Moments in Time

Knotty Knotty!

Backlit

Point of Focus

Patterns

Look Ma! No Hands!!

My Lovely Sister!

My Beautiful Mom, and Handsome Dad!

Cracks in the Road

Of Coat Tails and Theology

Have you ever heard the phrase, "hanging on your parents coat tails?" It's usually used to imply that someone just takes what his parents have taught him without really giving any thought as to why. When it comes to what you believe about salvation and theology, that can be dangerous, not because your parents might give you misinformation, but because if you don't know why your parents told you something, it will be very easy for someone else to flip your boat by questioning it.

(Quick note, I think that what your parents tell you is really important! If you have godly parents, don't ever underestimate how valuable that is!)

Which is (one of the reasons) why it's important not just to know something, but to know why you know what you know.
It's like this:
It's really important not just to know what you know, but to know why you know what you know. Because if you know why you know what you know, then you know that anyone else who doesn't know why you know what you know won't know how to rock what you know because you know why you know what you know! It's that simple!
Ok, anyway,
So that's the road I'm on now. I, as we all do, have presuppositions and assumptions that I sort of absorbed while I was growing up as far as theology is concerned. In the circles that I was raised in, theology was sort of a tainted word. For the most part, it was considered something that only the high minded people in seminaries ever thought about, and they usually eventually went off the deep end (at least, the ones that I heard about). So we didn't study theology, and just 'believed what the Bible said.' While that sound nice, the problem with it is that we ALL have a theological worldview, wether we like it or not. Saying that we don't simply means that we're less epistemologically self conscious than the "theologians" are.

Over the last year or so, I've been realizing that the world of theology is a bit more complicated than I had previously thought, and that I don't really know what I believe. I'm what would be called a 'theological light-weight.' Now don't panic, I'm not questioning my Christian faith, or wondering wether the Bible is true or not. I know why I believe the Bible is true, and that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Way. But as far as the finer points of Christian beliefs are concerned, I don't know what I believe. Am I pre, post, or a-milleniel? Do I believe in Covenant theology or Dispensationalism? Am I "Reformed?" Questions, questions, questions. I have opinons on some of the afore mentioned views (and many, many more), but I have yet to come to a really solid conclusion on any of them (perhaps aside from wether or not I'm "Reformed"). 


"So why is he telling me all of this?" you might wonder. Well, I tell you this because I think I'm going to document some of my theological journeys on this blog. So if you're the type who can't stand being around people that you disagree with, here's your heads up! However, I do hope that you are the type of people who like to discuss things with others, even when they disagree with you. I read a lot of books, and listen to even more audiobooks and sermons, so I'll probably post my musing and thoughts here about what I've been reading/listening too.


So there you have it! Please tag along with me on my search for truth!!!


Semper Reformanda!!!  

Photo Saturday

So I've finally decided to do it! Every Saturday I will try to post at least five pictures that I've taken. Eventually I'll probably add categories, and the like, but for now, I'll just post some that I like.
Don't be shy to give me what for, and tell me what you think, which ones you like, which ones you don't, what you do and don't like about each one, etc. Be brutal!
For now, these will be just from whenever. Eventually I'll have worked through all of my past good ones, and the photos will all become more recent.

Akumal Bay in Mexico

Mmmmm (I think find the focus interesting in this photo, where it's on the bowl, instead of the baby)

Iguana In Mexico

Tulips at the Oregon Tulip Festival

My studly older brother riding in Central Oregon He did an IronMan by the way! (I took this photo from a moving car.)

(Oh, And I need to come up with a more clever name. Ideas?)

Ask, Seek, and Knock

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 

Matthew 7:7-8 

I've heard this verse many times, so much that it almost gets to the point where it looses its potency. But over that last few days, I've been meditating on it quite a lot. There are some big decisions that I have to make over the next couple of weeks, and I am so thankful that I don't have to make them on my own, that I have a Father up in heaven who is sovereign that I can run to!

So I'm going to keep asking, knocking, and seeking Him!!

~Paul

Overpopulation in China

And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly

in the earth, and multiply therein.

