Trapped By "Politically Correct"

          I go on Facebook or just look something up for a class on Google and I see all sorts of advertisements.  I'm sure you've seen them. 

"Like if you believe that women should be have the right to health care birth control no matter where they work!"

"I believe in an America where EVERYONE is free to marry who they love!"

"Stop Republicans from taking away our First Amendment rights!"

          These are only a couple of examples.  But they effectively muzzle those of us who tend to disagree with these kind of statements.  Why?  Because we have been taught to fear speaking out.
 
          In these sad times, every where you go, people are encouraged to stand up for what they believe in.  To be outspoken against injustices and to feel free to be who they are.  However, one of the things that has become the greatest unofficial crime in this country is being "politically incorrect".  Basically, that phrase boils down to, People mustn't verbalize or act on opinions that contradict what the government/majority has deemed "correct".  It is a great contradiction that many people choose to ignore IS contradictory at all! 

          This creates a fear among those who would have spoken out peacefully with differing opinions on the same subjects.  They are terrified of being labeled "politically incorrect".  We've come to fear it above committing real crimes.  A stalker or a pedophile may receive some hate mail if their crime is portrayed in the news.  Yet, their stories quail in comparison to the huge media uproar and truck loads of hate mail that a person receives if they dare to go public with what is deemed a "politically incorrect" view.  The psychological pressure on everyone in the United States to agree with these central points of view has reached a dreadful level. 

          I looked up the dictionary definition of "brainwashing" online and here were my findings:

brainwashing

Verb:

Make (someone) adopt radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible pressure.

 

I know the term "brainwashing" often makes people dismiss the speaker as being over the top and a conspiracy theorist.  However, the actual definition does make a lot of sense.  We are pressured every day to adopt certain views and adapt to the opinions of the majority.  Often, people who do express different ideas are unofficially blacklisted.  This is especially true in the political, leadership, and teaching fields.  Then the pressure on the rest of us is only intensified.            Thomas Jefferson once said, "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."  You could substitute the word "sin" in general for "tyranny" if you'd like, but the point is the same.  This is exactly what is going on in the world right now.  Unfortunately, sin has a bit more than a simple foothold in my opinion.  He's gotten a few handholds too and is beginning to climb.              So you see, we are actually encouraged to NOT think for ourselves if we don't follow a certain guideline.  Individuality and good morals are being corrupted because we want a certain kind of freedom: one in which everyone agrees whether they want to or not.  This can only end in strife.  There will always be those who refuse to bend, and eventually the war will begin for real out in the open.  Who will win?  God only knows.

The Great Artist of the World

I took this picture of the lawn
in front of Old Main
last week.  It's a rainbow!

          Lately I've been drawing a lot because of a Costume Design class I'm taking.  I'm an okay artist (sort of), but my perfectionist side makes it very difficult at times when I'm drawing. 


Sunset over
Bellingham Bay

          On another, but related topic (I'll explain the connection later), I've been enjoying the scenery at my new college a lot lately.  The leaves are beautiful right now.  There are so many different types of trees in a relatively small area that the fallen piles are literal rainbows!  (See picture)  Also, here at Western, we're high on a hill overlooking Bellingham Bay.  When it's somewhat clear, the sunsets are absolutely gorgeous!  When it's cloudy or rainy, the different shades of blue, black, gray, and purple in the sky, water, mountains, and clouds are beautiful together.  When it's misty or foggy, the clouds cover the water and horizon completely.  Then, when you look down from our high position, it looks as if we're perched on the very edge of the world, with only mysterious oblivion beyond.  Beautiful huh?


There is usually a large drop and a view
of the bay and some small,
distant mountains over that
way.  Now you only see clouds.
 Doesn't it seem like the edge
of the world?  Amazing!

          Well, I mentioned drawing and art a while ago.  I promise that I will get to the connection.

          I walk around campus and see these wonderful sights.  But they are obvious to anyone with eyes.  I also see smaller scenes of incredible beauty.  A single raindrop on a pane of glass can capture my attention for minutes at a time.  It might be a design of twigs silhouetted against a street lamp.  Maybe it's the wind, dancing a dizzying ballet with some dust and old wrappers.  It might be a cluster of red berries amidst hundreds of others on a huge holly tree.  Perhaps a single stone sitting by itself in the gutter.  It may be a piece of reddish bark that's fallen off of a tree.  All of these things may seem random and insignificant.  However, for those with the right eyes, it's an incredible piece of art!  Something that beautiful couldn't be an accident.  Therefore, there must be an artist.


A single raindrop on a pane of
glass can capture my attention
for minutes at a time.

          If you don't believe in a Creator and you think the world happened by some big accident, I'm not going to argue with you about it right now.  Though I will ask you one quick question.  What is it like to go through life knowing that you were an accident?  To know that you came from a bunch of chemicals and junk that just happened to meet up?  Doesn't that make YOU just one big mistake?  Sorry, that was three questions.  Moving on.

          Geez!  I really am taking forever getting to the point!

