Heaven forbid I should forget Crossing Jordan, which actually is only second - CSI isn't THAT great...
12:23 PM
After a bit of shopping yesterday at the fabulous Dallas Galleria on heels of shopping at the new and improved Northpark mall and a few random stores around town on tuesday, I had a moment of realization: malls are the battlefield of women like me. We go in knowing what we like and what we need, and we're going in for the kill. We're serious shoppers with priorities and price limits. Scary, huh?
I have decided that Karl Barth is easier to read when he's mad. (In his "NO!" response to Emil Brunner, he is quite livid.) I have also decided that his understanding of the Gospel is very twisted - he is willing to "die on the hill" of not-biblical doctrines while throwing out key doctrines - like the inerrancy of Scripture and the reality of damnation. He is so interested in preserving his own bizarre ideas that he creates a whole extra kind of history to account for his explanation of theology.
I love being home, but we leave tomorrow to begin the wild and crazy travelling that is Dallas Johnson family tradition...
I'm happy to say that all the versions of Law and Order is fabulous. CSI and CSI: MIAMI is also nice. Judging Amy is a distant third.
I'm chock full of random information, as usual.
2:12 PM
Bug: Ok, Dad, there was this nudist colony - have you heard this one?
11:50 AM
check this out: purgatorio: Help! I'm Going Hyper!">CHECK THIS OUT
it won't lead to world piece or anything, but it's hilarious... only read it if you feel like laughing at calvinists (like me)...
12:37 AM
in the interest of keeping my audience happy, i will now tell you all about my dogs. ok, well not ALL about them. i'll just stick to brief sketches.
Bridget is my oldest dog. She's a whopping 14 years old. a small, runty golden retriever with a sweet personality (doggonality?) and significant hearing and vision loss, this is the dog i prayed for and begged for and all that. i wanted her so bad, and finally the parentals caved. she's a pretty smart pooch.
Heritage, or Heri, is a yellow lab who was originally owned by a sweet lady we know who had her trained to hunt. that automatically makes her the most well-behaved dog we have. she is also very intelligent and kind. she often reminds me of myself in dog form - she likes people, the inside when it's really hot, and eating. she was my company over the summer when my family was gone and i was working at home. she would sit next to me and put her head on my lap while i worked. there were a number of days in which i saw no human beings in person, and it was amazing how great a companion she was. i love her. unfortunately, she's started being mean to the other dogs and growling at them when they get near the food and no people are around. they kept mom up with their snarling and yapping a few nights ago.
Gracie is our newest dog, a 3 year old golden retriever. my sister won her in a bet with my dad. [lest you be concerned, let me assure you that my father does not engage in gambling on a regular basis - or ever, in fact, except for this one time.] katie and dad agreed that if katie got a double-double (15 points and 15 rebounds) she would get a puppy. she did, and he got her one. sadly, gracie is far from intelligent and she somewhat resembles a bear. she's also got hip displacement, which is not uncommon in golden retrievers. she is obsessed with light and reflections. but she is really nice and she likes people and licking things.
so those are my puppies. fun, eh?
oh, and i got a new haircut that eliminated the mullet from france (thank goodness).
still working on the lewis paper...
12:24 AM
it's really really nice to be home, and i haven't even been here 4 hours yet! it's been about 4 months since i slept in my own bed or saw my dogs, and let me tell you, it is amazing. and no shower shoes for a whole month! now THAT is a taste of heaven.
"those who trust in the Lord are as mount zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever. as the mountains surround jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever." - psalm 125:1-2
i find it uber-relieving that Jesus surrounds us forever...
ok, time for bed.
3:10 AM
the INCREDIBLE journey
lol let me know if you got that...
anyway, i'm going home, and it takes a while to get there from here, so expect me to be mute for the next few days. suffice it to say i am focusing on two things right now: being done with exams (though that lewis paper still needs to be written) and nehemiah 8 or somewhere in there, where it says "the joy of the LORD is your strength" and the people get their party on and revel in it because God commanded it and it rocked!
can you tell i'm tired?
9:31 PM
Polly Pocket is apparently still big time - perhaps bigger than ever. Who knew?
One Blake Schwarz did apparently. When Dr. Lewis was explaining the hiddenness of the true essentials of Christianity within Scripture, Blake burst out with, "Oh, so there's a surprise inside, like Polly Pocket."
