Oftentimes winning can become an addiction, whether good or bad, to the point where you would rather lose it all before you lose at all."
"Thoughts are like burning stars, and ideas, they flood, they stretch the universe."
"A sign of power in a man is not only when people follow what he suggests, but also when people make a conscious effort to do the exact opposite of what he suggests."
"All great leaders find a sense of balance through their levels of reception. For instance, those who support a leader may soften him, those who ignore him may challenge him, and those who oppose him may stroke his ego."
"To be honest, one can only feel glad that so many modern iconoclasts consider Christianity to be full of exceptionally hypocritical, religious zealots - it's biblically accurate and a prophecy fulfilled. The old smoke screen is one of Satan's favorite tricks. He conceals the authentic. He has a persistent strategy of targeting those who remind him of Christianity because he fears those who remind him of Christ."
"I'd rather strive for the kind of interview where instead of me asking to introduce myself to society, society asks me to introduce myself to society."
"Considering the notion that the spiritual battlefield is infinitely greater than the physical, perhaps God is more willing to bless with a sort of divine ecstasy those who see the devil as the enemy rather than those who see other people as the enemies."
"When you're socially awkward, you're isolated more than usual, and when you're isolated more than usual, your creativity is less compromised by what has already been said and done. All your hope in life starts to depend on your craft, so you try to perfect it. One reason I stay isolated more than the average person is to keep my creativity as fierce as possible. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but more importantly, it has its permanent advantages."
"Of all the major religions, or lack thereof, the atheist's is one of the best pretenders: his foundation for all existences, as well as moral behaviors for the permanent good of mankind, begins at science but ends at himself, the Napoleon complex of both intelligence and imagination. On the other hand the anti-theist wouldn't survive without a deity beyond himself to hunt. He doesn't pretend, he simply nullifies his own position."
"Even if there are instances in which the onlookers mistook it, never fool yourself into using misunderstood genius as an excuse to be a fool."
"Generally, there is a lot of truth value in stepping back, observing, then logically generalizing the extremes of what you see."
"You can't let the truth bring out the worst and let it get the best of you."
"I often ask myself, 'Who would Jesus vote for?' Then I start to think that he wouldn't vote at all; however, it would not be out of apathy or disinterest, but out of perfection and light. As a miracle worker, I think he would, by the power of God's teachings, the perseverance and the truth, influence in a modern sense whoever is put into office how to best serve his fellow men. One, like his skeptics, may find that impractical. But there is a message in that no man in power can slow the momentum of the will of God, and the miracles of his teachings will be forever victorious."
"There's a difference between thinking you can't be wrong and having no regrets. Wrongness is what occurs prior to empiricism, in hindsight a counterpart of revelation, and revelation is nothing to regret."
"Constantly stopping to explain oneself may expand into a frustrating burden for the rare individual, so ceasing to do so is like finally dropping the weights and sprinting towards his goals. Those who insincerely misunderstand, who intentionally distort the motives of a pure-intentioned individual, then, no longer have the opportunity to block his path; instead, they are the ones left to stand on the sidelines shouting frustratedly in the wind of his trail."
"If I were to vote, I would intentionally vote for the goofiest candidate. It is my theory that when the people can outwit the leader, the more respected their voices will be."
"Beyond all sciences, philosophies, theologies, and histories, a child's relentless inquiry is truly all it takes to remind us that we don't know as much as we think we know."
"Soar with wit. Conquer with dignity. Handle with care."
"Have nuts and be nuts."
"A lack of illusion is golden, and it is quite possible that creativity is the highest form of intelligence. One might further develop oneself in the creative sense and, therefore, at times, find some degree of shame more so than pride when having always followed that of the safe and ever-praised academia."
"The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal."
"I think a lot of psychopaths are just geniuses who drove so fast that they lost control."
"When most of the greatest individuals in history were misunderstood and you've spent so much of your own adult life misunderstood, you can't help but believe that the majority of people know very little worth knowing."
"I don't pretend to know everything; I just only speak on matters I know I'll win."
"Armed neutrality makes it much easier to detect hypocrisy."
"The typical atheist rebels against God as a teenager rebels against his parents. When his own desires or standards are not fulfilled in the way that he sees fit, he, in revolt, storms out of the house in denial of the Word of God and in scrutiny of a great deal of those who stand by the Word of God. The epithet 'Heavenly Father' is a grand reflection, a relation to that of human nature."
"As a writer of philosophy, it's good to ask oneself, 'Will I still believe this a week from now, or months, or even years?'"
"In some cases, I am able to respect what so many call bigots. Such people have a more solid foundation for drawing their lines when it comes to the security of their ways and quite possibly the security of mankind. They rely on something that has worked to get man this far without placing ideals blindly driven by emotion first; they have a sure line and they say, 'No.' That, in a sense, is something I find to be highly respectable."
"Whenever we want to combat our enemies, first and foremost we must start by understanding them rather than exaggerating their motives."
"Oftentimes in a society when people of a certain type, whether an individual or a group, are subconsciously portrayed by the media as abnormal, they also slowly, subconsciously become enemies of that society due to feelings of cultural guilt. Ultimately by this the inflated media is an enemy of its very own cause."
"There is, after all, no moral difference between the bigot and the tolerator. They are from case to case positive or negative. One man is bigoted because he was given the sword of truth, another because he is angered in thoughtlessness; then, one man is tolerant because he was given the flag of peace, another because he is cowardly and wishes to hide all guilt."
"The manlier you are, the harder it is to understand what a woman wants: there is not a hint of female brain in you."
"Confidence turns into pride only when you are in denial of your mistakes."
"When emerging from humble beginnings, those around you tend to underestimate your authenticity because they knew you before you were 'somebody'."
"Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing."
"For God to prove himself on demand, physically, would be a grave disappointment, and the strongest Christians should be considerably grateful that he chooses not to do so. The skeptic endlessly demands proof, yet God refuses to insult the true intelligence of man, the '6th sense', the chief quality, the acumen which distinguishes man from the rest of creation, faith."
"I imagine that the intelligent people are the ones so intelligent that they don't even need or want to look 'intelligent' anymore."
"If ever you feel like an animal among men, be a lion."
"It turns out that indecision is a path itself; but figuratively, a vertical path - up or down - meaning it isn't always a fruitless path. One is forgotten, but the other is glorified. To be what they call 'middle-of-the-road' in most cases just means you have a hard time figuring out who between options is dumber. So quite often those who refused to decide were, after all, the bold individuals, the influential ones, the creative ones, those who snatched their own authority."
"Let your confidence reflect your contentedness."
"When your only regret is if anyone thinks you regret anything - that is the definition of conviction."
"If you use a philosophy education well, you can get your foot in the door of any industry you please. Industries are like the blossoms on a tree while philosophy is the trunk - it holds the tree together, but it often goes unnoticed."
"At first, they'll only dislike what you say, but the more correct you start sounding the more they'll dislike you."
"As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning."
"To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength."
"The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It's as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure."
"There was a time when skepticism was an act of rebellion. Since to a degree I both believe in evolution and have faith, I can only conclude that, as prophesied, to have faith will someday be an act of rebellion."
"Love is as simple as the absence of self-interest in giving oneself to another. God, when invited, fills the void of any unrequited love; hence loving is how one is drawn closer to God, no matter its most horrific repercussions."
"The whole war between the atheist and the theist comes down to this: the atheist believes a 'what' created the universe; the theist believes a 'who' created the universe."
"Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live."
"In the fashion industry, everything goes retro except the prices."
"We are often taught to look for the beauty in all things, so in finding it, the layman asks the philosopher while the philosopher asks the photographer."
"When you feel like you mean nothing to everyone for too long, you one day wake up with an urge to mean everything to as many people as possible. That is what inspires creativity. Maybe God would agree, hence creation."
"Love may be harder to find in some people, but when they do love you know it must be something marvelous."
"If it's true what is said, that only the wise discover the wise, then it must also be true that the lone wolf symbolizes either the biggest fool on the planet or the biggest Einstein on the planet."
"It is easier for one to take risks and to chase his dreams with a mindset that he has nothing to lose. In this lies the immense passion, the great advantage of avoiding a materialistic, pleasure-filled way of life."
"A pure heart does not demean the spirit of an individual; it, instead, compels the individual to examine his spirit."
"It turns out that the men who ultimately, unpretentiously value peace are willing to sacrifice their own peace of mind in order to render it. The question is, 'Who, between opposing forces, would do such a thing?' It seems only theoretical, albeit true that men who accept an objective rather than subjective moral standard are, in a general sense, more capable of making such sacrifices for the sake of peace."
"It's not about going around trying to stir up trouble. As long as you're honest and you articulate what you believe to be true, somebody somewhere will become your enemy whether you like it or not."
"I find it a challenge to cooperate in a society where it's considered moral to critique a résumé yet immoral to critique morality."
"A writer is one who communicates ideas and emotions people want to communicate but aren't quite sure how, or even if, they should communicate them."
"With a hint of good judgment, to fear nothing, not failure or suffering or even death, indicates that you value life the most. You live to the extreme; you push limits; you spend your time building legacies. Those do not die."
"Sometimes it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEOs, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser."
"The first ingredient to being wrong is to claim that you are right. Geniuses have a knack for raising new questions. Hence by the public they are either admired for their creativity or, even more commonly so, detested for disturbing the daily peace of mind."
"In God's eyes, a man who teaches one truth and nothing else is more righteous than a man who teaches a million truths and one lie."
"The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it."
"Companionship is a foreign concept to some people. They fear it as much as the majority of people fear loneliness."
"To be sincere, or maybe just believable, about helping others through adversity, one has to have experienced it himself first. This is my strangest prayer, and in this I can never regret a thing. It is a kind of self-sacrificial love, one of life's greatest components."
"There is a greater Christian faith than one which settles for the temporal happiness, and that is the augmentation of faith. The more faithful you become, the harder the obstacles get; but the harder the obstacles get, the tougher your spine grows; and the tougher your spine grows, the less dependent you are on man's approval. I came to know this about Christianity when valuing faith before comfort."
"The artist lives to have stories to tell and to learn to tell them well."
"Most men either compromise or drop their greatest talents and start running after, what they perceive to be, a more reasonable success, and somewhere in between they end up with a discontented settlement. Safety is indeed stability, but it is not progression."
"Beware: open-mindedness will often say, 'Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion.'"
"The motive behind criticism often determines its validity. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot."
"Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction."
"I would rather a romantic relationship turn into contempt than turn into apathy. The passion in the extremities makes it appear as though it once meant something. We grow from hot or cold, but lukewarm is the biggest insult."
"I am a fan of overdoing something, but not running it into the ground. They are complete opposites with only a fine line separating them."
"If you want to find the real competition, just look in the mirror. After a while you'll see your rivals scrambling for second place."
"Listen to God with a broken heart. He is not only the doctor who mends it, but also the father who wipes away the tears."
"When it comes to judging individuals, I do not like remarks such as 'too good to be true.' They speak as though one is rewarding the nature of evil. Yet, ironically, we still wonder where all the good people have gone."
"Liberalism, contrary to popular belief, is facing backward in considering the injustice of its ancestors. Conservatism, contrary to popular belief, is facing forward in considering the psychology of its descendants. Definitively, it seems in the modern world that neither side really knows which direction it's facing, and men of the sharpest judgment are simply turned off from picking either of the poisons."
"A man does not have to feel less than human to realize his sin; oppositely, he has to realize that he gets no special vindication for his sin."
"Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths."
"In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still."
"It is not true that everyone is special. It is true that everyone was once special and still possesses the ability to recover it."
"Seeing the glass as half empty is more positive than seeing it as half full. Through such a lens the only choice is to pour more. That is righteous pessimism."
