Who I tagged

For the book thing I tagged two of the Gnostics (Kyla and Kevin), Kate and Scott.
Peace,
Chris

I've been tagged to write about books

I’ve been tagged by Daniel to write about books highschoolers should read. Here we go:

In Dubious Battle-First off Grapes of Wrath is one of the best books I've ever read, but Dubious seems like a more more balanced, less romantic look at the time period.
1984-I love this book, I remember using it to critique the way Boy’s State was run back in 11th grade. It was great.
Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow-Reading these in conjunction would give students a great example of what Point of View is.
The Chronicles of Narnia-I am just now reading this series, I’m liking it.
Dream of Reason-I remember in Highschool we had to read Sophie’s World to learn about philosophy, this is a much superior text.

Lord of the Flies-It’s a classic.
Siddhartha-Once you realize Siddhartha and the Buddha are on in the same it becomes one of the best books out there.

The Orestrian Trilogy by Aeschylus- One of my favs.

So, if you had kids read these books and write papers about them they would be educated and ready for college. Maybe.

Peace,

Chris

As I'm hoping to publish my 41 page story about the war I take a look at my previous views on the war

I can sure wax eloquence when I want to.
Peace,
Chris

Cheyenne makes it onto CNN

Its about dressing like a cowboy... yeah.

Petition about stem cells

So, for the first time in 5 years Bush will use his veto power... and he'll use it on the issue of Stemcells. I know this is a tricky issue, but I think on balance Stem Cell research is for the best. For more information on it Stem Cells themselves check out this page.
Peace,
Chris

Roving Book Meme from Lutheranchik:

How many books do you own?: 48 at present (This is my summer reading, after graduation my parents took a bunch of my books back to Cheyenne), not including bound copies of "Faith and Grace" and "Testaments" that I’m editing.
Last book bought: "God: A Biography" by Jack Miles
Last book read: "Prince Caspian" the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia series.
Books that mean a lot:
Kitten’s Christmas (A tiny little book my mother used to read to me as a child, very cute)
Dawn (It is well written, touching, morally ambiguous, made me think)
Grapes of Wrath (For me it made liberalism make sense on a heart level)
Ender’s Game (What can I say? "The Gate is Down")
Hyperium/Endimiun (I finally got to see what literary genius looks like in science fiction)
The World as it is (Voltaire lays it out pretty well)
The Last Temptation of Christ/Zorba the Greek (Wrestling with the body and the soul, the idea and the deed, is very powerful)

I'm not a criminal

The only reason I bring this up is that I had it confirmed today by the Eugene Police Department. I need a Background check for England. Just got it. I've never been caught doing anything illegal!
Peace,
Chris

2 years in

Romero Article

This article touched me deeply while reading it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Liberation Theology.
Peace,
Chris

And my final GPA is.....

A 3.79.
This last term I had an A in creative writing and an A in Idea of Europe, an A- in Non-Biblical Scrolls, a B+ in History of Modern Japan (meaning I kicked some butt on the final, as I was looking like I'd get a B-/C+ going into the Final), and a Pass in Billiards.
Good night, Peace, etc.
Chris

The Questions

I know school is done, but we are still meeting tonight at 8. Here are the questions:

The Questions
What qualifies a war as a just war? Is the Iraq war a "just war"?
Where should religious authority come from?
From what we know of him in scripture, if Jesus went to a psychologist today what would the prognosis be? What would his "issues" be? His quirks? Etc?
Can a Christian believe the Koran is inspired by the devil? Can one believe it is inspired by God?
Why is God so often worshiped with music? Word and sacrament are often touted as justification for having things in worship, does music fall into either of those? Both? Neither?
What does it mean that Jesus is the "Word"? What are the implications of that?
What does it mean that YHWH is a verb that means something like "He Causes to Be" (crazy guy’s translation was "He shalt Be")?

CENSORSHIP!

Microsoft is censoring Chinese Blogs for the sake of the authoritarian government in China.

Where I'll be next year

Poem

WALKING THROUGH(1)
Footnotes added on the occasion of Kyla’s 21st Birthday
By Chris Halverson

THE stress, of the shift, of the blue back of the black bird flashes (2)
A snap, through the twelve titans at attention, clothed in rumpled brown (3)
Their green swords are bowed low, a procession of swordsmen
Branches inviting in second

TWO old and new mirror dogs(4) kneel (5)
At the granite feet of the bridegroom’s marriage arches (6)
Three synoptic squires(7) , brothers, chatter in the afterglow
After them, one monolith, states aloud, what the three euphemized in private (8)

WHAT, even low, the groundsman has greater glories than the titans (9)
He dwells with punchy grey squirrels (10), full of faith (11)
He bows lower still, to press ahead
What is dying for a day, three, a month, ten, or even a year (12)

HE (13) continues ahead, ahead, here, and then
Where are the graves, sepulcher?
All that remains, concrete squares
Empty (14)


1. This poem was written while walking through the graveyard across the street. I saw things; they connected with biblical things extremely well.
2. The Black Bird is Christ. The three years of his known ministry is a flash compared to the time after his death. It was an ineffable flash that caught the attention of the whole world.
3. The twelve titans being the twelve disciples of Christ.
4. Upon writing this I had not noticed that the “dogs” were really lambs.
5. The Old Testament and the New, two documents that face, and mirror, one another.
6. The Bridegroom being Christ.
7. The Synoptic Gospels, Mt. Mk. Lk.
8. The Gospel of John, which is much more explicit about many things about Christ, such as his divinity etc.
9. This is Paul, who ended up, having more influence than the disciples.
10. Goyim
11. Faith not works etc.
12. His first letter is about this subject, people dying before the return of Christ.
13. This is a different he, the Church universal, the church of these present ages.
14. Oh no, I’m being weird and mysterious. Am I talking about the “rapture,” or am I talking about Churches being empty, or am I talking about the epiphany of the empty tomb?

I'm cleaning out my computer

and I found a set of quotes I liked. Some pretty cool stuff.
Peace,
Chris

“God has given thee twenty-four treasures; take heed lest thou lose any one of them, for thou wilt not be able to endure the regret that will follow such loss.”—Al-Gazalli

“All things implement.”—William Falkner

“I endeavored to lead a different type of life, to interest myself in practical work, to know and love the human material which had fallen into my hands, to feel the long-wished-for joy of no longer having to deal with words but with living men.”—Zorba the Greek

“We educated people are just empty headed birds of the air.”—ZTG

"As soon as you start expecting a politician to be the answer to all of your problems, that's when you're really in trouble."
-anon.

Parties may make policy, but people make a nation, a signal fire of democracy lit from the individual torches of the hearts of many.
--Chris Halverson