Don't worry, though - my information came from a more reliable source - Julie Bell, the mother of 3 elementary school-aged children.
So much for the Barbies of my youth...
7:26 PM
It's funny how wise God is, and how easily we forget it. From April 04 till about September 04, He surrounded me with sermons, conversations, songs, and realizations about how important it is that we can rely on Scripture. The kicker was a talk given by the RUF minister at SMU, David Rea, about 2 Peter 1:16-21. In this passage, Peter talks about how he and the other disciples did not "follow cleverly devised myths" but actually saw Jesus and all that the Gospels describe. But then he says that he and the disciples - and all believers - have something even more reliable than this: Scripture. Dude! If Scripture is more reliable than PETER'S experience, it sure as heck is more reliable than mine.
All of this is coming in handy now with this paper on Barth and Calvin. Though on the surface the differences between their ideas about natural knowledge of God (through reason and creation) seem to be but a hairline fracture, a gigantic canyon is between them underneath, which really all goes back to their attitudes about Scripture. Calvin believes that the Bible is the authoritative, inerrant word of God, while Barth believes it is a flawed human testimony and witness to the life of Christ. So when Paul says in Romans 1 that God's glorious handiwork in creation leaves all men without excuse, Calvin buys it hook line and sinker, while Barth is willing to argue it away. For Barth, you can't quote chapter and verse (be it 1 or 200) and prove a point. Christ is revealed in Scripture, but at the same time He's hidden. It's all a very fancy, complicated explanation of Christianity that effectively mauls the Gospel.
Can you tell whose side I'm on?
PS - I think that the Emerging/Emergent/Whatever Church movement is coming out of Barth. Don't steal that idea if it's brilliant. Maybe I'll write my next book on it.
4:18 PM
In emulation of one of my blogging heroines, I will now tell the 3 regular readers I have (I flatter myself, I know) more about me than you ever wanted to know. The difference, of course, is that everyone wants to know about Amy.
Ok, so here we go.
1. Seven things I want to do before I die:
1. finish the bloomin' book
2. spend a week in italy looking at all the art and architecture
3. get married, have a family, hang out with my great grandkids
4. be wise
5. learn to dance
6. cook an entire thanksgiving dinner
7. play in the rain with my husband
2. Seven things I cannot do:
1. keep tabs on my keys at all times
2. appreciate jackson pollock
3. control my back
4. control anything
5. eat as much as i did at 14
6. nap for more than 15 minutes but less than an hour and a half
7. be like Christ
3. Seven things that attract me to my husband:
you find me a husband and i swear i'll post the answer to this question...
4. Seven things I say most often:
1. okay...
2. i'm reading this book...
3. i really like this song...
4. not gonna lie
5. i'm obsessed
6. i love that kid (refers to various individuals)
7. that's weird.
5. Seven books (or series) I love:
1. the Bible
2. the pleasures of God by john piper
3. God's passion for His glory by john piper
4. the chronicles of narnia by cs lewis
5. pride and prejudice by jane austen
6. holiness by grace by bryan chapell
7. passion and purity by elisabeth elliot
6. Seven movies I watch over and over again:
1. pirates of the carribbean
2. return of the king
3. shrek 2
4. to catch a thief
5. master and commander
6. pride and prejudice (bbc)
7. the incredibles
7. Seven people I want to join in too:
1. the bug
2. ham
3. i don't think i have any more regular readers with blogs... actually, i don't know if THOSE guys are regular readers... geez...
4:24 PM
so after a lovely bit of studying-until-2am, hardly getting any sleep, and being the professor's reminder-call to show up to the exam, i managed to take all 5 hours in writing it (yes, that would be FIVE hours). perhaps my plight was worsened by the fact that i could not for the life of me remember anything about cobb. except that he was male, and somehow he was a bit like braithwaite. anyway, i made his part up. i guessed. we'll see how it goes.
so i intended to have a brilliant thought or two last night; i didn't. i intended to get all dressed up for the exam; i didn't. i intended to ace the exam; i definitely didn't. it was interesting.
now i'm working on my king lear paper, which is due friday. i'm nervous because i hate my old thesis and outline, but i'm having trouble finding a new one; maybe i should just go with the old one. i dunno. grrrrrr to you, shakespeare. grr to you.
my consolation is that when i am dead and gone, everyone still will remember shakespare but i'll be that old dead great grandmother who used to bake those cookies... so it can't matter THAT much if my paper isn't particularly brilliant, as long as i get the job done. right?
my profundity level today is limited to this: cordelia is cool, which is probably why anne shirley from anne of green gables wanted to have the same name as her. edgar is also cool, but as far as i know no one wants to be named edgar. but they are still cool. and they are nice to their dads. the other kids in the story: edmund, goneril, and regan, are, like, evil. we don't like them. eww.
the end.
scary, huh?