Genesis 9:7: 

My Cousin (who is a really good writer) is on a site called "Figment," which is kind of like facebook for writers.
Anyway, she is also ardently pro-sanctity-of-life, and has been fairly vocal on Figment about her views, and has gotten some flack for it (imagine that!). So Bravo Sara-Anne!!
One of the threads that she brought to my attention, and eventually got me to join Figment so that I could respond to it, was one someone had started about China, and it's "overpopulation" problem.
I did some research to make sure that my facts were accurite, and then wrote a response on that thread addressing the myth of overpopulation. You can see the thread here. Start at the beginning, and then read to the end. It's only two pages at the moment.
I got some of my quotes from this video, which gives a really good 30,000 feet overview of the whole "running out of food" issue.

Here's my response on Figment:

@acrosstheuniverse1211, Poverty is not caused by over population. Poverty is brought about by a plethora of different sources. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), and the World Food Programme "There is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life." The problem as they state it is "The world currently produces enough food for everybody, but meny people do not have access to it."

(Quick fun fact: Africa, if cultivated using modern farming techniques, could feed the whole planet, according to some experts.) 

The Word Food Programme lists key causes of Hunger, and they are:
*Poverty
*Conflict (War)
*Natural Disasters
*Over-Exploitation of the Environment
*Poor Agricultural Infrastructure
No where on that list is overpopulation.

I find it interesting that China gets all of the attention when it comes to overpopulation, considering that their density of people per square mile is actually not that high, Just 363, according to the UN World Prospects Report 2005. Lets compare that to a few other countries.

Taiwan: 1,660
The Netherlands: 1,460
India: 953
Japan: 873
Germany: 593
Italy: 518
And just for fun, let's throw in Singapore, coming in at a whopping 18,513 people per square mile!!

So why isn't there an uproar about those countries?
There are three main reasons:
*The population is well distributed over the land mass
*The supply chain of food is modern and well established
*They have more personal liberty (Thus allowing them to make more money, allowing them to buy more food)

 Now, whenever you read about overpopulation in China you undoubtedly see pictures like this:

 

I highly doubt they show you pictures like this:

 

That is southwestern china. Not a lot of people there. Chinas real problem is population distribution. A very large portion of their population is crammed into cities! Now If I were to show you a picture of Time Square such as this:

 

I could write a very compelling piece about how overpopulated N.Y.C. is. Or I could show you a picture like this:

 

And I could talk about how the population in N.Y.C. has dropped dramatically in the last few years.

China is not overpopulated, it's population has simply been packed into large metropolitan areas. The fact that it has a communist government which forcibly keeps their currency undervalued (which, by the way is why almost everything here in America is made there), thus making them less able to trade with other countries for things like food.

Which brings me back to the quote from the Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.) "The world currently produces enough food for everybody, but meny people do not have access to it."

~Paul

Photography Thoughts

(warning, I'm thinking out loud here)
I've been an avid photo taker for about the last 5 years, but most of the time, after I import them onto my computer and delete the bad ones, they just sit there. Partially because I usually don't have anything to do with them. So I was thinking the other day, what if I were to post 5-10 photos on one day each week here on my blog, for you all to see/critique? It would help keep me motivated to be editing photos, and taking new ones, but I also wonder if it wouldn't be fitting of this blog to post them here, in which case, I could start another blog just for photography. Though as I'm thinking about it, photography is part of my life, so does the title "youth of chivalry" only apply when I'm talking about high and lofty theological thoughts?
A couple of blogs I follow (such as Lisa's) have both a main blog (which also gets pictures) and then another blog specifically for pictures.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
~Paul

Becoming One of the Older People

I'm Curious, did any of you when you were younger (say 5-16), run into the annoying situation while at group get togethers (homegroup, church, family camps), where the a lot of the younger kids would be playing a game like soccer, and all of the older kids (16-25~) would be sitting around talking, and would hardly ever play the games? And then you'd go and ask them to play, but they'd just keep talking, and maybe once in a while come out and play for a few minuts, and when they did, it was like the most awesome thing ever, and if you got them on your team, victory was guaranteed?

I remember being in that position, and thinking that all of the 'old kids' got annoying because all they wanted to do was talk! I mean, how boring is that!?!

But now that I've graduated to the category of 'old kid,' I can understand why they always wanted to talk. Now I'm torn when the littler kids come to me asking me to play soccer/volleyball/ultimate frisbee, because I am really enjoying the conversations I'm having, and yet, I can understand their plight, (plus the afore mentioned sports are really fun).
Have any of you, wether you're in the 'young kids' or 'old kids' category run into this problem? And if so, What do you usually do?
~Paul