It might be a
design of  twigs
silhouetted
against a street lamp.

          Anyway, for the sake of argument, God is the artist of all the beauty in the world.  He paints living art.  I look around me and I WISH I could paint or draw something half as wonderful as the thousands upon billions of God's paintings surrounding us every day.  Then I started thinking (I'm probably going to ramble pretty bad for a while, but bear with me), He's even more amazing than that.  We only have to create a 2-D picture on a flat surface.  He drew and colored everything from every possible angle under every possible factor.  In science classes they tell you to control the variables in an experiment, because the smallest difference changes everything.  Think about distance.  You can see a tree from 20 feet away and that's one picture.  But every molecule closer or farther away you get is yet a whole NEW picture!  Then there's the variable that everyone sees things differently and in different focuses.  And even that can change from one nano-second to the next!  Every angle is different!  There is an unlimited amount of ways you can view a single object.  Think about what it would be like if you translated all of those things into an actual number of physical paintings.  Mind blowing, huh?


He paints living art.

            Here's another point to think about though.  Of those uncountable numbers of paintings, imagine the tiny, minuscule percent of them that humans ever see!  Think of the billions of beautiful, constantly changing cloud formations that we NEVER see!  All of the amazing, twisted roots in funny shapes under the ground that no eye EVER saw!  All of the single flames flickering like rubies on the face of the sun!  Yet, they are still there.  He still made every painting, every little perfect detail...even though no one will ever see even close to 99.9999999% of them in the whole history of the world. 
 
          I feel really sad that of the things we DO see, it seems impossible for us to appreciate all of them.  No matter how hard we try, we will always think some paintings are ugly.  So not only do we only see a small portion of God's masterpieces, but the vast majority of them...nay...nearly ALL of them are disliked or go unnoticed or unappreciated.  But He still did it.  Still made every painting and every detail in every possible set of variables...though we might never see or like any of them.  He did all of this simply because...He is God...and He loves us...and He is the great artist of the world.


He is the great artist of the world.

  

Canadian Poetry and College

          I have just recently moved into a dorm at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.  Classes start tomorrow and I'm getting excited...and nervous.  Oh not scared in the way most students are at this time.  I'm not too worried about the workload or the studying (that much anyway).  I am very anxious about how my time at college will affect my character and my future chance/choices.  I want to stay true to myself, and yet be able to explore all that I can be.  I want to improve myself, but sometimes change for the sake of change becomes negative change. 

          Also, I want to make a difference.  I know that is a completely cliche thing to say, but it's true.  I don't care right now about a really wide sphere of influence and fame like many do.  Eventually I want to be an High School or college English teacher and that will include a great deal of influence.  But for now I simply want to make people's lives better for knowing me.  Not just feel-good/happy/makes me smile better.  If I make someone hate me for the rest of their life, and yet plant a seed in their mind that eventually leads them to making better decisions or turns them to God (even if they don't realize it) I'll be happy with that.  I don't plan on making enemies.  I know a lot of people think I hate everyone because I'm not the always-smiling and constantly-chipper and likes-everyone type.  My mother has scolded me for years about not being more social.  That has already changed quite a bit in my first few days as a college student (it's easier to make friends and meet people when no one knows anyone, everyone needs new friends, and no one has any prior expectations about you).  Yet I am not about to give into post-modernistic ideas that everything is okay and there are no moral absolutes.  In short I want to spread God's love and message to those around me.  It doesn't have to be through words necessarily.  Leading by example is often the best method.  And I will need God's help to keep strong and choose the right course. 

          This poem comes from a book of poetry that I picked up in Victoria, Canada of all places.  The author is Donald A. Fraser and his poetry is amazing!  I've read the whole book (Pebbles and Shells) a dozen times and my favorite poems hundreds!  The book itself is old, and was published in 1909 (I LOVE old books!!!!!).  There is one poem in particular that I think describes my hopes perfectly.

The Builder    

"gloomy heath"

An angel came and carried me away

To where a lonely wilderness held sway

For leagues around.  Its dreary face was strewed

With stunted scrub and rocky fragments rude;

No human habitation soothed my eye;

So sight save gloomy heath and leaden sky.

The angel set me in the midst, and said:

"Build."  And in great amaze I turned my head,

And gazed about.  "Build what?"  I cried, but lo!

The angel vanished ere I saw him go.

In grief I threw myself upon the ground,

And lay sometime, as one doth in a swound;

But ever was my sleep with visions filled

Of that stern angel who aye bade me "Build."

"Build, build,"

I rose.  a wild-fowl cleft the barren sky;

"Build, build," too, seemed the burden of his cry;

And echoed, "Build," a cricket in the grass.

"What shall I build, and how?"  I cried.  "Alas!

What can he build who no supplies commands?

How can he build who has no tools save hands?"