"I feel as though whenever I create something, my Mr. Hyde wakes up in the middle of the night and starts thrashing it. I sometimes love it the next morning, but other times it is an abomination."
"Many people in a rather reckless context claim to 'just tell it like it is'. In actuality, nobody really stresses what one says so much as the motive behind what one says; hence, he is merely blowing hot air and detracting from 'what is'."
"When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them."
"These days when Christians bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief."
"Wise men are not pacifists; they are merely less likely to jump up and retaliate against their antagonizers. They know that needless antagonizers are virtually already insecure enough."
"I would rather be an artist than a leader. Ironically, a leader has to follow the rules."
"Tension, in the long run, is a more dangerous force than any feud known to man."
"I am thankful when I am hungry because then I know that when I eat, the food will taste better. Life has taught me that my true contentment rests in hope, and the pleasure itself is secondary. It is self-awareness, not happiness, that maintains peace."
"Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on."
"We men are fascinated by the things we don't really understand. It gives us something to think and talk about: like females, they drive us nuts."
"From recovery to rags and rags to recovery symbolizes art - a perfect compilation of human imperfections."
"There's no need to curse God if you're an ugly duckling. He chooses those strong enough to endure it so that they can guide others who've felt the same."
"Everyone judges constantly: positively judging one person is the same as negatively judging everyone else; it is to say that that person is superior in some sense."
"Psychobabble attempts to redefine the entire English language just to make a correct statement incorrect. Psychology is the study of why someone would try to do this."
"The role of genius is not to complicate the simple, but to simplify the complicated."
"One does not have to be a philosopher to be a successful artist, but he does have to be an artist to be a successful philosopher. His nature is to view the world in an unpredictable albeit useful light."
"I'm often painted as the bad guy, and the artistic part of me wants to hand out the brush."
"I will never deny that life isn't fair. It seems as though when a woman leaves a man she is strong and independent, but when a man leaves a woman he is a pig and a jerk."
"Like crying wolf, if you keep looking for sympathy as a justification for your actions, you will someday be left standing alone when you really need help."
"In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent."
"Because there are hundreds of different ways to say one thing, I, being a writer, songwriter, and poet, speak childishly and incoherently. In speech there is so much to decide in so little time."
"If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences."
"I believe in evolution in the sense that a short-tempered man is the successor of a crybaby."
"An exceedingly confident student would in theory make a terrible student. Why would he take school seriously when he feels that he can outwit his teachers?"
"The greater ignorance towards a country is not ignoring what its politicians have to say, it is ignoring what the inmates in its prisons have to say."
"Love is without a doubt the laziest theory for the meaning of life, but when it actually comes time to do it we find just enough energy to over-complicate life again. Any devil can love whom he himself sees as a good person who has treated him well, but to love also the polar opposite is what separates love from fickle emotions."
"To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect."
"Few can admit that, to the audience, public trials bring more entertainment than they bring justice. We act like vultures: vultures sit and wait for something to die as we sit and wait for someone to suffer, even when the conflict is truly of no concern to us. That makes them sheer entertainment. Public trials are the modern gladiator."
"Authors can write stories without people assuming that they are autobiographies, but songwriters and poets are often considered to be the characters in their works. I like Michelangelo's vision, 'I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.'"
"In the land where excellence is commended, not envied, where weakness is aided, not mocked, there is no question as to how its inhabitants are all superhuman."
"Love begets wisdom, thus it is, as often misconceived, more than vain layers of tenderness; it is inherently rational and comprehensive of the problem within the problem: for instance, envy is one of the most excused sins in the media of political correctness. Those you find most attractive, or seem to have it all, are often some of the most insecure at heart, and that is because people assume that they do not need anything but defamation."
"Labeled fools to the world are geniuses to the cosmos."
"Doubt is a question mark; faith is an exclamation point. The most compelling, believable, realistic stories have included them both."
"Emotion is always multiplied in the art of a person who doesn't really show much emotion. It once expanded deep within his hidden soul, and following the downplay his audience is blown away."
"Wisdom is nothing more than confirmed imagination: just because one did not study for his exam does not mean that he should leave it blank."
"Everyone claims to be okay with freedom of religion, but the moment you mention God there is a strange tension that fills the air. If there were a 6th sense, that would be it."
"Drinking is such a necessity to human life that people cannot fathom an individual who, like a child confined to a church pew, gets little enjoyment out of it and would rather do other things."
"Divinity for the sake of the simple-minded is beautiful. One is bound to make doctrinal mistakes, and in like manner, even the greatest thinkers have been and will be wrong at some points. Those theological assertions that you write, say, or live by, and later feel foolish about - that feeling could perhaps be the grace of God, still living inside you enough to tell you that they were indeed foolish. By mistakes you know you are alive."
"Every man has a specific skill, whether it is discovered or not, that more readily and naturally comes to him than it would to another, and his own should be sought and polished. He excels best in his niche - originality loses its authenticity in one's efforts to obtain originality."
"Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane."
"I claim neither liberalism nor conservatism - one tends to be airheaded while the other tends to be brickheaded."
"Being nice merely to be liked in return nullifies the point."
"There is more to joy than looking only for affirmation; refusing to be challenged is the only bigotry."
"A lonely day is God's way of saying that he wants to spend some quality time with you."
"You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided."
"Those who speak of progression but are afraid of change are self-repressed and therefore unable to reach any further than their eyes can already see."
"Seemingly minor yet persistent things penetrate the mind over time making it difficult to ever realize the impact; hence, though quite unfortunate, the most dangerous forms of corruption are those that are subtle and below the radar."
"Every job from the heart is, ultimately, of equal value. The nurse injects the syringe; the writer slides the pen; the farmer plows the dirt; the comedian draws the laughter. Monetary income is the perfect deceiver of a man's true worth."
"God favors men and women who delight in being made worthy of happiness before the happiness itself."
"If the entire world sought to make itself worthy of happiness rather than make itself happy, then the entire world would be happy."
"To seek greatness is the only righteous vengeance."
"Women rescue men just as much as, if not more than, men rescue women."
"In the age of technology, there is constant access to vast amounts of information. The basket overflows; people get overwhelmed: The eye of the storm is not so much what goes on in the world; it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on."
"I do not care about happiness simply because I believe that joy is something worth fighting for."
"When a poet digs himself into a hole, he doesn't climb out. He digs deeper, enjoys the scenery, and comes out the other side enlightened."
"The theistic philosopher has a tendency to devalue insufficient worldviews, ideologies, and quite often common sense for the greater good, and in such cases, one should not be discouraged when seen as a bad guy. If he stresses over man's perception of a righteous heart, then he has given his heart to man."
"Feel what it's like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you'll forever think twice before wasting food."
"'Good works' is giving to the poor and the helpless, but 'Divine works' is showing them their worth to the One who matters."
"When it comes to world news, attitude is what marks the distinction between justice and vengeance. Justice is pure, but vengeance brings more ruin."
"If you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it."
"The ultimate story of success: When a nobody, who has never once in his entire life known the feeling of being remembered or respected, suddenly snaps and becomes a world dictator. On one hand it sounds just, but on the other, it illustrates the reason why a prosperity message has and needs its limitations."
"In essence I find that the foundation of modern conservatism is driven by a clinging to God in fear of the world, whereas the foundation of modern liberalism is a clinging to the world in fear of God; albeit, the true foundation should be one's clinging to God in fear of God."
"I don't feel productive unless I'm creating something. If I were to become a millionaire through strategies that have already been used by many, I would feel poorer than poor, as if my potential and my purpose were left unfulfilled."
"Faithfulness imparts God's reason for all circumstances. No matter what the world says, losing is no longer an option."
"Love is the most talked about idea in the world, and the biggest mystery in the world is how many individuals can honestly live its true nature."
"Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions."
"On romance, I remembered the girls who were strict, those who cared enough to stab me in the front whenever they felt I deserved it. Flatterers, in a sense, can be selfish - they merely want to see an increase in their number of friends."
"There is a master way with words which is not learned but is instead developed: a deaf man develops exceptional vision, a blind man exceptional hearing, a silent man, when given a piece of paper..."
"When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie."
"As individuals die every moment, how insensitive and fabricated a love it is to set aside a day from selfish routine in prideful, patriotic commemoration of tragedy. Just as God is provoked by those who tithe simply because they feel that they must tithe, I am provoked by those who commemorate simply because they feel that they must commemorate."
"I generally hate reading persuasive books; but I hate my ignorance even more, so I force myself to do it. I enjoy reading aphorisms. Persuasive books often talk too much to really say anything memorable, whereas selling an idea through the wit, subtlety, and perception of a good aphorism may challenge in a single sentence."
"I do not read a lot of books. I read people. There is no better witness than one to himself. The rest is hearsay."
"I usually make sure that I need my own advice as much as the next person. Hypocritical or not, that is how I am certain that it is valuable to at least one or more persons."
"A fear of weakness only strengthens weakness."
"There's nothing more contagious than the laughter of young children; it doesn't even have to matter what they're laughing about."
"If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it."
"A solid answer to everything is not necessary. Blurry concepts influence one to focus, but postulated clarity influences arrogance."
"The devil's happy when the critics run you off."
"To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little."
"It is never ridicule, but a compliment, that knocks a philosopher off his feet. He is already positioned for every possible counter-attack, counter-argument, and retort...only to find a big bear hug coming his way."
"A man who goes into a restaurant and blatantly disrespects the servers shows a strong discontent with his own being. Deep down he knows that restaurant service is the closest thing he will ever experience to being served like a king."
"Songwriting and poetry are so commonly birthed from underdogs because one can make even the ugliest situations admirable, or more beautiful than the beautiful situations - they are the most graceful media in which the lines of society are distorted."
"In a general sense, I admit to valuing the worldviews of men under the age of 40 and women over the age of 30."
"I like solitude. It is when you truly hear and speak your natural, unadulterated mind, and out comes your most stupid self as well as your most intelligent self. It is when you realize who you are and the extents of the good and the evils which you are capable of."
"The logic behind patriotism is a mystery. At least a man who believes that his own family or clan is superior to all others is familiar with more than 0.000003% of the people involved."
"I write about adversity, I praise adversity, not to be pessimistic, but rather to strengthen myself. The more familiar that you are with it, the less likely you are to have a breakdown when it occurs. You become more reflective of its purpose, you understand God's reason for it, and are then able to make the best of everything that you are handed. The darkness is only frightening after constant sunshine."
"It is the philosophers, theologians, and evangelists who are said to be filled with pride and bigotry due to the strong convictions that they represent. On the contrary, teachings can be either taken or dismissed; whereas voting is the only thing the average person can do to force everyone to live how they would prefer. A simple vote is among the largest yet most acceptable forms of bigotry, and that is because people play the card only when they feel that in doing so it conveniences them."
"I would rather have strong enemies than a world of passive individualists. In a world of passive individualists nothing seems worth anything simply because nobody stands for anything. That world has no convictions, no victories, no unions, no heroism, no absolutes, no heartbeat. That world has rigor mortis."
"Any fool can do something cool and look cool, but it takes skill to make something uncool cool again."
"Disasters work like alarm clocks to the world, hence God allows them. They are shouting, 'Wake up! Love! Pray!'"
"I am not sure if women are attracted to genius. Can you imagine the wise wizard winning the woman over the gallant swordsman? It seems rather otherworldly in more ways than one."
"I cannot encourage any fabrication even for the sake of making people feel good. If I were to fabricate consciously and knowingly, I would not only be ordaining myself their enemy, but also ordaining myself God's enemy."
"When you have wit of your own, it's a pleasure to credit other people for theirs."
"Easily mistaken, it is not about a love for adversity, it is about knowing a strength and a faith so great that adversity, in all its adverse manifestations, hardly even exists."
"I think there is a song out there to describe just about any situation."
