So, one of my good friends, Seung, is studying to become a Presbyterian Minister these days. Therefore, he thinks everyone who doesn't think just like he does is heretical now, especially me. Anyways, I thought I'd include his response to my last post and my response to his response, maybe adding some further clarification to where I've been lately (he is eslteacher74):

eslteacher74 (5:48:06 PM): what is truth
eslteacher74 (5:48:12 PM): everthing is realtive?
eslteacher74 (5:48:14 PM): lol
eslteacher74 (5:48:25 PM): truth is in the eye of the beholder
JesusisLife74 (5:48:48 PM): you mean relative right.
eslteacher74 (5:49:05 PM): i mean what you think i mean
JesusisLife74 (5:49:06 PM): anyways, just trying to be biblical
eslteacher74 (5:49:11 PM): there is no true meaning
JesusisLife74 (5:49:12 PM): you trying to be divisive as usual
eslteacher74 (5:49:18 PM): no
eslteacher74 (5:49:25 PM): just repeating you xanga post
JesusisLife74 (5:49:25 PM): whatevahhhh haha
eslteacher74 (5:49:27 PM): lol
eslteacher74 (5:49:30 PM): LOL
JesusisLife74 (5:49:33 PM): niccce
JesusisLife74 (5:50:01 PM): just trying to get to know Jesus again
JesusisLife74 (5:50:04 PM): in simplicity
JesusisLife74 (5:50:34 PM): without all the hype, the division, the head-knowledge, the legalism, the doctrinal "who's right and who's wrong"
JesusisLife74 (5:50:53 PM): Jesus was pretty straight forward. He's the way the truth, the life.
JesusisLife74 (5:50:56 PM): I want to know Him.
JesusisLife74 (5:51:15 PM): Call that relativism if you like.
JesusisLife74 (5:51:26 PM): I see hope in nothing else, no one else.
JesusisLife74 (5:51:51 PM): Life is to short to be overwhelmed in the details.
eslteacher74 (5:52:09 PM): ok
eslteacher74 (5:52:19 PM): all we need is jesus
JesusisLife74 (5:52:28 PM): in essense yes

eslteacher74 (5:52:33 PM): love is the way
eslteacher74 (5:52:38 PM): i need a hug now
eslteacher74 (5:52:40 PM): lol

I Live My Life Based on Movies

This is both frightening and humorous. You chose which descriptive you'd like to take precedence. When I was growing up, I made my friends all laugh at how I could quote random well-known movies like "The Ten Commandments" in true Charleton Heston form ("What the gods can digest will not sour in the belly of a slave!" think about that one for a sec ). Or what about Sean Connery when he plays Indiana Jones' dad! "Junior... the shearch for the grail ish not about archiology... itsh a rache againsht ee-ville!" But, you know, the older I get, the more I realize that we can be (or at least "I" can be) and often are so subtly influenced by our culture and the way it propogates it's ideas. Media & Art are the foremost example of this, in my opinion.

Maybe the heaviness of Movies' & TV's and radio's influence is only outweighed by the subtlety of it. So many times I can look back and see so clearly (as my best friend from gradeschool was so fond of saying "hindsight is 20/20") that so many of many of my decisions are affected, adversely or otherwise by Hollywood's rendition of reality - good, bad, cool, evil, attractive - it's been dictated to me subconsciously without my permission (or at least in part). It's like that movie, "Sixth Day" with Arnold Shwarzeneger (sp?). Remember that one? When people die, they make clones of them and infuse all the original person's thoughts and memories and psychological makeup so it's just like they never died! But, there are side-effects. They soon realize it doesn't "take". People have glitches. They start remembering certain things. They forget others. They don't feel like themselves because they aren't themselves. I think that's what's happening with me (and if you didn't catch that, I just used a movie metaphore to make my point ;)

So, where do we go from here? We who are products of our environments but also free spirits, capable of volition and choice and subjective thought - Can we know what's objective? Yes. But how? We can read the Bible, God's love-letter of Truth, and we should! But even that is interpretted so many times subjectively - so many versions, so many readers, so many doctrines and so many denominations...We can pray and talk to God and ask Him to talk back and we can listen. And we can believe. We can ask others and read and pray some more. We experience things, we use human reason, we think we learn, we seek, we pray again. We ask forgiveness. I don't feel I could ever ask enough forgiveness. But, where do we find peace and still stay "in" this culture? "In the world but not of the world". How can we really love those in the world and not be like the world while we live IN the world? I can't wait til heaven... 

"JESUS". Remember when you were in Sunday school (either learning or teaching or helping)? This was always a right answer... "So, what did we learn about today?" (child raises hand) "UUUUUhhHh... JESUS!" (teacher smiles) "Well... that's right!" And it IS right! In this case, anyway. Jesus is the only model I can look at and say "THAT's exactly how I want to live!" (Sure, He's much MORE than just an 'example' and that's another topic for another day). AND, Sure,  I can look at others and learn from them. I can even learn truth from a movie (once in a while) but no one models truth & love perfectly like the Jesus of the Bible. And, for that reason and a thousand others, I love no other book more.

Currently Listening The Very Best Of Nat King Cole By Nat King Cole, Nat King Cole see related

Check out today's post on Andre's blog:

http://www.everysquareinch.blogspot.com/

"How Much Does God Weigh?"