the beginning of the end has now begun...

it is in times of adversity that you see what type of a person you truly are...

help me to stand strong, god...

let's do dis thang...

IKUZE!

Wow...

i bet bob must be losing sleep tonight... geez, this is like reggie miller on knicks all over again...

maybe it's time i finally consider sonics one of the tops in the west? i thought they'd be all shooting, but apparently, they've found ways to cover their lack of an interior, and their zone defense i hear, is great... sooo... lookout spurs... you got company... at least for now...

what the hell? bulls beat the cavs?

so remember your people
remember your children
remember your promises oh god

your grace is enough
your grace is enough
your grace is enough for me

i'm @the hutchinson cpu lab right now writing up my paper which is due in less than an hr, and...

OH SHIT! it's the invasion of the freshmen whose passtimes are coming up really soon!

edit: it's actually the invasion of the idiot freshmen girls; there were these 2 idiotic girls who had the STUPIDEST reasoning for not taking a class... i'll try to imitate their convo:

girl 1: take asa 1 WITH mEEE!
girl 2: i don't wanna take THIS class! i HATE that building!?!?
girl 2: remember? it's the class we used to take philosophy in!
girl 2: (looks over some more other classes)
girl 2: and HART's so far!?!?! we have to walk so far!
girl 2: (more registration typing)
girl 2: i like THIS class... but i don't WANNA be waitlisted!
girl 1: what's your waitlist number?
girl 2: 1
girl 1: oh *names some other girl*'s taking that class...
girl 1: you'd take it w/her...
girl 2: i don't WANNA do so much reading!
girl 1: c'mon now, we're in bio and chem, we do a lot of reading!

to be fair, i don't remember the conversation that well, but some of the tidbits were pretty memorable... because while both of them were so idiotic, girl 2 was especially annoying with THE... MOST... STUPIDEST reasonings for not taking a class... i seriously wanted to stand up and just go, "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!?!?! BITCH, TAKE A CLASS CAUSE YOU LIKE THE SUBJECT, NOT CAUSE THE BUILDING'S TOO FAR, OR YOU HATE THE BUILDING! OH NO, I CAN'T GRADUATE, CAUSE THE CLASS I NEED TO TAKE IS AN EXTRA 5 MIN WALK AWAY!!!! JEEZ..." (and fyi, if you're waitlisted no 1, you're pretty much in...)

(yeah, i got anger issues)

i was supposed to go to bed early, OR stay up late and get a lotta work done... didn't do either... lemme explain... some person started a thread on srk.com in the general discussion forums(where you can post anything not game-related) about how God contradicts himself, blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, etc... the thread is currently on its 22nd page, because the atheists won't believe the christians, and the christians are trying to keep going at it...

i had no idea this thread was up, until last night, so i spent a majority of it just reading what other ppl had to say... because i lurk on the boards, and don't really post, i just read(although i was seriously tempted to post)

i'm not gonna talk about it, cause you can find the thread on your own, but i'll post some reflections about what i think whenever topics like this come up...

-ever since i read The Case For Christ, it's more or less become obvious to me that although the Bible's main goal was not to be used as a tool to convince others that this stuff is real(the story of God's agape love is more or less the main goal), that you could do that... because the Bible IS truth, almost everything within it, when a grain or two of salt is applied, states the truth, and has never contradicted its original messages. so ever since that freshman year, every time i've seen an argument brought up, it's usually taken out of context, or there is some other meaning by going back to the original hebrew or greek text. but as i come back to every single argument, it has more or less strengthened my beliefs, not diminished them.

-a lot of the arguments you hear against christianity are basically things taken out of context. for instance, the person who started the thread(get this), basically said david and johnathan were homosexuals because they kissed each other and loved each other deeply... he was basically pulling quotes right out of the bible and taking them into incorrect context. another is how he states god contradicts himself because he essentially killed many people in the bible... (like sodom and gommorah, etc) when it should be obvious that god is a being of justice, not vengeance.

-i'd like to think that based upon what i am now, i think(given enough time to think), i could stand a *decent* chance of arguing/debating w/an atheist about the validity and context of the bible(in order to reaffirm god's nature), as long as i had bible.gospel.net next to me. however, i sometimes question whether i would be trying to win them over in Christ's love, or for my own selfish pride, so my fellow christians don't look foolish. the point of trying to talk with an atheist is not to, per say, pwn them at their game, but to try to win them over. it's not whether i win and they lose, it's whether THEY win or they lose. this is not a sport; it's an attempt to stop them from inching closer to the cliff. once i turn it into a "ha! you're wrong, you suck!" type of thing, that will put them off, and make it even harder to win them over... even if i am right, and my arguments are sound, if i'm not trying to actually suggest and reflect the same godly love in myself for them, their attitude will most likely be one of hurt pride, and even more unwillingness to concede and just say, "fine, you win, i convert..." i find that whenever i either read arguments here, or take part in them, i'm carrying a competitor mentality, not a mindset of love, not one of "please believe me..." that is a problem i need to change.

-many people who start the arguments have their mindset; they're not open minded about it... so they're not bringing up questions in the hope that maybe they'll find some end-all truth to the answer, they're bringing up the arguments in the hope that you'll fall... that is the truth.

-finally, every time i see something like this, i have to remind myself of the difference between head knowledge and spiritual knowledge. yes, i think i know an awful lot about the bible. but has that reflected upon the way i lived my life? not really; i tend to go about college with a slacker mentality, then don't even spend time w/god each day. how can i, claim to be a christian, when i don't reflect how a christian should live? even devils believe in god's existance. seeing and doing are two complete different things; to be a "true" christian, you need to do both.

ok, that's enough... contemplating for this long hurts my head.

1st time i've had communion @a campus-oriented church... so it appears that college-oriented churches have C & E communions, opposed to the avg church, which tends to have 1/month.

i can't believe how much phil cares for me... it's rediculous... simply christian-like... i should give him a call sometime soon.

heck, i should give god a call soon.

and tell him, thanks for caring for all these times, even when i put you aside.

comcast's been so unreliable for internet the last few days... on and off... on and off... and i hate the fact that they're so overadvertising themselves on tv so much... to be that SOO reliable internet service that everybody wants them to be... sorta like how ea sports/games acts like they're the best gaming company in the world... when it should be blatantly obvious to everybody that they're not...

nice... warriors > pacers tonight...