1:16 PM
dear beloved readers,
this is exam week. that would explain my less-than-typical lack of verbosity. hopefully both you and i will survive.
i do plan to have some brilliant thoughts later today (can you tell i'm a control freak if i PLAN having brilliant thoughts?), so i'll keep you posted. the philosophy of religion exam is tomorrow from 8:45-1:45 (yes, that's 5 hours, for those of you more math-challenged than i), so all those brilliant thoughts swimming around in my head are liable to produce something moderately decent, right?
everyone should get an RUF campus minister, by the way. they are marvelously helpful.
cheers,
lauren
8:32 PM
how can you oscillate from theology buff to total goof like this? im flabbergasted! - kristen
there you have it folks: i oscillate between theology buff and total goof... anyone shocked?
hahahahahaha...
6:21 PM
I kinda wish Calvin wasn't dead, cause his theology is intoxicating. If he were single and alive...
On the other hand, his politics were atrocious. Maybe not...
France was amazingly awsome.
“…wherever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of his glory. You cannot in one glance survey this most vast and beautiful system of the universe, in its wide expanse, without being completely overwhelmed by the boundless force of its brightness.” (Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion 52, Vol 1) He's no CS Lewis, but certainly more straightforward (and poetic!) than MANY theologians and philosophers.
In other news, Clint Black is the man: "Love isn't someplace that we fall, it's something that we do."
7:46 AM
i don't think you spell it that way, but at least i know how to say it. and i'll be saying it alot in the next week, because i'm going to dijon and paris for thanksgiving!
hence no posts this week. but you'll get over it. :)
happy thanksgiving, y'all!
2:05 AM
I must confess to being a bit peeved that i didn't come out 100% Jonathan Edwards and 90% John Calvin...
 | You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'
Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
11:36 PM
Greetings. Thought I'd explain where the up and coming lines of thought are coming FROM. :) Over the next few weeks I'll be posting alot of stuff about a paper I'm writing for my Philosophy of Religion class on the natural knowledge man can (or cannot) have of God, comparing the perspectives of Karl Barth and John Calvin. Being a die-hard Calvinist who even likes to jam to the famed "Calvinism" song by Where Are My Pants?, I am clearly going to be going to town on this one. :)
Here's where I'm starting from, given my knowledge of Calvin, Scripture, and the readings in Calvin and Barth that we've done for class... (funny how in a Philosophy of Religion class where the primary emphasis is Christianity we have yet to actually read Scripture...)
Barth believes that we can know nothing of God apart from special revelation (i.e. the Word of God, which he breaks down further into the Incarnational Christ, the Holy Scripture and creeds, and preaching). Incidentally, he also believes that Scripture is not inerrant.
Calvin, on the other hand, believes that the world is, as he calls it, "the theater of His glory." He believes that men know that God is there because they can see Him in creation.
Romans 1 backs Calvin. (Shocker.)
So what I have to do is delve deeply into the minds of these two brilliant men and talk about what they think, comparing each to the other. What I get to do is sneak the Gospel in the back door. (I've been ramming it through the front door all semester in class; now's the time to prove I can pull off subtlety.)
Thoughts?
7:39 PM
Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, so my pastor preached a sermon on how easy it is to forget our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted, and what that says about us. One illustration he used was particularly indicting: "If I forget our anniversary, that doesn't mean I don't love my wife, but it does say alot about how much I cherish her. Forgetting the persecuted church is not the same thing as forgetting God, but it does say alot about how much we cherish Him."
Ouch.
"Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you are also in the body."
Hebrews 13:3
4:27 AM
hello world!
this is new for me, so it may take me a while to get the hang of it. i've had a xanga for quite some time, but i wanted a place to be more theological and intellectual - and hopefully engage in some discussion. :) yay for new sounding boards!
ps - the title is from "there is a fountain filled with blood"...
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