Currently Listening The Eraser By Thom Yorke The Clock see related

After Rain

Currently Reading Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality By Donald Miller see related

Father

i don't know what's possessing me to do this besides my friend Dan putting a link to this site on his page, but i have had some thoughts and experiences lately that i'd like to share.  while watching Oprah today, i discovered that 1 of 3 black boys grow up without a father.  there were other statistics like the likelihood of imprisonment and the role of gangs that related to this disturbing figure.  a school in California has a community program established to encourage the disciplines and challenge black students to succeed.  i find it interesting that the American society, after having spent nearly the last forty or so years to downplay the role of the father, is discovering the importance of fathers in the family and in society. 

as a result, the courts are beginning to favor fathers in cases of divorce and so on.  whereas i am happy to hear that this school's community program has had success in California, what needs to occur deals more with reinventing the role of the father by establishing programs where projected fathers and current fathers recieve counciling, mentorship, and accountability.  also, programs should be established that would reward and praise fathers and the families.  anyways, i was thinking of this in light of Dan's poem about Barabas and how that relates to God representing himself as Father.  this doctrine contravenes the deist's doctrine, which asserts that God is an impersonal force.  God is one we grow to know, who counsels and cares, who disciplines and loves. 

i have been re-reading Blue Like Jazz -increasingly finding gaping logical holes in his anti-republican, anti-religious opinionated rhetoric, yet it's been refreshing to peruse once again without the blinding wings of novelty.  anyways, Miller briefly examines his life as a child and he realizes his difficulty with religion.  religion was to him a distraction from really experiencing a relationship with a Relational Heavenly Father.  that being the opposing intent of religion according to James Madison, it's sad that Miller had to come to the faith this way.  it's sad also that many young Christians today would cease attending church because of a similar religious view, yet not leave the faith.  nevertheless, i was encouraged that the many readers of this book, may be blessed to seek God the Father and so connect to a local church interacting with the univasal Church, whose terrestrial activities the gates of hell shall not assail.

and so it goes, that as i have been thinking of fatherhood in the most abstract and ideational sense possible i have also been propelled to examine companion topics like responsibility, discretion, influence, priority, boundaries, etc... which leads me to my next thought.  i have to leave now to arrive at work on time

Currently Listening Transatlanticism By Death Cab for Cutie A Lack of Color see related

Political Fever and March Madness

its not the fever of passion that keeps the "overqualified generation" interested in politics but the vainglorious pursuit of socio-popular isonomy.  this is a fever not of intence desire but a sort of intellectual virus.  statements like, "don't waste your vote on the third party" evince this (i will get to that). comfort oozes from union to a mob or mass, so with the two parties, there's usually a great number of people who, although at times invisible to you, provide solace for the decision you make. 

compounded on this intolerable effort to be tolerated is the whole Messianic bid.  for instance, Christian musicians, artists, and authors seem to side with members of the do-nothing party because, they say, taking public action for the cause of Christ isn't what Jesus really intended.  they say He didn't intend for Christianity to be a "kingdom of this world" and so they refuse to apply their faith to politics proper.  this, of course, flies in the face of the Refomation doctrine - the priesthood of all believers, which is the driving force behind Christians having any type of social influence in the public arena, namely political influence; and the consequences of this insidious mindset are nothing but harmful to the open testimony of Christ we enjoy in America.  for someone to think this way, they would have to be a student not of history but of sheer, unstable social flux, as it is Christianity that anchors the unmitigated rockets of science. 

others attest that Jesus is a liberal, who is somehow ashamed at conservative Christians who for the most part desire to earn money to support family, minimize central government, lower taxes, work hard, etc... the best argument for the liberal Christian is that both parties now seem indistinguishable and the worst argument for the him is that making a faith-based choice is irrelevant.  the frustrating thing with liberal Christians is they don't make sense and the sad thing is they think they do.  and although its amusing, its hogwash.  they wield the Gospels with ambivalent piety and assert, "Jesus this" and "Jesus that".  "Jesus wouldn't be happy of you using Scripture to develop a sound politic," or "Jesus doesn't approve of biblical references on the public platform," or better yet "Jesus isn't interested in government, he's interested in people." 

okay, firstly that's all balderdash because if we aren't to form ethical opinion on Scripture then to what shall we turn, to whom?  secondly, that's drivel because if Jesus isn't severely interested in government then the liberal Christian needs to revise the cannon and mark through most of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 1 & 2 Kings, Judges, most of Acts, and a great deal of Revelation (where John testifies to the government in eternity), et cetera...ah! my minds tired, but i'm sure there's more references to why government matters to the Son of God.  finally, i want to make it verily clear that Christians should be involved in government and politics, whether conservative or liberal, just don't try and tell me that i shouldn't be conservative, because you think Jesus doesn't like politics.