I sat me down upon a grassy mound,

And as my sullen glances stole around,

I saw a tiny ant, with fervid will,

At ceaseless work upon her patient hill;

"Can I not do the same,"

A grain of sand, a little piece of straw,

A withered leaf --of such materials raw

She built her home.  "Why then," aloud cried I,

"Can I not do the same, and, striving, try

To rear myself a hut, a dwelling, found

Of such crude things as here are strewn around?"

"O God," I cried, "help me myself to help!

O Thou, who carest for the lion's whelp,

Aid me, Thy child, with all my might, to do

this solemn task which Thou hast set me to."

In eager haste I doffed my coat, and seized

Rough blocks of stone, and these up-piled, and squeezed

Into the crevices thick plaster-mud

That edged a near-by springlet's precious flood.

A doorway and a window-space I left

"Rough blocks of stone, and these up-piled"

In the coarse walls:  and then, with hands grown deft,

I sloped the growing walls, till o'er my head

They well-nigh met;  when, last of all, I spread

A large flat stone that taxed my utmost strength;

And thus my humble cot was built at length.

A couch I made upon the earthen floor

Of the parched grass that spread the moorland o'er.

When this was done the day had gone to rest

Beyond the distant portals of the west.

With my mind and body tired, I stood before

My feeble work, and slowly gazed it o'er.

As well as I knew how my time I'd spent;

Within me rose a feeling of content;

And so, though rude the work and bleak the scene,

Peace filled my heart where once despair had been.

"my Lord and Master stood within."

Then knelt I on the sward, and thanks to God

I gave; but as I raised me from the sod,

I heard again the angel's ringing voice,

But now more soft and kind.  He cried "Rejoice,

O Man!  and see how God hath blessed thy pain."

I turned, and there before my vision plain

Now rose a temple where my hut had been;

And lo, my Lord and Master stood within.

          Please excuse the old fashioned spelling, grammar, and pacing.  I copied it exactly from the book.

          I hope to use what God has, and will, give me and do the best I can with it.  Maybe, with His blessing, it will become something beautiful and wonderful that will be an asset and not a blight to the world.

         

Jumping Off A Cliff

          "Don't judge."  We hear it all around us every day.  I had a friend for years who used it as an excuse for everything.  But I say that discriminating for unjust reasons is far from using morals to determine the right course.  Because there IS a right and wrong, people!  No matter how much our modern philosophers might try to tell us differently.  In more educated terms, there are absolute truths.  There is no way around it.  If a person jumps off a cliff, no matter how much they may sincerely believe that they had wings, they will still fall to their death without some sort of equipment.  Gravity is an absolute truth.

          So when I choose to do or not do something that offends some one else because it indicates that I believe they are wrong in some way, I'm not hating them.  I am hating the sin.  I am choosing to do something different from them because there are many morals and values that cannot be bent to fit every and any lifestyle.  Some things are wrong no matter how much you try to twist, hide, or excuse them. 

          This in no way makes me a hater.  Just because I don't agree with everyone on everything doesn't mean that I can't love them as fellow children of God.  Christians, don't get discouraged by this kind of negative feedback.  You cannot force people to change their minds.  But you CAN live a life pleasing to God that shows people that you are not a hypocrite  and that this way of thinking is not hurtful like they claim it to be.

Sherwood Pictures

                                         

          I highly recommend all of the Sherwood Pictures movies.  All four movies were made in Georgia by Sherwood Baptist Church.  So far there has been "Flywheel", "Facing the Giants", "Fireproof", and "Courageous".  They made the films hoping to spread the Christian message through television.  "Flywheel" is about a used car salesman who cheats his customers and eventually turns his life around.  I know it doesn't sound very interesting, but I promise you, it really is a fascinating and amazing movie.  It delves into the human heart and shows how God works in out lives.  "Facing the Giants" is about a high school football coach who has hit hard times.  Full of hilarious scenes as well as wonderful, inspiring message, I've watched this movie dozens of times and never gotten bored.  "Fireproof" centers around the problem of divorce.  It defines true love and how God ties into marriage.  This film has saved thousands of marriages all over the country.  Even if you're not married, it's a wonderful guideline and a great story.  "Courageous" is about what it means to be a good father.  Missing or neglectful fathers cause so much of our countries problems.  Here we see what God expects of a father and how that formula really could make this world a better place.

         

          They made the first film, "Flywheel" on a small budget.  The above clip is 34 minutes long, but it is well worth watching.  It shows the making of "Flywheel" and why they decided to make these movies in the first place.  If you can't watch it all...well, just know that it was an amazing act of God.

          This is a scene from "Facing the Giants" known as The Death Crawl.  You may have seen it.  It's been used for many a leadership and motivational presentation.  

          These are bloopers from "Fireproof".  This film was a little different because they had an outside celebrity actor playing the main character.  Kirk Cameron from the Left Behind movies played Caleb Holt.  In the bloopers you can see many of the pranks and jokes they played on him.  Even though he's new, they all act like one huge family. 

   

 

          This is a scene from the latest movie, "Courageous".  Don't worry, there are no spoilers.  But I have to say, this is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen!