Plea

First of all, I'm in desperate need of affordable computer help. I just put in an ATI 9800 Pro card, and a Zalman HSF. Both items they replaced were giving me serious overheating issues, so I finally bit the bullet and dished out close to $100 for some new stuff. Unfortunately, I now have some mystery issue: The system will start up and run fine for about 10-15 minutes, then just freeze up regardless of what I'm doing. Hitting the restart button will begin the startup process, then it will freeze before getting to Windows. Give it a few minutes after powering off, and I can start the whole process over again. Agony. If you have any suggestions or know of anyone who might, I'd be extremely grateful.

Secondly, while filling my mug of milk with chocolate syrup this evening, the word "Going" distinctly appeared from the thin lines of cocoa, written in a kind of little kid cursive. Interpretations of this vision are also welcome.

Bolos and Bugouts

I just signed up for Military Science 280, Raider Operations, which is basically a scaled down version of the Army's Best Ranger Competition. From 6:00 pm March 9th until 6:00 pm the next day, Chad and I will be running in fatigues and combat boots, swimming, climbing ropes, doing pushups, orienteering, and many many other adventures. Unlike a typical multisport event, we won’t know the order of events or even exactly what’s included in the competition.

In order to bypass the prerequisite courses, Captain Rick Storm introduced us to Col. Hunt who, after making sure that we weren’t out to join the competition with the intent of slandering the Army, made a great suggestion for our race day presentation. Since no one will recognize Chad or I from the ROTC program, the Colonel posited that I should speak very ambiguously about just getting back from "one of the Stans,” and I’m heading back soon, hence the beard. I should also mention how I’m curious as to the preparatory practices for cadets, since I’ve seen the end result in combat and haven’t been too impressed. Of course, I can’t really talk about it.

Chad will be working with “one of the IA” departments as an intel officer. To play up the intrigue even more, we’ve just met and teamed up for this little “exercise.”

Tomorrow at 0900 hours we get our gear: Combat boots, fatigues, rucksacks, IE belts, and packlist. By next week we need to have drafted up a training calendar which we’ll submit to a Sergeant for approval. The training is almost exclusively up to us, but since it’s technically a class for credit, we have to show up Tuesdays and Thursdays at 0600 to check in and do a bit of training. Stay tuned.

Mo Sabbath

Preface to the Post: The Bible as Literature, English 375 at the University of Idaho, is not the secularist game of piñata that it sounds like. Kurt Queller is a sweet dude who professed his faith on the first day of class, speaks Greek, is a specialist on the Gospel of Mark, and a linguist who speaks like 5 other languages.

That being said, in my Bible as Lit class this morning we were looking at another one of the accounts of Jesus healing on the Sabbath, this time in Mark. Kurt was pointing out the many similarities in phrasing found between this story and the story of the Exodus, as seen in the Greek. Knowing He was being watched as to whether or not he would heal on the Sabbath, our translations have Christ saying “Come here,” or “Stand up in front of everyone,” to the man with a withered hand. The literal Greek translation is apparently “Arise into the midst,” which as Kurt pointed out, would’ve sounded as strange to the folks in the synagogue then as it does to us now.

This wording has more of an inviting sound to it, using “the midst.” Come into the very middle of everything. Just like in Matthew in a similar situation, Christ seems to be taking this opportunity to show the Pharisees that work which helps others is not only lawful to perform on the Sabbath, but is manifestly better. The difference comes with the Greek wording and Paul’s words in Romans about how both Jew and Gentile come to Christ equally through faith, that the distinction between the two is not “Jews get to Heaven, just because; Gentiles, tough beans.” We love to quote Christ’s words when he said that he came to bring a sword, and to divide families, because we get this romantic feeling of Faith over Family. What’s easy to overlook is how unifying Christ actually was, how faith in His resurrection was equally available to everyone. Arise into the midst.

Christ heals this man who would’ve gone unhelped had the legalists had their way, which is an idea that has hung around with Jews today. In this Mark account, Jesus both trumps the legalistic observance of the Law with righteousness, and gives a small taste of what other good is to be open to all. Another interesting observation from the Greek is the use of the word restored speaking of the healing. This wasn't a typical word used to describe physical healing, but it is the same word used in Exodus for the waters being "restored" onto the pursuing Egyptians. That restoration destroyed the Egyptians while the healing resoration worked to destroy legalism.

Comments here are always welcomed and looked forward to, and I’d like to extend a special request for this post as I feel that I wasn’t really able to clearly articulate what I saw in the text, or maybe presented it in a way that makes one think "So what?" Thoughts?

What Does Legalism Say About the Regenerate Christian?

The sermon at All Souls this morning dealt with the issue of Grace versus Law. Not an unusual topic at all, in fact, one that we’ve probably all heard a good deal about in various circles. “We’re not under Law, we’re under Grace” seems to be a kind of Christian battle cry that folks will declare with pride sometimes while in the deepest of sin. The folly here is obvious, treating the gift of Grace like a free pass to do whatever you want.

And that’s where things get interesting. “Sure,” we think.” “The last thing Christ would want you to do with Grace is what you want. Because Heaven knows that all you want to do is bad, bad things.” EW’s great phrasing on this point, “Freedom from the law frees you to do what you are,” really brought it all home. If you are a deceitful, greedy person, removing the laws against theft will result in you stealing. But for the regenerate soul, freedom from the Law frees you to do good.

