Teaching a Puppy

I have acquired a puppy. It is a cute little beast.

We were making waffles on Saturday morning when he walked up to our porch window a few times. We took him in from the cold and have proceeded to make a few investments in his well being.

We have been attempting to train him in the arts of defecation, and I have discovered that I have learned another skill myself.

I am normally a calm, mild-mannered fellow, and that has caused me some some difficulty in classes before. I try not to overreact to classroom problems, but that unfortunately means that I sometimes don't react at all. However, thanks to the puppy, I am learning the skill of sharp correction without yelling. I don't want to scare the puppy, but I do want him to know my sincerity.

Of course, I run the risk of treating my students like a dog, but that's not my heart. I am really excited now that I can also give them firm correction without "scaring the puppy."

P.S. If anyone has any idea what breed this guy is, I'm very curious. Please, leave me a comment.

History between U.S. and Iran

I will make no blatant remark regarding the following video. I merely ask that you use it to inform your opinions.

Changes Christianity Needs (part 2)

Today, another concept struck me regarding changes that Christianity as a whole needs to embrace. There has been a concept throughout Church history that is not very prevalent today, especially in the white, suburban culture in which I am immersed. That idea is a very literal application of the principles found all throughout scripture that discourage wealth and encourage simple living.

This is an immediate turn-off for many, and some would reply by saying that a change of that kind is unnecessary in the average Christian's life. However, the emphasis is not on becoming a poorer person but on becoming a content person. This is the primary principle that poverty-focused scriptures have encouraged.

The specific Scriptures I was working with today that struck me were 1 Timothy 6:6-8 "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." Food and clothing? Can we add cable? Everyone would find it difficult to be content with merely these things; where does Paul find such strength. In fact, he tells us in another letter.

In Philippians 4:12-13 Paul explains, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." The strength that he seeks is not for some super-human ability but for contentment.

Let us try to remove some non-necessity from our lives in the next week. Contentment is not measured by how much or how little we have, but by our attitudes regarding what we have. Remove something and trust God to give you strength to be content.

Call for a title

I am happy to inform all of you that this blog is turning out just like I hoped. According to the statistics I've seen, I have about 2 dozen regular readers and roughly 200 visitors over the last month. Those who have been tracking regularly have seen a slight change in the focus of my writings. Most of this comes from my change of occupation. I have gone from a very technologically-aware RadioShack manager and college student to a Junior High Bible teacher. Therefore, I have very little clue what's going on in the cell phone world, and a lot more clues about Secondary Private education.

As a result, I feel the title "A Techno-Theologian" is no longer the most appropriate title for this blog (if it ever was). So, I would like your suggestions on a new title. I tend now to post more about politics, theology, teaching, and marriage. Any thoughts?

Kansas Republican Caucus

The occasional hoop and holler filled the auditorium as we prepared to hear the speeches of the candidates' representatives. Conversations about Ron Paul's common-sense views were murmured behind me. We packed the auditorium 30-minutes before we were supposed to begin, so they decided to hold 4 rounds of speeches. I'm really excited to see the "non-frontrunners" get a chance to have their voice heard.

The caucus was pretty entertaining for us political nerds. I'm pretty satisfied with the results. A win for Paul or Huckabee makes me happy, and they combined to receive 71% of the vote. Not too shabby!

My New Project

I have been doing work on a relatively new project for the InterWeb thingy. As you astute Internet users know, the Internet no longer suffers from a lack of information, but it is extremely difficult to sort the accurate information from the rest. Wikipedia is filled with a wealth of information; unfortunately, it's not always reliable. I love teaching others just how easy it is to change stuff. Go ahead! Go there, pick an article, click the "edit" button and do whatever you want to it. Sure, it'll be changed back in a while, but whoever reads it between now and then may not know the difference, especially if the change is minor.

Some people, including the former co-founder of Wikipedia, have realized this problem and have tried to create a solution. This solution is Citizendium, the citizens' compendium of knowledge. Some main reasons why it is different is that it requires users to use their real names, and each category of articles has a collection of editors who all have a Masters or Doctorate degree in that particular area. Each article is subject to scrutiny by these people before it is officially "approved" and recommended to the general public. You can find a list of approved articles here, and some other differences between Citizendium and Wikipedia here.

I have been one such contributor to this project and have made a start on several articles. I'm pretty happy with my work so far and look forward to continuing it. I invite you to join and make additions to these articles, or to work in an area with which you are more familiar. If nothing else, give Citizendium a try and give some support to accuracy over expediency. If you sign up, leave me a comment on my talk page.

I wrote the first draft of these articles:
Authors of the Bible
Pentecostalism
Rites of Passage
Pomona, Kansas

I've done some work here too: Jesus.

Even if you don't want to join, you can aid your search for accurate information by using the Google search box at the top of this blog. It uses Google like normal, but it leaves out Wikipedia results, and emphasizes results from Citizendium and .edu (college) websites. I've been using it pretty regularly and am very happy with it. If it doesn't give you the results you want, then there is a box on the results page that lets you switch over to a regular Google search. Enjoy!

Changes Christianity needs

I have had some recent ponderings on the course of Christianity. There are many things we do well, but there are definitely some theological stances that wee need a better grasp on. Having just finished a short series on Immigration, I plan to change genres and do a series covering several of these necessary changes in the thinking of Christians.

Today, I had a snow day and decided with my wife to join her in some of her classes today. I have already completed my B.A. in Biblical Studies, but it is amazing how much is still out there to learn. In the Sociology of Religion class, they discussed the process in the development of a religion when the adherents recognize the holiness of their object of worship. The final point in their development is an admiration and intimacy with the object of worship.

Christians and Jews went through this same process. We recognized the holiness of God when he gave his law to Moses and forbade anyone to worship anything above him or to make anything in his image. In other words, he said that there was nothing and no one like him, and to treat anything as such would be a supreme insult. Then we progressed and have realized that we have an intimacy with him because we were made in his image and he sent his Son to dwell among us.

The change I would like to see in Christianity is that we do not lose sight of the first steps of this process. In our intimacy with God, we have lost some of the distinction between Creator and creation. The first sin of mankind came when the serpent tempted Eve with the prospect of being like the Creator. When we blur the line and think that anything compares to God, we insult God infinitely. There is nothing like our Creator.

The history of the word "awesome" originates with the purpose of recognizing God with fear. In the end of Ecclesiastes, the author concludes that nothing in life is worthwhile except that we fear God and keep his commands. Only when we recognize the awesome power of God can we seek "the sole purpose of man," the absolute, terrifying fear of him.

India Sleeping

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