"The barrier during self-improvement is not so much that we hate learning, but rather we hate being taught. To learn entails that the knowledge was achieved on one's own accord - it feels great - but to be taught often leaves a feeling of inferiority. Thus it takes a bit of determination and a lot of humility in order for one to fully develop."
"What man ever openly apologizes for slander? It is not so much a feeling of slander as it is that of a massive lie, a misdeed not only to the slandered but also to those manipulated in the process. He has made them all, every one, his enemies, thereupon he is so overwhelmed with guilt that he will deny it until his grave."
"Showing a lack of self-control is in the same vein as granting authority to others: It is basically saying, 'Perhaps I need someone else to control me.'"
"Drunken men give some of the best pep talks."
"Happiness is good, but well-overrated: what we hate most are the very motivators that put us in gear. A man drifts along with little to contribute until something agitates him enough to make a difference, whether for himself or for his communities."
"I often find that people confuse inner peace with some sense of insensibility whenever something goes wrong. In such cases inner peace is a permit for destruction: The unyielding optimist will pretend that the forest is not burning either because he is too lazy or too afraid to go and put the fire out."
"God's relationship with man does not work in a way in which man stumbles and then God has to drop what he is doing in order to lift him up; rather, man stumbles so that God can lift him up. Hence it is utterly impossible to truly diminish his glory."
"When you're truly awesome, you know that it's actually a burden and wish day after day to be relieved of such a curse. Think of about 95% of the superheroes."
"God tests, but he does not tempt."
"A poet should be so crafty with words that he is envied even for his pains."
"Whenever I think of something but can't think of what it was I was thinking of, I can't stop thinking until I think I'm thinking of it again. I think I think too much."
"Even hard-headedness can have its rewards: there is a raw form of wisdom which is learned only the hard way, only paradoxically, through the stumbling, through the formation of rocky experiences."
"The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people."
"How is it that some celebrities, whom the average person would believe to have all the popularity a human being could want, still admit to feeling lonely? It is quite naive to assume that popularity is the remedy for loneliness. Loneliness does not necessarily equal physical solitude; it is the inability to be oneself and rightfully represented as oneself."
"The faithful man perceives nothing less than opportunity in difficulties. Flowing through his spine, faith and courage work together: Such a man does not fear losing his life, thus he will risk losing it at times in order to empower it. By this he actually values his life more than the man who fears losing his life. It is much like leaping from a window in order to avoid a fire yet in that most crucial moment knowing that God will appear to catch you."
"When a man has a gift in speaking the truth, brute aggression is no longer his security blanket for approval. He, on the contrary, spends most of his energy trying to tone it down because his very nature is already offensive enough."
"With a philosophy education, one can infuriate his peers, intimidate his date, think of obscure, unreliable ways to make money, and never regret a thing."
"The only thing more frustrating than slanderers? Not a thing, but rather it's the people foolish enough to listen to them."
"One of the greatest gifts from God is the eternal perspective. It is a level of fearlessness, a level of understanding where one can experience even emotional harmony with God."
"The older you get, the more you understand how your conscience works. The biggest and only critic lives in your perception of people's perception of you rather than people's perception of you."
"Senses of humor define people, as factions, more deeply rooted than religious or political opinions. When carrying out everyday tasks, opinions are rather easy to set aside, but those whom a person shares a sense of humor with are his closest friends. They are always there to make the biggest influence."
"After a while you realize that putting your actions where your mouth is makes you less likely to have to put your money where your mouth is."
"Watching people hurt breaks my heart, but anger cracks me up. People say funny things when they are angry."
"It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias."
"I am told that I take too kindly to strangers, but I still cannot convince myself that fear is any different than hate."
"Simply minding one's own business is more offensive than being intrusive. Without ever saying a word one can make a person feel less-than."
"I think that I am too warm to negatively judge individuals, yet I am cold enough to negatively judge humanity."
"Love can be beautiful, or love can be tragic; but the latter is a poet's dream: to have a story so capturing that Justice itself aims to retell it on the world stage. It is questionable whether a poet can really grow weary of the tragedy of a juggled heart: the alternative is for the heart to be snatched away from the juggling for a beautiful Happily Ever After, where the story often ends; but, being more in the realm of Poetic Justice, tragedy is eternal."
"Confidence is like a dragon where, for every head cut off, two more heads grow back."
"Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell."
"What does it mean to be 'out of someone's league'? The only real case of being out of someone's league is the relationship between God and a man, and even that is unfailing. We all have something of equal value to offer one another. When at first it is not as obvious, it must be fought for, and that makes it even more valuable. We worry so much about who someone is from the start that we completely ignore who, together, we can become before we finish."
"What is hard work? It takes strength, energy, and stress to truly care about others enough to place oneself last, but it is easy to wrap oneself up and selfishly scramble on the heads of others."
"You are evidence of your mother's strength, especially if you are a rebellious knucklehead and, regardless, she has always maintained her sanity."
"I like finding problems because I like solving problems. Nothing is more depressing to me than cheerfully sweeping things under the rug."
"I only seem negative to the fortunate. That's because I show the less fortunate that they aren't less fortunate after all."
"My mind is more stimulated watching children's shows than political news. The former brings back all the basic, undeniable truths that may then be built upon; the latter is flooded with biased drivel thus giving me this strange feeling that I did my mind a huge disservice."
"Everyone has their own ways of expression. I believe we all have a lot to say, but finding ways to say it is more than half the battle."
"Learning isn't acquiring knowledge so much as it is trimming information that has already been acquired."
"The power of hope! Even a lack of ambition can, for a time, pay off as a necessary facet, as long as hope outweighs it."
"What is a genius? A person who demands little to nothing from others, but is often found extremely difficult to have around."
"The common man prays, 'I want a cookie right now!' And God responds, 'If you'd listen to what I say, tomorrow it will bring you 100 cookies.'"
"Self-righteousness is much like a spiritual egocentricity. It constitutes a secular type of love that thrives under conditionality, one in which is only existent after an individual meets the adopted standards of the condemner; oppositely, unconditional love is a holy love."
"Ultimate prosperity is one's value within. It takes a man of depth, morality, and charm to be envied yet without a sign of wealth or romance. A passion to prove such inner worth is his permission to achieve whatever he desires."
"To me it seems that too many young women of this time share the same creed: 'Live, laugh, love; be nothing but happy; experience everything; et cetera, et cetera.' How monotonous, how useless this becomes. What about the honors of women who would truly fight for something other than just their own emotions?"
"Creative people are often found either disagreeable or intimidating by mediocrities."
"An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate."
"I try to have my own definitions of happiness and success, and I would rather make paths before taking paths."
"Whether angry, happy, or sad, the emotions always seem to triple when dealing with those who mean the most to you."
"A lack of common sense, on occasion, ends in some heroic feat, much like the soldier who dives onto the grenade so that others may live."
"Man was designed in a way in which he must eat in order to give him a solid reason to go to work every day. This helps to keep him out of trouble. God is wise."
"An encouraged person will eventually get his drive from encouragement; he becomes more dependent. A person that never really receives encouragement learns to move out of spite; he becomes more independent."
"Tell me that the purpose of life is to have fun, and without a care in the world I'll begin wreaking havoc on everything I pass. Now that's what I call pure, honest fun."
"Bad luck with women is a determined man's road to success. For every affliction, he makes, out of indignation, yet another advancement in order to exceed the man that the woman chose over him. This goes to show that great men are made great because they once learned how to fight the feeling of rejection."
"If a man cannot understand the beauty of life, it is probably because life never understood the beauty in him."
"Vivid simplicity is the articulation, the nature of genius. Wisdom is greater than intelligence; intelligence is greater than philosobabble."
"There is such a thing as righteous judgment, but it seems that lately the word 'judgment' has become a curse word, period. The issue isn't whether or not we're insightful enough to avoid being judgmental, but whether or not we're secure enough to accept being judged. It is inevitable for every conscious human being to judge. It may spring from insight and experience and sincerity, and in such cases, it is quite beneficial on the receiving end."
"The best ideas will eat at you for days, maybe even weeks, until something, some incident, some impulse, triggers you to finally express them."
"I once sought validation from and compared my views to those of legendary thinkers; eventually, I started feeling a sense of authority and began refuting them when appropriate."
"To be a philosopher, just reverse everything you have ever been told...and have a sense of humor doing it."
"Time and time again does the pride of man influence his very own fall. While denying it, one gradually starts to believe that he is the authority, or that he possesses great moral dominion over others, yet it is spiritually unwarranted. By that point he loses steam; as a result, he falsely begins trying to prove that unwarranted dominion by seizing the role of a condemner."
"It always seems as though the definition of love will remain debatable by an opinionated world."
"Absurdity is the ecstasy of intellectualism."
"Everyone pretends to be 'free thinkers', but few individuals pass the line into expressive territories that may be detrimental to their own social well-being."
"I would rather my descendants have greater abilities and a greater knowledge of the love of Christ than I do, much like standing on one's shoulders in order to get a clearer view of the valley."
"Peace is more of an internal settlement than what is visible on the external."
"In a way, and in my mind, I don't want to have succeeded; it implies finished work. If I make one masterpiece and not another, then I feel as though I'm sliding downhill."
"For the believer, humility is honesty about one's greatest flaws to a degree in which he is fearless about truly appearing less righteous than another."
"I always make sure that the world will prove me right. It gives me the freedom to contradict myself."
"Christ delves far beyond the means of superficiality, not simply because of his immaculate love, but also because he considers the distinct cases of each individual rather than painting with the broad brushes of stereotypes."
"When I look at a person, I see a person - not a rank, not a class, not a title."
"I'm convinced that most men don't know what they believe; they only know what they wish to believe. How many people blame God for man's atrocities, but wouldn't dream of imprisoning a mother for her son's crime?"
"True rebels hate their own rebellion. They know by experience that it is not a cool and glamorous lifestyle; it takes a courageous fool to say things that have not been said and to do things that have not been done."
"The more one aggressively displays his anger, the more others grow insensitive to his anger. Its lack of value will no longer receive sincere responses."
"To be acceptable is for one to ignore his weakness while knowing his strength, to cover the scar even though it's always there; however, to be impossible is for one to see his weakness as not an adversary, but the cherry on top of his strength, to rearrange the scar so that it complements his features."
"Pride and power fall when the person falls, but discoveries of truth form legacies that can be built upon for generations."
"All individuals have moral deficiencies, and when introducing these to reality one not only strengthens himself but also the confidence of others in the human exigency for Christ due to a reflection throughout the body of Christ."
"In the philosophical dialect, a cynic takes an insult as a compliment since opposition is already his style."
"Faith, in its most correct form, never removes responsibility; it removes fear of responsibility. The results are complete opposites with the greater saying, 'God's will is my delight.'"
"It has always seemed that a fear of judgment is the mark of guilt and the burden of insecurity."
"It often occurs that pride and selfishness are muddled with strength and independence. They are neither equal nor similar; in fact, they are polar opposites. A coward may be so cowardly that he masks his weakness with some false personification of power. He is afraid to love and to be loved because love tends to strip bare all emotional barricades. Without love, strength and independence are prone to losing every bit of their worth; they become nothing more than a fearful, intimidated, empty tent lost somewhere in the desert of self."
"As Aristotle said, 'Excellence is a habit.' I would say furthermore that excellence is made constant through the feeling that comes right after one has completed a work which he himself finds undeniably awe-inspiring. He only wants to relax until he's ready to renew such a feeling all over again because to him, all else has become absolutely trivial."
"People more easily welcome the man that was crafty about hiding his own immoralities while willfully rejecting the man known to have said or to have committed something immoral."
"One may not always know his purpose until his only option is to monopolize in what he truly excels at. He grows weary of hearing the answer 'no' time and time again, so he turns to and cultivates, monopolizes in his one talent which others cannot possibly subdue. Then, beyond the crowds of criticism and rejection, the right people recognize his talent - among them he finds his stage."
"Usually, I cannot just voluntarily sit down in deep thought and begin writing, nor would I want to. Nearly everything that comes together comes together in pieces, out of life."