A perfectly natural question at this point would be to ask “So if the Law was good, how can freedom from it result in anything better?” Matthew 12 has a great answer, in the story of the Pharisees pestering Jesus about his disciples “working” on the Sabbath in order to feed themselves. Christ answers with a series of examples from the OT of David and the priests explicitly not observing the Sabbath because something more important was asked of them that required they “work.” He sums it up nicely saying “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”

So that’s legalism as it occurred 2000 years ago. What does legalism now, after thousands of years of meditating on Christ’s words, have to say about how we view the saved soul? Well, it doesn’t think very highly of it. Laws imposed on Christians today seem to be screaming “Unless we’re here, you’ll jump into and wallow in all manner of godlessness, debauchery and filth. We’re the only thing keeping your salvation and soul afloat!” Telling an adult that they cannot drink alcohol because of the possibility of sin is to say that this person, changed from darkness to light by Jesus Christ, is incapable of moderation. Basically, he’s still the same animal he was before the God of the Universe changed him, except that now he chooses to drink Sprite instead of a gin and tonic. One might argue in this particular case for the sake of the younger brother who may stumble into sin through seeing someone he respects consuming a drink. The same reprimand applies to them, as they are simply following the Law of “doing whatever my elders do.” In the same way that the thief waits for the laws against burglary to be lifted, the child who wants to cuss SO badly can’t wait for his father or big brother to let one slip. They don’t want to be righteous, they just want a good excuse for not being so.

I can’t put it any better than Paul did in Colossians when he said: “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.”

Hark!

Our good friend Sufjan Stevens released a five-volume Christmas album a little before the season this past year. Thanks to the lovely Miss Ballard, I now find it on my mind and in my ears almost nonstop.

Boasting 42 songs, the album is a mix of classical Christmas hymns, Sufjan originals, and hymns that are not typically associated with Christ's birth. Most of the originals sound like something elves would sing rather than angels, and the strength of the album definitely lies in Sufjan's renditions of the classics. The secret? Don't change much.

Recorded in 2001 apparently in and around the time he was working on Enjoy Your Rabbit and Michigan, many of the songs have the signature rolling banjo lines and wind instruments reminiscent of A Sun Came. Throughout the five discs of this set Sufjan seems to have a particular affinity for the French carols and tunes. O Come O Come Emmanuel, O Holy Night, and The Friendly Beasts stand out melodically from the rest. Songs like Come Thou Fount, Amazing Grace, and Holy Holy Holy don’t typically fit with Christmas carols, but they sound so good, it’s hard to complain.

Interspersed between hymns and originals are a few short instrumentals, often songs that have either been done in full with lyrics previously on the album, or are to come later on. While these are pleasant to listen to and help move the experience along, I was disappointed to find two of my favorite hymns were given only the 45-second wordless treatment: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Angels We Have Heard on High.

Sufjan’s Christmas originals are somewhat confusing to me as they nearly always tend towards the goofy and ridiculous. His exquisite handling of O Come O Come Emmanuel and hearing his newer and newer music in the past few years leads me to believe that he could be quite capable of writing some pretty extraordinary hymns himself, both lyrically and musically. I suppose that since this was recorded six years ago, there’s much to be said for musical maturation, and I’m anxious to see if he ever revisits this medium of Christmas music.

Hilarity

Rhapsody's brief review of the Self Against City album is the funniest two-liner I've seen in a while:

"Wearing wimpy on their sleeves like true emo kids, Self Against City deliver an exuberantly insecure debut. It's not required to get dumped by your girl or boyfriend to fully enjoy Telling Secrets to Strangers, but it is recommended."

Humbling Sessions

I had a pretty rough semester grade-wise this Fall, but I won’t count it as a total loss. Any time this Spring that I’m thinking a bit too well of myself, I will release one of my papers that earned me my lowest GPA semester at UI into the blogosphere, as a way of bringing myself back to Earth through humiliation. And no, this is not an opportunity for me to qualify these papers as “awful,” while secretly knowing they rule so that my reader is fooled into some undue awe. These will be truly terrible papers. I invite you to check back frequently. Cheers.

How the You of Eye Will Paint Ewe and Aye Into A Corner

In order to graduate from this fine establishment, the powers that be demand that I fill out a Senior Survey, which allows me to relate, in rich detail, my overall experience at the school through a list of questions answerable on a 4 point scale from “Not At All” to “Greatly.” Very well.

One particular section was titled “Developed Abilities Enhanced by my UI Undergrad Experience,” or some such thing. I had no problem answering the questions dealing with how my time at UI enhanced my knowledge of ethics and morality. Yes, I certainly learned a ton about the state of the average parishioner at the Church of Liberal Humanism, meeting five days a week down on 6^th Street. In a less jaded way, I learned quite a bit about my own frustrations, joys, morality, and how well I knew what I believed through my interactions with those who didn’t have a clue as to their own. And in a way that teeters dangerously close to optimism, I saw the way Christians act and should act in environments that are constantly hostile to them.

All was well until I came to a series of questions inquiring as to the role of the university in growing my knowledge as to the contributions made to culture by women and minorities. Someone down at the Survey Lab must’ve had a grand time cooking these questions up. How to answer? I could answer “Greatly,” since it was shoved down my throat at least a few times A WEEK throughout my education. So yes, I did hear about this quite a bit. But when my responses are read, do I want to contribute to a group of pleased professors nodding their heads in approval at their mighty powers of “Diversification?” No!

But then what? If I say no, as I hated and disagreed with most anything that came across my way that smacked of cultural affirmative action, I set up the next poor sucker who comes through the system to be bludgeoned DAILY with this tripe. He’ll be shaken and screamed at that “Native American culture is interesting!!! IT IS!!!! SAY IT!!!” until the day he sits where I am and ponders the question of “Greatly,” or “Not At All.”

The High Country

Some fotos from the break are up.