the last note will deal with a deception or delusion mentioned earlier (the "don't waste your vote" dilepancy).  it is the errant theory that poeple (even Christians) are to be subservient to the dual party system of government in America.  more than being a medium of political sloth, it allows an individual to ignore politics until they the Great Parties duel it out on television.  still there's much more third, fourth, and non-party activity out there than is recognized by the media (it is not a non-reality).  elections as low as state legislatures or mayors produce, non-party candidates because there are others in this country who are also disgusted with the knavery of the partisans on Capitol Hill. 

to say, you can only pick the lesser of two evils is to sponser evil in the political realm.  as Christians we should be intent on improving society, we should be proactively trying to improve public ethics, and ease the pain of the those suffering.  "Rieppe don't muddle the waters, this isn't about your private ministry and individual ethical expression, ITS ABOUT PUBLIC POLICY YOU FREAK!" you say, and i'm sorry, that's true.  i should leave off my individual ministry to suffering people for now BECAUSE THIS IS ABOUT POLITICS AND LAW!  whereas government is an organic institution, it does not have God's breath and therefore cannot love.  that's for God's children, the Church. 

finally, there are qualified candidates who although unpopular may more properly represent you, so don't lie to yourself and cheat America, express what you feel.  were i to discover one candidate cheats on his/her spouse and the other purloins money from government accounts, and yet an unpopular non-party candidate serves the Living Christ, whose platform is sound and relevant, whom of the three should i choose?  i know, i know, probably the swindler.  on a lighter note, it's March baby! time for some college hoops. 

Currently Listening The Creek Drank the Cradle By Iron & Wine Promising Light see related

We Like the Moon

when the firmament is dipped in pitch and the angels hide behind constellations, it's hard to breath.  when the twilight air steams off the winter and the breeze bites beneath the covers, it's hard to sleep.  speaking of the moon - "[it] is very useful everyone".  in honor of the cresent moon swinging along the centripetal horizon, i thoght i might share a video from the Bethel Lake Ninja's top-secret website.  i don't know if i've shared this link before but its verily worth visiting. originally this song was written for lonely web-loggers as a lame sing-along, but i hear it's destined for Broadway now.  after all, Broadway has been needing some life.  the following link is a sneak e-preview to the Broadway production, including close-ups, casting, dress rehearsal, etc... "We Like the Moon"

a married couple invited me and some friends over recently for dinner.  as we reminisced about stories from past summers and seasons our attention was led to special interests.  seemed like everyone of my friends - minus the married couple, who have children, experienced discomfiture; and although i would like to consider myself dauntless i feel it too.  this world seems strange and foreign to me now.  to say it was for Abraham as well, would be misleading, because i'm always startled by his shrewd business dealings, his intelligence, and his resolve whenever i read the Genesis account.  he didn't treat the world as if it were foreign; and though he sojourned in the land, he knew it very well.  the following link is an impressive video, from a zeitgeister catologing a part of his sojourn... Noah's Project

i wrote this poem because of three different things i observed in the same day.  there is a fourth verse, which was more or less an observation i calculated over a couple of tumultuous weeks, and do to the confidences of several people who i really care about i can't share that verse here.  though if you want to read it, you can ask and i will most likely send it to you.  if you want to know what it's like, its like what pollen is to star gazers; like what hope is to disappointment.  so i just wanted to submit these lines, though i may enter the entire poem in The State poetry contest. please help for a title to this existing...

I saw a stargazer defending her pollen,

An unfortunate fate that could not be forgotten

When her withering glory has finally befallen –

Her petals disfigured and fragrance all rotten

She’ll scorn her cagey behavior, verboten

In her great defense of her curious pollen.

I saw a sick pine tree, which brave and still standing

Adhered to the deep roots, he refused to abandon

And although he was weak he was nearly commanding

The stout trees nearby him, towering, surrounding;

And he thrived till subtracting from the forest’s equation

To be felled at my axe blows while gallantly standing.

I saw a small fire that though desperately burning

Was for fuel and for oxygen anxiously yearning;

With cool flames which on branches were silently dancing

Beneath flashing coals from which they were prancing

In a space where phantomlike flames were yet glancing

Came to settle with darkness before it stopped burning.

by Wm. Rieppe Moore

Currently Listening Plans By Death Cab for Cutie Summer Skin see related

Unrevealed Truth