Yesterday and Tomorrow

2011-05-06T20:54:00.002-07:00

The anthology, Yesterday and Tomorrow, has been released and is now available on Amazon. Originally compiled by author Luke Wood, it includes the works of several legendary poets (William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Emily Dickinson, etc.) alongside a number of modern poets on a mission to unveil the dawn of a new era. It also includes 4 of my pieces that are, at the moment, only available in the anthology: Stylus (Of the Wildest Dreams), Pressure of the Hellhounds, ...For the Forgotten, and Kiss the Blarney Stone. There is no traditional theme for the anthology; rather, it is a witness of the times - the apperceptions, values, and ingenuities of the past integrated with those of the present. Is it the evolution of perspective? The reader is at liberty to decide.

Personal God or Cultural God?

2011-02-25T16:36:00.003-08:00

Should you not be aware of the things you etch into your faith - for instance, whether or not you speak of a timeless, personal relationship with God before placing a cultural restriction on God?

It is evident that there are boundaries placed on the very God that one loves so much, such as the underestimating emphasis on a tiny corner of the glory of God - a temporary pursuit of happiness that essentially blesses monetarily and materialistically in return for faithfulness and good will. Much of the same doctrine can be found in the self-improvement books located down the aisle from the theology books. However not all individuals treasure and define prosperity by mere domestic comfort and pleasure; not all individuals find reward in forms of entertainment; not all individuals are able to practice their true abilities through cultural definitions of happiness; finally, not all individuals place such value on economic ladders. Now, there is virtually nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves. These days when Christians bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief. But what is God's definition of a blessing to each individual, since after all, it is a personal relationship rather than a cultural relationship?

It is inevitable that there will always be trends. Although, what is most prominent in modern Western Christianity? Better yet, what is success in the eyes of God as opposed to the eyes of man? As of late there has been a deadlock inclination that the work of an individual is fruitless if that work does not produce some sort of monetary profit. Essentially, money is merely a tool, not a goal, especially for one who projects everything, from faith to peace to success, into the hands of God. The more emphasis the desiring hearts of men put on a single tool to succeed, the fewer options he leaves for himself to succeed. Most men think that building a profit or climbing the social ladder is God's primary means of sending a blessing. I find that this is a hindrance to the true potential that God has for man. He is a worker of miracles, a creator, one who has granted great authority to those who are faithful. The man who continuously seeks God delights in creativity, he delights in discovering and witnessing his own strength, without submission to the gods of his time, under the hands of God who is beyond time.

As previously mentioned, the inclination is driven under the assumption that God's sole purpose is to provide little luxuries, which lead only to a rather fickle happiness, for every man that truly confides in his will. On the contrary, there are individuals with a more prophetic perspective; they do not walk in the here-and-now but by legacies for the coming generations. On earth, they might never witness their own successes or prosperities, yet reserved for them are blessings greater than those that which the world itself has to offer. God favors men and women who delight in being made worthy of happiness before the happiness itself. These people ask themselves, "If I were to die this instant, what message, eternally valuable, did I leave behind? How could one find me?" They know that pride and power fall when the person falls, but discoveries of truth form legacies that can be built upon for generations.

First and foremost, the greater good in many cases is to speak of what is sure and profitable in the eyes of eternity, and this is done by clinging onto the example of Christ. He is the only teacher to ever set an irrefutable, timeless example for all cultures and all men. Some men delight in stepping outside of the cultural circle in an attempt to speak for all people. Indeed that is considered overdoing it, however, amplification signifies leadership:

"In winter Diogenes walked barefoot in the snow. In summer he rolled in the hot sand. He did this to harden himself against discomfort. 'But aren't you overdoing it a little?' a disciple asked. 'Of course,' replied Diogenes, 'I am like a teacher of choruses who has to sing louder than the rest in order they may get the right note.'"

How many have a passionate desire, though we will fail again and again, to lead a life following the absolute purity and certainty of the example of Christ? On the other hand, how many have become nothing more than inspirational speakers who focus only on certain highlights meant to emotionally inspire those within one's own culture and time period? Simply put, there were times in history and places on earth where people died or suffered for Christ just as there were times and places where people lived and prospered for Christ. They are both worthy simply because they are both for Christ.

It is quite superficial and safe when a televangelist implies that one must be happy or that he must prosper, by cultural definition, in order to be right with God. I have no problem with God if some of us were meant to suffer on earth in order to bring something worthwhile, something eternal out of us. I for one do not give much when everything is flawlessly moving to my advantage; I am too busy dancing in my selfish, self-righteous pool of ignorance. Sometimes it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEOs, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser.

To be sincere, or maybe just believable, about helping others through adversity, one has to have experienced it himself first. This is my strangest prayer, and in this I can never regret a thing. It is a kind of self-sacrificial love, one of life's greatest components. I do not care about happiness simply because I believe that joy is something worth fighting for. Joy lies in one's desire to bear the burdens of others today and tomorrow (Galatians 6:2). It is not a tragedy; the most innocent man in history, Jesus Christ, suffered for the most beautiful event in history. The work of the divine, the act of love is to walk among those less fortunate than oneself. "Good works" is giving to the poor and the helpless, but "Divine works" is showing them their worth to the One who matters. That is the definition of ultimate prosperity, and anything else, although not necessarily wrong, is indeed settling for less.

Ultimate prosperity is one's value within. It takes a man of depth, morality, and charm to be envied yet without a sign of wealth or romance. A passion to prove such inner worth is his permission to achieve whatever he desires. With a hint of good judgment, to fear nothing, not failure or suffering or even death, indicates that you value life the most. You live to the extreme; you push limits; you spend your time building legacies. Those do not die. The walk of Christ in every sense of the phrase - this is the only constant joy, one that timelessly prevails throughout any and every culture. It is simple, as Kierkegaard said, "The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly."

Know Oneself, Then Know One Another

2011-02-18T13:41:00.001-08:00

When you have wit of your own, it's a pleasure to credit other people for theirs; and living by that principle, when people constantly try to ignore you or your talents it actually makes you even more confident, as though you cannot be matched.

Nowadays there are many different tests and evaluations intended to reveal one's dominant qualities. While some may be fraudulent, or maybe just inaccurate, I find StrengthsFinder 2.0 to be one of the most authentic. For those who can only follow me through cyberspace, I believe that sharing traits can provide at least an inch of direction to my nature and characteristic train of thought. The more one knows about how another person is programmed to make their decisions, whether agreeing or disagreeing with an actual decision, the easier it is to constructively criticize, accept, love, understand, and effectively rebuke that person when a circumstance calls. How is it that Christ has such a perfect love yet a flawless judgment? He knows each individual better than the individual knows himself; his Father is the one who designed and built our strengths and tendencies.

Also, I must say that true understanding and acceptance are not passive convictions that entail an "anything goes" mentality when practiced sincerely and effectively, but they, in result, provide accurate sources for godly accountability of one another; when or if in disagreement, the saying comes to mind, "To defeat [or repair] something you have to know it." I previously shared a passage from C.S. Lewis on the vulnerability of love, and I would be quite the hypocrite if I intentionally shielded my own thinking habits and much of what drives me to interpret things the way that I interpret them from those with whom I share my thoughts and interpretations.

This is my StrengthsFinder 2.0 report:

"Top 5 Themes:
-Connectedness
-Strategic
-Maximizer
-Intellection
-Input

Connectedness:
People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has reason.

By nature, you often are the one who helps people understand how they are linked across time, distance, race, ethnicity, religion, economic levels, languages, or cultures. You make it possible for individuals to work together. You aim to break down barriers that separate them. Instinctively, you may be guided by the notion that no one can live life without some help from others. Perhaps this idea compels you to consider how what you do and say affects people you know and individuals you will never meet. It’s very likely that you demonstrate a heightened sensitivity to the challenges facing various members of the human family. The faces you see in the news often strike you as familiar, not foreign. You usually feel a strong bond between yourself and these individuals. You intentionally refrain from being surrounded only by people who remind you of yourself. Driven by your talents, you choose to associate with people whose philosophical perspective gives them both balance and courage in the face of adversity. Because of your strengths, you consider people more important than things. The value you place on humankind guides your decision-making. It also influences what you say and do as well as what you choose not to say and do.

Strategic:
People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

It’s very likely that you realize you can identify a variety of problems and respond to a wide range of questions. You probably can pinpoint specific times when you proposed alternative ways of doing things. You probably recall giving answers no one else considered. You are aware that your subconscious mind continuously absorbs information and creates possible options. Chances are good that you are a self-reliant person who needs time alone to think and work. You generate innovative ideas and propose systematic programs of action. You likely identify recurring configurations in the behavior of people, the functioning of processes, or the emergence of potential problems. Driven by your talents, you invent original ideas of your own. Your imagination is typically stimulated when you collaborate — that is, team up — with future-oriented thinkers. Because of your strengths, you might easily detect unusual configurations or spot new trends in data or factual information. Devising options appeals to you. You have little interest in simply repeating what worked in the past. Instinctively, you trust your ability to be an innovative thinker. You routinely invent many ways you can reach a single goal. Only then do you start narrowing down your options to the best one. You probably take into consideration prevailing circumstances, available resources, budgetary constraints, or pressing deadlines.

Maximizer:
People who are especially talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

Driven by your talents, you often accommodate the unique talents of people. Characteristically you accept human beings just as they are. You argue that excellent outcomes are produced by people who have ample opportunities each day to do what they do well. It’s very likely that you notice the unique traits that differentiate one person from everyone else. You have little patience with people who stereotype others into general categories. You prefer to describe individuals with specific and vivid details. No two people and no two lives are exactly the same, you contend. Watching people gives you much pleasure. It also provides you with lots of information others miss. Instinctively, you select projects, assignments, or tasks that allow you to use your talents to produce outcomes. You actively seek opportunities to work independently. You probably realize you make a lot more progress when you are allowed to work alone. Chances are good that you invest much more time thinking about your good points than agonizing over your shortcomings. You usually proceed faster and produce better results when you build on your talents. By nature, you inspire others by finding out what motivates them. You give individuals lots of recognition. You celebrate each person’s uniqueness. Your acknowledgments and compliments typically energize people.

