Karnak I am not.

[silveradept]

...as I had one quarter of my bracket implode on me today. Utter and complete destruction. But I'm only in this for fun, so at the same time I'm screaming "Very NOOOOOOO!" I'm chuckling at my own inability to prognosticate. This is why I will be a librarian, I suspect.

But like many of my Sundays, today was fun. Animation (Jungle Guu Final and Xenosaga) as well as a strange Batman Lego-Lightwave hybrid animation. It was interesting, shall we say. But good interesting. The Government Thought about Blowing up a Bomb on the Moon interesting, not Things you don't want to hear interesting.

And beyond that, I was probably lazy today. I could have gotten work on my thesis done, but I've hit a bit of a roadblock in my head about proper phrasing and the right places to put stuff. So I appealed to someone else to give me some ideas. Or at least point to some good places.

There was a bit of heat let off in one of the religious communities by someone posting "what was necessary to become a Christian", which was basically a list of rather non-loving actions that many of the "fundamentalist" strain could be accused of committing. There were quite a few "Not all Christians are like that" responses, which are perfectly valid, but they betray a certain tacit admission that the fire-and-brimstone hurlers are also Christians. I suggested that if the tolerant ones don’t want to be tarred with the same brush, they should find a way to rein in the errants or jettison them (or themselves) away and begin using new terminology to describe their wayward brethren. Sensible-sounding, anyway, even if it would be a nightmare trying to actually bring something like that about. Another member posted shortly afterward his opinion on what things are going wrong with Christianity (basically, that adherence to Law is smothering the Spirit of God, and that many religions are now Systems of Control rather than ways to explore the divine-human relationship) He professed optimism that things would be changing soon as a response to my query as to whether it would be better in the long run for Christianity to be actively persecuted again, and said that persecution now would hurt things quite a bit. I hope he's right and that things do change soon. I'll be cheering from the sidelines (the idea of Goddess that has rather firmly planted herself in my head excludes me from that company, I suspect) if it happens, and seeing if there aren't some things I can do on the outside to help it along. Or to direct the forty lashings to the right people. Or something.

Then again, I claim no particular authority or rightness on any matter - to do so would usually be folly in my case.

Especially since I got a care package from the parents - serendipity indeed. And mostly sweet stuff, so I'll be having good fun chowing down on that. And I continue to try and find myself some employment for the summer - I’ve already sent away an application, and while I'm out tomorrow, I'll be touring some of the places in town to see if they're hiring on summer staff. Hopefully at a nice wage where I can pay rent and bills and sock some away for the tuition hit that's going to appear next fall. Of course, if I'm insanely lucky, I'll pick up some scholarships somewhere along the way, or have a package that lets me work for sufficient amounts to cover my tuition and possibly add a stipend to it (that would be best!) I never know, and with the way things are around here, that's still in flux. I won't have a clear picture of how things will work for another month or two. Admittedly, that sucks, but there's also still hope.

So, for tomorrow: Scope out potential employers, deposit my earnings, tell the Registrar to tell the government that I'm still going to be a student for two more years, and look for openings in my own writing to put more stuff in. On top of that, think about major projects and possibly do a couple of the minor ones headed my way. College is not for the weak of heart or study habits. Of course, I tend to worry too much as it is, so this is probably just a symptom of that. I suppose it's easier to inflict an imagined audience with my neuroses than a real one.

Ah, yes, and if you've managed to get this far without clawing your own (or my) eyes out, pop over to theprotoculture and take part in the caption contest. I'm sure it would do well to warm gun_metal's heart to see hordes descend on his place and force extra work each week through the shining quality and quantity of your entries. Or, if you need some cheap laughs, or feel like providing a few, head down there anyway.

Comments

[starkruzr.livejournal.com]

Christianity has been hijacked by those who are afraid, when in fact it is supposed to be about freedom from fear.

It's very sad.

[silveradept]

Indeed. Although, one would think after about seventeen hundred years as one of the major powers, they'd have settled down with themselves, but apparently not. There may be hope - hopefully this "fundamentalism" thing is naught more than a religious fad, and then we can get back toward getting everybody harmoniously living with each other.

[sharkcowsheep.livejournal.com]

If you need more help with the thesis, I'm game. It would be nice to see some English with articles and verb tenses that agree, for once.

[silveradept]

You've got a choice of six chapters - Rituals and Manuals, Perceval, Gareth, Yvain, Lancelot, and Gawain. Pick one and give me some place to send it to.

[fred-smith.livejournal.com]

I guess the Christian thing to do is to respect and love your insane fellow Christians, even if you don't like their beliefs and they don't think you're a Christian.

I was freaked out recently when a fundamentalists stock response to my criticism of a specific Christians philosophy was that the person wasn't a Christian so he didn't count. He even quoted that person as a good Christian source later in the conversation. Its way too easy to do that.

[silveradept]

Variance of definition is okay, but Zen is the only thing I know of that defines itself through paradox.

I suspect you're right, that the good Christians are supposed to be tolerant of their wayward brethren, and just spend their efforts defending themselves rather than trying to brnig about greater reform. This seems backwards to me, especially with all the injunctions about false prophets and the story of the sheep and the goats. Would be better to save their own than to go about trying to convert the rest of us.

[fred-smith.livejournal.com]

Thats assuming they're not already saved. I;d think if they spent all their time rigidly defining Christian ethics and forcing all their views on others, they'd be no better than the other Christians.

[silveradept]

Also true. I was hoping for a little bit more "gentle reproach" idea rather than the hard-line insanity that seems to be the rage these days.

I'd say a lot of them aren't saved because their behaviors indicate their non-Christian-ness, but that would be devolving into a faith versus works debate, which nobody on any side can seem to come to consensus or sorrectness over.