Intellection:
People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

Driven by your talents, you are willing to spend time sharing your ideas with intelligent individuals. Of course, you want them to tell you their latest thinking. Conversations that involve a lot of questions and answers stimulate your mind. You know you have spent your time wisely when you have a number of new ideas, theories, or concepts to somehow file away or remember for future use. Because of your strengths, you yearn to increase your knowledge by being kept in the information loop. This explains why you gravitate to people who converse about ideas at a deeper and more thoughtful level than most individuals are capable of doing. "Making small talk" — that is, engaging in idle conversation — probably seems like a waste of time to you. By nature, you spend a lot of time pondering your future. You can experience anxiety about your prospects. Fortunately, your ability to reason through stress-producing situations calms many of your fears about the unknown. Chances are good that you traditionally want to think with visionaries. You are quite comfortable with long stretches of silence. Why? Quiet allows you and the others to mull over theories or create inventions that can alter the course of history or change the way ordinary people live. It’s very likely that you gravitate to discussions where the participants are committed to searching for truth and reason.

Input:
People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

Because of your strengths, you usually equate education — formal and informal — with understanding more about something today than you understood about it yesterday. It’s very likely that you genuinely care about the people you meet. Your fondness is apt to be apparent to them. Habitually, you ask lots of questions and carefully study the responses. Because you take time to know them personally, many individuals feel safe sharing their innermost thoughts or feelings with you. Armed with these insights, you probably become their ambassador of good will. You frequently teach your circle of acquaintances and friends how to welcome these people into the group. Instinctively, you desire to acquire additional knowledge and gain new skills. Why? You are naturally curious. You often work alone to commit information to memory. You probably have a solitary place where you can practice your art, craft, sport, or science. Chances are good that you can finagle — that is, obtain by indirect or involved means — time with people who think about the coming years and decades. Routinely, you read their writings or listen to their conversations. You probably ask them questions and consider their responses. You file away lots of ideas and facts, sensing that one day this information will prove to be useful. Whether it ever actually does become useful makes no difference to you. Collecting the predictions of forward-looking thinkers is apt to be rewarding in and of itself. Driven by your talents, you have a strong need to know that you are taking the proper course of action before you begin. Without a doubt, your hunger for evidence, data, or background information is immense. Whether your sources of knowledge are people, classes, books, the Internet, or discussions, you are hardwired to be as informed as you possibly can be prior to starting most ventures. You probably prefer to be overly prepared rather than risk being poorly prepared."

Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile

2011-01-25T22:16:00.001-08:00

I recently published my first poetry book, Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile. The introduction says, "Everyone has their own ways of expression. I believe we all have a lot to say, but finding ways to say it is more than half the battle." I wrote this book because, unlike difficult logistics and seemingly sophisticated, scholarly writings, media such as poetry, music, and art often seem to reach immeasurable levels of communication. Personally, I prefer reading things with a bit of "flavor" or that seem to remain open for various interpretations depending on the individual. I am not here to merely argue about the perplexities regarding theism or philosophy, but to be a light to the world and to reach out to those who long to be a part of that light (Matthew 5:14-16). When holding steadfastly onto the wing of Christ, there are countless ways of doing this. I also like creating things that any person can enjoy rather than shielding my work from those who do not already understand the beauty of Christ.

Salomé contains a total of 65 poems written (in lyrical format over the course of several years) and selected by me. Each poem is followed by a very brief word of thought, or direction, sometimes obscure and sometimes obvious, which is vaguely intended to set the atmosphere for that poem. The majority of them focus greatly on the psychology of relationships. That is in many cases exceptionally valuable to individuals during the stage of young adulthood; hence, the suggested age range is teen and up. As social beings it is relevant for one to acknowledge his motives behind the decisions regarding love and truth; when it comes to relationships, whether friendly or romantic or rivalrous, the mystery element, the most wanted, the most sought after, is passion. I know that I would rather a romantic relationship turn into contempt than turn into apathy. The passion in the extremities makes it appear as though it once meant something. We grow from hot or cold, but lukewarm is the biggest insult. I would also like to say that the book captures a number of philosophical ideas expressed in my other writings while setting others free, and it answers questions while questioning answers by way of a wordsmith rather than that of a scholar.

In closing, I want to note that love is as simple as the absence of self-interest in giving oneself to another. God, when invited, fills the void of any unrequited love; hence loving is how one is drawn closer to God, no matter its most horrific repercussions. I think C.S. Lewis' words, from his book The Four Loves (1960), on the vulnerability of love, set the tone quite well:

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness. It is like hiding the talent in a napkin and for much the same reason. 'I knew thee that thou wert a hard man.' Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become, even in the natural loves, more careful of our own happiness. If a man is not uncalculating towards the earthly beloveds whom he has seen, he is none the more likely to be so towards God whom he has not. We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it. What I know about love and believe about love and giving one’s heart began in this."

Negative Prejudgment vs. The Trouble of a Moral Overload

2010-10-03T01:05:00.004-07:00

If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it.

Oftentimes a deviation from man's typical cognitive shortcuts will either look incredibly foolish or incredibly intelligent or, sometimes, both simultaneously. To a degree, it also appears to be a sort of raw knowledge - developing on a strong foundation what one can from square one. Here is a quick reference, a neuroscientific peek into the strikingly superior minds of infants, which provides a solid metaphor for this type of reasoning: Inside the Baby Mind. Not to wander, but watching babies is quite a sight. It is reflective of one's relationship with God: They run around getting into everything and will sometimes pick up something that could harm them (such as a sharp object); they are completely unconscious of how it could harm them, so daddy has to come and snatch it away for the baby's own protection. What is my point here? Raw knowledge, grounded on faith, is a great strength when avoiding fearful, negative prejudgment.

Maybe this is an obscure subject, but negative prejudgment, by means of appearance, to any degree in which an individual takes his appearance, is generally an unfaithful position. John 7:24, 51 says, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment. ... Our law does not judge a man, unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?" This is not to say that men cannot judge at all. To judge is essentially impossible not to do. Everyone judges constantly: positively judging one person is the same as negatively judging everyone else; it is to say that that person is superior in some sense. Most men fear the incoming judgment but live by an outgoing judgment, therefore I am convinced that most men do not follow, or even understand, their own logic until it benefits themselves. To elaborate on controllable prejudgment, I am going to use a "bandana-covering-the-face" example:

If late at night I am walking alone, should I become intimidated when casually approached by a stranger with a red bandana covering his face? Should not I truly only fear God? When the stranger is approaching, he, just like any individual, has the decision, on the spot, to either follow through with a crime or turn from it. If I instantly anticipate the darker side, then I am inadvertently hoping for his worst. This leaves little faith in the security and conviction of God for both him and myself. In that case, I would even more deserve the coming misdeed. Similarly, and previously quoted, C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that when one goes on thinking that his enemies are worse than they really are, he is "beginning to wish that black was a little blacker" (pg. 118). Oppositely, if I believe that he can suddenly reconsider what he was going to do, then I am hoping for his best. I am beginning to wish that there is a light within him that can steer him in opposition of sin. 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." One might call it a sanction for naivety, but that is merely a label tagged onto a legitimate philosophy. A label does not change the truth value of the product it labels. In order on the scale of perception, there is cynicism, there is realism, there is hope, there is naivety. I find them all useful. No man is fully cynical, and none fully naive, rather his perception, to a degree, shifts under a given circumstance.

Being nice merely to be liked in return nullifies the point. The vital difference between avoiding negative prejudgment and longing for some form of mercy through wishful thinking - which is always vain and destructive - is that it is neither intended to nor believed to affect the outcome of another man's decisions. It is, in fact, one's inner victory over fear where true freedom is then found. Ultimately, whether he commits the crime or not is irrelevant to the faithful man because, sooner or later, God blesses the faithful man in such a way where the flesh decreases as the spirit increases, where the temporal yields to the eternal. The faithful man perceives nothing less than opportunity in difficulties. Flowing through his spine, faith and courage work together: Such a man does not fear losing his life, thus he will risk losing it at times in order to empower it. By this he actually values his life more than the man who fears losing his life. It is much like leaping from a window in order to avoid a fire yet in that most crucial moment knowing that God will appear to catch you.

Man causes more problems than he solves when he frequently disregards the example of Christ. Maybe he insists on doing this for a number of reasons: It can seem too difficult to try to follow, or it, theoretically, leads a boring lifestyle, or maybe it is just cheesy. However it is typical for man to want to thrive in his own misconceptions, and through short-sightedness, he settles for the less ripe fruit merely because it is easier to reach. Regardless, would Christ wet his pants in the sense of danger, or would he stand firmly on what is virtuous no matter the earthly consequences? Would he look at a group of gangstas and become intimidated? Would he look at an emo and begin ridiculing him? Would he look at a bum in disgust? Would he look enviously at a successful man? The answers to these questions are so evident that the questions themselves are rhetorical. Love begets wisdom, thus it is, as often misconceived, more than vain layers of tenderness; it is inherently rational and comprehensive of the problem within the problem: for instance, envy is one of the most excused sins in the media of political correctness. Those you find most attractive, or seem to have it all, are often some of the most insecure at heart, and that is because people assume that they do not need anything but defamation. Such envy is the selfish man's way of coping with where he feels a shortcoming in himself. He, consciously or unconsciously, acts in a way in which selfishness is his key to emotional self-improvement. I would say, "In the land where excellence is commended, not envied, where weakness is aided, not mocked, there is no question as to how its inhabitants are all superhuman." God's teachings, when sincerely respected, are far more beneficial than one can only feel. Christ delves far beyond the means of superficiality, not simply because of his immaculate love, but also because he considers the distinct cases of each individual rather than painting with the broad brushes of stereotypes.

It always seems as though the definition of love will remain debatable by an opinionated world, so I want to include a word from Kierkegaard that frames this for a more solid understanding: "Love is the expression of the one who loves, not of the one who is loved. Those who think they can love only the people they prefer do not love at all. Love discovers truths about individuals that others cannot see." Love is without a doubt the laziest theory for the meaning of life, but when it actually comes time to do it we find just enough energy to over-complicate life again. Any devil can love whom he himself sees as a good person who has treated him well, but to love also the polar opposite is what separates love from fickle emotions. To endure such a challenge is the opposite of cowardice.

Now returning to the example, I understand that depending on how one defines it, taking such a position can at times ruin the fun (or the personal safety net) of an individual, but on the other hand, and more importantly, it provides the autonomy of a noble sacrifice. Throughout much of history the greatest men were those who were substantial enough to make sacrifices. Truly understanding that values are more important than valuables is temporarily the hardest yet permanently the most admirable way. It is what I like to call a "moral overload" because, when desiring to walk as Christ did, one is bound to pass through dark moments in order to remain consistent with his integrity; however, through faith in Christ those darkest moments will ultimately resolve into the brightest moments. And in this, as one becomes wiser, the more sensible the way of Christ becomes to him: the notion "God's laws are too strict" becomes "God's laws are my delight."

"Did you just imply the concepts of 'reasonable faith' and a 'reasonable God'? Tsk tsk."

2010-08-24T01:36:00.003-07:00

As already mentioned, it is inevitable that those who speak out will often be accused of heresy by various individuals, groups, or denominations who interpret even non-essentials of doctrine differently. In his autobiography Unfinished Work, vocalist Kevin Max wrote, "Christians sometimes think that every believer thinks as they do without taking the time to understand the individual and what makes them tick." Yet unless those unjustly accused of heresy embrace religious legalism before faith in Christ, then such accusations should not always become overly disheartening. If a faithful man has met his calling, it is extremely difficult to convert him, the servant of another (Romans 14:1-4), to a legalistic, systematic tradition learned by rote. Isaiah 29:13 is an effective passage for one's self-evaluation, "The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.'"
Reason is not necessarily a contradiction of faith. I want to elaborate on one of my previous passages:

"Truly reason is a large cut of what directs one to a reasonable God apart from the uncultivated mentality - one in which is driven by fear of philosophies and scientific data. Ironically, would not the creator be both the paramount definition of knowledge and the source of logic? Lasting is the irrational conflict between men of science and men of faith, yet there is an analogy by astronomer Robert Jastrow that nails the primary difference between the two: Men of science hike the mountain 'round and 'round in search of truth. This will inevitably lead back to the Author of truth. Eventually, upon nearing the top, they will realize that men of faith have been standing there for centuries."

Several respected theologians, such as Tozer and Kierkegaard, have implied that faith is where reason cuts off, and this is a necessary absurdity. In The Fellowship of the Burning Heart, Tozer wrote, "So, all down the line, faith is an organ of knowledge. And the man who believes is having knowledge that the man who merely thinks can't possibly have. Our poor little old brain can come staggering along like a little boy trying to keep up with his dad - coming along on his little, old, short, stubby legs, trying to reason." There was a time when skepticism was an act of rebellion. Since to a degree I both believe in evolution and have faith, I can only conclude that, as prophesied, to have faith will someday be an act of rebellion (Jeremiah 5:31). As stated in both the beginning analogy and by Tozer, men of faith are intellectually beyond men of science (Proverbs 9:10). Scientists are at high-risk of being directed towards the Author of truth due to the probability of evidence for God (however, it is important to note that tangible proof of God is not scientifically justifiable because he is spiritually beyond the universe). What one truly does upon receiving this evidence is God's distinction between the faithful man and the skeptic. If one's heart is hardened, an idea or thing can rest in front of him but he will deny it out of pride, while on the inside knowing, in this case, that there must be a supernatural origin for his existence. Consequently, the universe continues to appear more complex, and the more complex something becomes, the more evidence one has that it was not an accident.

From the theistic standpoint, reason exists yet will be inferior to faith. Tozer also said, "Faith never goes contrary to reason; faith simply ignores reason and rises above it." To elaborate on the relationship between this and the phrase "reasonable God", I must make it clear that the following reasons are different from those of scientific standards. The theist has reasons for faith in God: a transformed life, miraculous happenings, positive revelations, gifted abilities, and Christ himself within history. These reasons require a degree of faith in order to be comprehended, but are in fact reasons for one's faith in God; therefore, the phrases "reasonable faith" and "reasonable God" are not unbiblical.

There are a number of denominations who openly reprimand the inclusion of God and science in the same sentence. God, on the contrary, permitted man the sciences as a means to seek, discover, to use, and to relish. Ultimately, God's magnitude is made evident, in the physical dimension, as strong advocates of science so desire, when exploring such a voluminous and complex universe, and whether conscious of it or not, man, in addition, honors God when doing such. Yet many highly and predominantly religion-oriented sects are contemptuous of knowledge seekers, as though God scorns those who delight in studying, in experiencing his own creation. However, what truly matters is that a man who does this through his own conscience is fallen.

Psalms 19:1-6, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat."

Dictionary Moment: Humility ≠ Self-Righteousness

2010-08-23T00:32:00.002-07:00

There are 2 sides when it comes to judgmentality: the judge and the judged. As for the judged, there are indeed those who too often resort to the very asinine "I'm just being myself, so don't judge me" mentality, which, if ultimately given way to, the distinction between morality and immorality becomes completely nonexistent. If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.

But the focus in this case is primarily on the self-righteously judgmental who is, in fact, spiritually destructive in his manner. One can only ponder the great number of individuals that hide behind righteous masks and how many are truly relentless about divulging specific things done, or ideas hidden, that are clearly ungodly to more than trustworthy counterparts. When defining "humility", in many cases the first impression is a gentle, seemingly good person giving out free hugs, big smiles, and groveling to the ground. Such a definition is quite asinine and sometimes even culturally inconsistent.

Humility of any true value extends beyond merely quoting passages and regurgitating phrases such as "bless you, my brother". On the contrary, the humble sinner will sometimes be interpreted as one of the filthiest in the eyes of man yet immersed in the eyes of God, and this is due to the volition of honesty regarding his own corruption. In light of dealing with this, Romans 8:1 is important, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." No man has the authority to condemn another man under the construction of the hands of God. Perhaps the individual is going through a fruitless period as a part of his ultimate growth in Christ; however, to partner that statement, I must note that condemnation is not to be confused with accountability. Yet, it is inevitable that the honest man will often be ridiculed by the self-righteous man, who is condemning irrespective of the notion that when a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie. Self-righteousness is much like a spiritual egocentricity. It constitutes a secular type of love that thrives under conditionality, one in which is only existent after an individual meets the adopted standards of the condemner; oppositely, unconditional love is a holy love. People more easily welcome the man that was crafty about hiding his own immoralities while willfully rejecting the man known to have said or to have committed something immoral.

There is a difference between idealistically generalizing man and maliciously attacking the individual. Many young hearts today have the balance of effective judgmentality in reverse. They are afraid to judge humanity, yet are willing to hastefully judge the individual. One, however, is more precise when he is warm enough to a degree in which he does not judge the individual, yet he is wise enough to a degree in which he does judge humanity. Why is this so? The individual can and will justify himself by his own motives, thus, no man is truly at liberty to pass accurate judgment on another without a fair case. Man-to-man argumentation achieves very little when it comes to defining absolute morality. Whereas, judging humanity before the individual forms an unjustifiable depiction of sin, an unavoidable axiom that the individual cannot deny. He knows that at times he partakes in it. He cannot justify himself in knowing that his sin is a reality. A man does not have to feel less than human to realize his sin; oppositely, he has to realize that he gets no special vindication for his sin.

Although, what do I mean by "judging humanity"? It is in some respects understanding the consistencies of man. For instance, drinking is such a necessity to human life that people cannot fathom an individual who, like a child confined to a church pew, gets little enjoyment out of it and would rather do other things. There is an irrefutable truth value to such an observation. While drinking in itself is certainly not an act of sin, the commonality here is the nature of man, and in this case, idolatry, the things in which we may too often depend on. It then becomes evident as to why God's commandments are absolute truths rather than movements susceptible to emotions. "I have been yet another petty fool; I shall now reach further than the average man." To put it quite simply, a pure heart does not demean the spirit of an individual; it, instead, compels the individual to examine his spirit.

For the believer, humility is honesty about one's greatest flaws to a degree in which he is fearless about truly appearing less righteous than another (e.g. "Yes, I lusted after her", "Yes, I hope I can make more money", "Yes, I search for loopholes in song lyrics so that I can listen to the music I want", "...Yet God is my discipline and my guidance."). All individuals have moral deficiencies, and when introducing these to reality one not only strengthens himself but also the confidence of others in the human exigency for Christ due to a reflection throughout the body of Christ. In simpler terms, the believer should avoid living in fear of open self-evaluation - a fear of weakness only strengthens weakness. The heart of Christianity is not about being a good person; it is about being saved by grace through faith because you are a bad person. Every man knows that he would never compare to a holy and sovereign God (even the non-believer, theoretically, knows it if there was indeed a holy being); hence, it is easy for one to repeat what is already written, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags [to God]," (Isaiah 64:6). However, it is difficult to expose oneself as though he truly means it, that he is, when astray from God, the epitome of nothingness.

Warming the Cold Shoulder and Mending the Mass Media

2010-04-11T12:44:00.001-07:00

To a degree, I have a cold shoulder towards a number of detective shows and the daily press, or, I could say, the "inflated" daily press. The reason is simple - they frequently portray quiet individuals as crime suspects, as though introversion is a negative connotation, the drive behind a sinister agenda. In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent. Not to ramble, but here is a word from Kierkegaard on the daily press, "On the whole the evil in the daily press consists in its being calculated to make, if possible, the passing moment a thousand or ten thousand times more inflated and important than it really is. But all moral elevation consists first and foremost in being weaned from the momentary. There has never been a power so diametrically opposed to Christianity as the daily press." My mind is more stimulated watching children's shows than political news. The former brings back all the basic, undeniable truths that may then be built upon; the latter is flooded with biased drivel thus giving me this strange feeling that I did my mind a huge disservice. While a person should most definitely feel free to indulge in such, as entertaining or important as it may be, as well as inevitable to assimilate in most cultures, one must maintain a sound foundation.

One must keep in mind that an over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate, and in this case, in a way which develops unhealthy thinking habits since the mind seems to be only truly affected when slowly penetrated. Seemingly minor yet persistent things penetrate the mind over time making it difficult to ever realize the impact; hence, though quite unfortunate, the most dangerous forms of corruption are those that are subtle and below the radar. I find technology in general to be a strong force in this assertion. In the age of technology, there is constant access to vast amounts of information. The basket overflows; people get overwhelmed: The eye of the storm is not so much what goes on in the world; it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on.

To get to the central points, it is evident that normal introverts of today, who are genuinely virtuous yet show the affections in a different manner, cannot even take a dump without being accused of dropping a bomb (pun intended). It is paradoxical that, when confined to nothing more than human judgment, the majority of people fear and doubt the unknown, thereupon an emotion by way of ignorance. Now, I am aware that everything at some point has been declared the root of all evil. But if ignorance is not the root of all evil, as Plato is often credited for saying, then explicitly so, it is very much the water to the roots. Ephesians 4:18, "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." The result of ignorance is false and potentially malicious judgment. For instance, when it comes to judging individuals, I do not like remarks such as "too good to be true." They speak as though one is rewarding the nature of evil. Yet, ironically, we still wonder where all the good people have gone. Oftentimes such cognitive habits leave little beauty to be seen in the individual, therefore isolating his very essence: If a man cannot understand the beauty of life, it is probably because life never understood the beauty in him.

It seems as though some cultures have evolved in ways which convince one that he is mentally unstable if he is naturally more productive when flying alone. In turn, it steers him into a hole; he feels bullied for personality traits which are very difficult to steer. In result, he begins to feel and think as an enemy to other people; he is filled with a cultural guilt (which is not necessarily a moral guilt). This is why it is understandable that one can sympathize with villains and underdogs - they are obviously wrong, but it continues because, by the holiest standards, good people are not as good as they think they are. But, of course, giving or finding sympathy is not the answer - an obsession with sympathy expands, and I often say that, like crying wolf, if you keep looking for sympathy as a justification for your actions, you will someday be left standing alone when you really need help.

Now some of the most common arguments against this particular area of non-prejudgment may (inadvertently) influence a detachment - the greater solutions from the problems. You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided. One's own functionality begins when pinpointing the lethargic solutions that influence him to remain lethargic, as these are the most brutal of human oppositions, for example, "That's the reality of it. Deal with it. Mysterious people are more likely to commit crimes." Yes, the assertion can be made, but assuredly, is not that way of thinking also what separates genius from mediocrity? As Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." In recent years, the problem is not so much the individuals behind the atrocities, those further made infamous in a stereotypical caricature, rather it is the reaction of the general public towards those being negatively caricatured. When it comes to world news, attitude is what marks the distinction between justice and vengeance. Justice is pure, but vengeance brings more ruin. In Mere Christianity (pg. 118), C.S. Lewis wrote: "The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything - God and our friends and ourselves included - as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred." Denying safety and precaution is asinine; albeit, such conceptions, in their rights, do not veritably come from man. In times of doubt, God should be sought when among the alleged perilous. If one is meant to know, as it is written, proper judgment will swiftly come and the true securities of the individual will be of solid assurance for having faith in God, James 1:5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

As a side note, the theistic philosopher has a tendency to devalue insufficient worldviews, ideologies, and quite often common sense for the greater good, and in such cases, one should not be discouraged when seen as a bad guy. When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them. To some, this is a calling. Luke 6:26 says, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets." If he stresses over man's perception of a righteous heart, then he has given his heart to man. But know that, for positive results, if you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it. It is never ridicule, but a compliment, that knocks a philosopher off his feet. He is already positioned for every possible counter-attack, counter-argument, and retort...only to find a big bear hug coming his way. Many great and memorable philosophers, scientists, theologians, poets, artists, writers, and musicians were at odds with the majority during their times - not simply because they sought to be rebels or revolutionaries - but because they utilized a gift; and for this they are now highly respected.

For instance, one of my great philosophical influences, Søren Kierkegaard, in some way related to such according to selected writings in his journal, "People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand my complaint about them not understanding me." From personal experience, as a child, introversion is generally considered, as a natural trait, cute, but as one ages into young adulthood, the introversion starts to become a burden to the introvert. Others will at times judge him, label him incompetent or untrustworthy. In attaining job promotions, as well as finding a mate, a natural introvert must work twice as hard as a natural extrovert must work: In an extroverted society, most people seem to have empty restaurant syndrome, "There must be some kind of an issue there, so let's move on to the next one." In an extroverted society, one's outgoing tendencies are more desired than one's skills.

Albert Camus, yet another influential philosopher, similarly stated, "Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." As an introvert, I am actually rather appreciative of this. At times, what I lacked socially, I would compensate for it by perfecting my talents. I like solitude. It is when you truly hear and speak your natural, unadulterated mind, and out comes your most stupid self as well as your most intelligent self. It is when you realize who you are and the extents of the good and the evils which you are capable of. Einstein puts into perspective an introvert's purpose in an extroverted society, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." For some people, quite frankly, life is not always about trying to be different when understanding that that is actually a burden. Life can go from living to survival looking for where one belongs, therefore my dominant reminder in this case is that, as long as one allows them to, personal difficulties, in result, accentuate an individual's ingenuity; therefore, the weakness is the cause of the strength.

Calm in Calamity (and other wanderings)

2010-03-20T02:22:00.002-07:00

~Disasters work like alarm clocks to the world, hence God allows them. They are shouting, "Wake up! Love! Pray!"

~Isaiah 45:7 says, "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things." It is indeed controversial; yet it is truly effective in all its authoritative, sovereign implications of the foreknowledge of God; it is a source of fearlessness and endurance for those of faith. Calm in calamity: one asks himself, "Who is in control no matter what?" Although, on the other hand one might ask whether such calamity indicates a malevolent God. But by that he is dealing with subjective emotions rather than objective truth. The objective is quite the contrary, and easily mistaken, it is not about a love for adversity, it is about knowing a strength and a faith so great that adversity, in all its adverse manifestations, hardly even exists. By this one does not hesitate to progress through the face of adversity. His faith, in its most correct form, never removes responsibility; it removes fear of responsibility. The results are complete opposites with the greater saying, "God's will is my delight." I often find that people confuse inner peace with some sense of insensibility whenever something goes wrong. In such cases inner peace is a permit for destruction: The unyielding optimist will pretend that the forest is not burning either because he is too lazy or too afraid to go and put the fire out. Ironically, to him adversity is an intimidating giant.

~Just as an unexpecting child is awakened to find an ocean of gifts surrounding his bed, through faith in the goodness of God one awakens to the gifts of patience, wisdom, and courage. So, when understanding calamity, one should not limit God according to his own understanding; it results in a failure to acknowledge the sovereignty and the justice of God. As Octavius Winslow wrote, "justice is the fire of love." He is God; he is love; he is sovereign. In some cases, what seems bad to man is good in the end and what seems good to man is nothing but filth. Men are commanded to pray and love, to unify and work, but instantly labeling what is or is not God's will can reach dangerous grounds because by this, obsessively, one is fabricating his own god.

~As no servant is greater than the master, I want to note that God is the commander, thus all else are messengers; Proverbs 1:32-33 says, "For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." The messenger that attempts to replace the commander is both wayward and complacent, yet consequently, the original sin was channeled through the desire to be like or greater than God. What is it that leads one astray from the most viable path? It is not a rare flaw in which only a select few struggle. Ultimately, it is a disposition to form our own paths, and while this is evidence of desire, that desire is bound to be more substantial when aimed in the best possible direction - this direction is one in which God reveals.

~I am aware that the following is likely a regurgitation of some of my previous writings, but regardless it is essential. God is sovereign to so far a degree that he is not an impoverished deity, with insubstantial weaponry, merely set out in an attempt to defeat evil. It is not a threat to him or his kingdom. While he abhors sin and we are commanded to do so as well, in his absolute holiness and sovereignty, he holds both good and evil in the palm of his hand (Isaiah 45:7). He allows short term evils in order to carry out long term good [C.S. Lewis; Mere Christianity]; therefore, he is ultimately good and impossible to truly oppose. Yet the extent of such an authority is perfectly consistent with the holiness of God. With our simplistic cognitive reasoning, some things are first perceived as negative before we get to witness the positive results. But by God's foreknowledge, he envisions the evils that will ultimately result in goodness, as written in Isaiah 46:10, "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."

~Imperative is the passion to improve one's personal walk with and faith in Christ, and in result, the obsessive contemplation of temporary afflictions cease. This is also to seek his will before adhering to a certain confirmation bias that tends to dictate the human perception of right and wrong, as I have previously quoted this of Kierkegaard, "The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God." All must be still and know that he is God (Psalms 46:10), and in result they will mesmerize with an illumination of ravishing colors to those with eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of Christ.

~Finally while on the subject of seeking God's will, or the discovery en route to both emotional and spiritual value, I want to add an important observation; however in this case, it is regarding one of many reasons for stress within the self-driven busybody. In The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer recovered nicely the principles of strong faith over contemporary misconceptions thus writing, "I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation his love has gotten him into and his limited abilities seem unable to get him out of. Add to this a certain degree of commendable idealism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today."

...And the soldier asked, "What's a prudent evangelist?"

2009-11-29T02:14:00.001-08:00

I would rather my descendants have greater abilities and a greater knowledge of the love of Christ than I do, much like standing on one's shoulders in order to get a clearer view of the valley. How can one do this?

1 Corinthians 13:1-2: "I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains but if I have no love, I am nothing."

Sometimes the problem is not so much what one is preaching, but rather how he is preaching it.

When a man has a gift in speaking the truth, brute aggression is no longer his security blanket for approval. He, on the contrary, spends most of his energy trying to tone it down because his very nature is already offensive enough. So, should there not be a balance between the drill sergeant and the amiable teacher? In this context, I want to focus on the former. When the drill sergeant-like approach becomes customary to a congregation, the congregation, over time, grows insensitive to the coming wrath thus potentially raising the bar for truly fearing God and understanding what it means to fear God. In result, individuals are negatively affected because, out of cynicism, it will then take a deeper effort to instill a true passion for Christ and the purity in which he stands. Of what benefit is there when, seemingly, apathy is shown from the teacher towards the sincere troubles of each individual's heart?

Colossians 4:3-6: "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Time and time again the evangelist must stop and ask himself, "Whose judgment is superior, God's or my own?" The legalistic evangelist will intuitively evangelize on his own watch, whether inadvertently or intentionally, rather than on God's watch. Any truth, when passing through the hands of man, can be transformed into an entrapping lecture apart from, in this case, the beauty of Christ, and such a displacement can leave falsehoods to be purged by the mercy of God. When communicating with rebellious men, do not all things have a more effective time, place, and method in which to be communicated? Indeed it is essential that Christ is being taught regardless of incentive (Philippians 1:18), but because God finds great pleasure in observing the growth of his messengers, why should any evangelist remain merely a heckler to the public who mutilates by legalistically professing the Christian ethic? Alternatively, upon desiring growth in Christ, many are prophets who mutilate the coarse patterns of both oneself and a fallen humanity by use of the Christian faith.

There is a difference between evangelism motivated by legalism and evangelism motivated by faith in Christ, and I feel that the distinction is repeatedly ignored. The legalistic method is one in which the evangelist shares his faith through feelings of obligation or as an act of charity, whereas the prudent evangelist shares his faith to appointed individuals under the influence of the Spirit. Just as God sees the individual, his followers must strive to do so as well. Kierkegaard said, "Spiritual superiority only sees the individual. But alas, ordinarily we human beings are sensual and, therefore, as soon as it is a gathering, the impression changes -- we see something abstract, the crowd, and we become different. But in the eyes of God, the infinite spirit, all the millions that have lived and now live do not make a crowd, he only sees each individual."

I do understand that this can be misinterpreted as a position irrespective of the belief in sharing the Gospel by some (thus "trying to shut believers up"). Oppositely, the acknowledgment of the concept of effective timing by adjusting one's focus on the ingenious patience of God is the only sure and profitable position. Yielding to God's judgment is certainly not an act of compromise to man; instead, it is the greatest form of wisdom. This is so because there are natural tendencies of impatience undeniably instilled in most prideful humans during a fast-paced era - quite often must one feel pre-eminently in the right of each and every moment. Whereas, God has been sustaining rebellious men for millennia, therefore he is very much aware of one's potential reactions towards the ultimate truth during any given situation and time of day. The truth without the harmony of God is not a truth fully manifested, it is frightening words from a reckless man's mouth, as radical skepticism, out of pride, hates and fears the possibility that it is not in absolute control of its own eternity. Rather, it surrenders to the works and securities of its own hands (Isaiah 2:8). The Holy Spirit must be present in order to overcome such a nature. Therefore I do not much trust the man who cares solely to inspire - he does not really inspire me - only the man who cares to tell the truth, whatever that may do. For when the man who cares to tell the truth happens to inspire, I, in addition, find it easier to believe that he in fact does his homework on how and when one should truly inspire (e.g. by way of the Spirit).

Concerning the subject of a virtuous faith, it is easy to concur with Diogenes, "Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you've got an audience." Regardless, if an individual is indeed led to further seek the will of God, should a mission ever end at its very beginning? Realistically The Sinner's Prayer is no secret code to those during the age of information. Throughout much of humanity, the value of repentance has been reduced to an unsubstantiated ritual. I call this way of repentance lip service - it is made religiously provisional in substitution of a lasting and humble passion for Christ. Yet what is merely lukewarm, according to scripture, will be spit from the mouth of God (Revelation 3:16). One must remember that discipleship is both guidance and friendship, therefore the nurturing of the individual is essential to any new-found walk with Christ.

What is a prudent prophet? In my lifetime and throughout history, there have been several, what some might call, "end of the world date-setters" that have dedicated not only their own lives but also the lives of others to spreading news of world-devastating calamity or rapture both nationally and internationally. As expected, much of the world becomes intrigued, whether comically or sincerely, by the matter - some Christians are convinced, others skeptical; some atheists mock, others simply ignore the prophecies in sheer disbelief - and as evident in my ability to write this, as the world continues beyond every date that has been set thus far, all of the prophecies were indeed false.

Why is this? False prophecies come from men who believe that faith is nothing more than a stubborn emotion felt in the heart - the equivalent of wishful thinking. On the contrary, doubt is a question mark; faith is an exclamation point. The most compelling, believable, realistic stories have included them both. Doubt asks, "Is it possible for me to have too much faith, to the point of being just plain foolish and impractical, or is it evil trying to convince me so?" Then the answer, resting in the motive and the source of his faith, catches him either off-guard or when the time is right. That is suspense. The false prophet prophesies according to his own understanding, his own calculations, his own interpretations, and in this, he is opposing the will of God. A prophet will be false in his every prediction when his judgment is empowered by mere faith in himself, or other sources, rather than by faith in God. Matthew 24:36 says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." It is ironical that by this we know it will not be the end of the world as long as man disobediently attempts to calculate the end of the world. God's commands are very much necessary and based upon reason: Prophets proven to be blatantly wrong are merely humoring skepticism pertaining to the existence of God. The destruction caused seems to be far worse than the earthquakes prophesied, and strangely enough, the aggravation caused by the prophet is the very thing wrongfully fulfilling his own prophecies of destruction.

All in all we are called to further seek the will of God before claiming the will of God. But thankfully, as C.S. Lewis once stated, "A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." I believe the same concept applies to the failures of evangelists and prophets. God still possesses the sovereignty and the knowledge to reverse a man's mistakes for his own glorification. His work is magnified when repairing the destruction afflicted by men, however, it is not always so easily comprehensible, according to our own understanding, the many ways in which he does this. At times, an individual may react disdainfully towards the truth of Christ, yet when the Spirit wills it, the planted seed grows when the time is right. An individual may mock and ridicule theism after witnessing a failed prophecy, yet he still does it with an unadmitted interest in the actual truth value of the overall belief system he mocks. God's relationship with man does not work in a way in which man stumbles and then God has to drop what he is doing in order to lift him up; rather, man stumbles so that God can lift him up. Hence it is utterly impossible to truly diminish his glory.

The "Devil's Advocate" That Glorified God

2009-11-14T15:37:00.002-08:00

At the start of one of his "Does God Exist?" debates, Dr. William Lane Craig stated [roughly quoted], "First off, I want to say that we need not spend all our time and energy arguing for (or about) God, but rather enjoying our relationship with him."

My purpose for beginning with Dr. Craig's words is to remind the apologist to prioritize his personal relationship with Christ first and foremost. Yet I do understand that this is a way in which many theistic philosophers continue to experience God - one discourses on virtue in order to stimulate the minds of individuals of all ideologies and not only that of the highly insurgent skeptic. It is not to convince or to persuade, but instead it is to encourage men to search willfully and extensively under the law of God. However, a number of activist non-believers radically censure supernatural-related doctrines; one can merely approach him with such and he builds reason for a more intense disdain. In what ways should this be conversed, with civility, in order to effectively reach out to the self-proclaimed intellectuals of the new age (e.g. radically anti-theistic iconoclasts, skeptic philosophers, humanistic scientists, etc.)? I must note that this question by no means implies compromising the nature or the law of God in order to "persuade" skeptics - the theist should understand the great distinction between "compromising the truth" and "tonality and the truth". Moreover, consistently does one expound under both logically and scientifically strong convictions for skeptic ideologies, hence those constantly active among these fields must remember that even the sun shines into cesspools and is not polluted [Diogenes].
Secondly, it must be noted that one's stressing over such is futile. A message of encouragement regarding patience and the steady effort of diligence can be found in Proverbs 25:15, which says, "Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone." Patience is a commonly forgotten gift, often replaced by recklessness and ungodliness, and the reason for this is because God is patient.

Controversies regarding the vitalities of non-essential doctrine, cultural immoralities, and taboos, and their precedences to salvation, are ongoing within the theistic community. While these should never cease acknowledgment, are they not held, in negligence, as diversions from one's active realization of the authority of Christ? Intellectuals of modern skepticism begin with disfigured premises regarding God's cause due to the case that so many of his earthly representatives misrepresent his great cause. Truly, reason is a large cut of what directs one to a reasonable God apart from the uncultivated mentality - one in which is driven by fear of philosophies and scientific data. Ironically, would not the creator be both the paramount definition of knowledge and the source of logic? Lasting is the irrational conflict between men of science and men of faith, yet there is an analogy by Robert Jastrow that nails the primary difference between the two: Men of science hike the mountain 'round and 'round in search of truth. This will inevitably lead back to the Author of truth. Eventually, upon nearing the top, they will realize that men of faith have been standing there for centuries.

Yet it is axiomatic that there are different callings for Christians in correspondence with personal strengths and weaknesses, just as a military has different tasks for soldiers. A number of individuals will appear to be devil's advocates as interpreted by the self-governed conscience of man. Constructive accountability of the philosophical and social areas of Christianity and its truth wholly for the glorification of God has lamentably become a repulsive role to a number of modern fundamentalists. Beware: open-mindedness will often say, "Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion." Would it not be of great exigency to support faithful men who productively challenge the ethos of modern Christianity for the manifestation of its true, essential values? Personally, I like finding problems because I like solving problems. Nothing is more depressing to me than cheerfully sweeping things under the rug. It reminds me of passive individualism. I would rather have strong enemies than a world of passive individualists. In a world of passive individualists nothing seems worth anything simply because nobody stands for anything. That world has no convictions, no victories, no unions, no heroism, no absolutes, no heartbeat. That world has rigor mortis. This is not to justify the instigation of unnecessary conflicts, but rather to defend truth from future turmoil. Needless to say, one should avoid passivity when negative extremists represent hatred or falsehoods as regularities within the body of Christ (e.g. the infamous Westboro Baptist Church). The motive behind criticism often determines its validity. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot. In Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin effectively explained the Church's interaction with the state of the times (or cultures); firstly, love should be one's guide before tradition. As previously mentioned, determining the tone of one's beliefs does not necessarily entail altering and/or compromising one's beliefs:

"I mean that the Lord has in his sacred oracles faithfully embraced and clearly expressed both the whole sum of true righteousness, and all aspects of the worship of his majesty, and whatever was necessary to salvation; therefore, in these the Master alone is to be heard. But because he did not will in outward discipline and ceremonies to prescribe in detail what we ought to do (because he foresaw that this depended upon the state of the times, and he did not deem one form suitable for all ages), here we must take refuge in those general rules which he has given, that whatever the necessity of the church will require for order and decorum should be tested against these. Lastly, because he has taught nothing specifically, and because these things are not necessary to salvation, and for the upbuilding of the church ought to be variously accommodated to the customs of each nation and age, it will be fitting (as the advantage of the church will require) to change and abrogate traditional practices and to establish new ones. Indeed, I admit that we ought not to charge into innovation rashly, suddenly, for insufficient cause. But love will best judge what may hurt or edify; and if we let love be our guide, all will be safe."

There is a certain role for a number of theists, and surprisingly enough, one in which is not to condemn in the name of doctrinal principles. Instead, it is to provide reasonable direction for one to ruminate on Christ, love, and virtue as manifested through scriptures, but first, let me explain: I feel that some individuals, forgotten individuals, more confidently relate to this approach. There is a presupposition that says, "Oh, it's from the Bible, whatever," and then there is the alternative, "I've never thought of this that way. It's starting to make more sense." Scripture in its purest interpretation is the one and only reliable foundation of all teachings worth teaching, yet every individual requires an amount of deconstruction in his grand search for truth. I want to make it clear that this does not imply something as contemptuous as provoking the loss of one's conscious state of mind. Veracity is within all people, however the challenge is sorting through one's own nonsense. Those who speak of progression but are afraid of change are self-repressed and therefore unable to reach any further than their eyes can already see. In Job's hardships, he shaved his head and tore his robe saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I must return (Job 1:21)."

I think it is healthy to, every once in a while, combat everyday inclinations in order to inspire evaluation of one's own potentially biased ideologies, whether it is for the theist or the atheist. It is like a reflection that rearranges the pieces in the mirror; surely the questioning of faith, rationality, opinion, and ideology is an effective self-evaluation. In result, if it was ever true faith in the beginning (more than mere opinion or belief), the right questions can only make that faith stronger under the discovery of more refined answers. When one serves as a planter of seeds for the glorification of God, the remainder of the vision is placed in his sovereign hands. With this an endeavor cannot be any more valuable whether the results are comprehended by man or not.

Pseudo-Mature Theologians & Red Herrings

2009-09-30T16:12:00.002-07:00

Invariably have I both observed and experienced older theologians demeaning younger ones by age rather than unfaithfulness, and I have previously ignored it in reverence. I am certainly not referring to mentorships or one's receiving guidance from those wiser than oneself. Obviously, those are wonderful, productive things. I am referring to the inferior complex-inducing strategies and authoritative appeals of the modern day theologian, which are most recurring when they fail to support their own tattered philosophies during debates. Job 12:19-20 says, "He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established. He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders." Time and time again does the pride of man influence his very own fall (Proverbs 16:18). While denying it, one gradually starts to believe that he is the authority, or that he possesses great moral dominion over others, yet it is spiritually unwarranted. By that point he loses steam; as a result, he falsely begins trying to prove that unwarranted dominion by seizing the role of a condemner.

Indeed one has to remember that younger theologians are inexperienced, however, alternatively do they have the purity of a fresh canvas for God's limitless work. On the other hand, older theologians have experience but a bias that limits God's work according to those experiences. While God makes both himself and his ways known to those who seek him (Matthew 7:7), the infinite is only understood to a degree in the finite. This is in fact necessary: What is the value of knowledge if it is not concealed so that each man may seek in order to fulfill his own purpose? God as the creator of man, man as the creation of God - neither God nor man may receive glory without the concealment of knowledge. There was never any promise of theological perfection in this life nor is there a direct correspondence in revelations from God to one's years of experience; therefore, one should never cease the will for understanding under the notion that it has all been understood. The credit of wisdom goes to God who is not limited to man's idea of a mature mind. Ultimately, I will take the former over the latter, Mark 10:5 says, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

Ironically, fallacious diversions such as ad hominem attacks and self-authoritative appeals degrade one's own credibility, thus losing the respect allegedly deserved. Most importantly, 1 Timothy 4:12 is self-explanatory regarding the subject, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." God's word consistently seems to fall into the philosophically plausible position when interpreted from an unbiased position - the child's perspective is one of the most pure among man. Charles Baudelaire hinted this saying, "Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recovered at will." Children have pure enough minds to ignore the standards and boundaries set my men/society, and this imaginative nature is a divine perspective due to the notion that only the boundaries set by God are ultimately relevant.