August Heat

"August Heat"

by William Fryer Harvey

NOTE: This is the story line for the movie I have been working on since last summer.

I have had what I believe to be the most remarkable day in my life, and while the events are still fresh in my mind, I wish to put them down on paper as clearly as possible.

Let me say at the outset that my name is James Clarence Withencroft.

I am forty years old, in perfect health, never having known a day's illness.

By profession I am an artist, not a very successful one, but I earn enough money by my black-and-white work to satisfy my necessary wants.

My only near relative, a sister, died five years ago, so that I am independent. I breakfasted this morning at nine, and after glancing through the morning paper I lighted my pipe and proceeded to let my mind wander in the hope that I might chance upon some subject for my pencil.

The room, though door and windows were open, was oppressively hot, and I had just made up my mind that the coolest and most comfortable place in the neighbourhood would be the deep end of the public swimming bath, when the idea came.

I began to draw. So intent was I on my work that I left my lunch untouched, only stopping work when the clock of St. Jude's struck four.

The final result, for a hurried sketch, was, I felt sure, the best thing I had done. It showed a criminal in the dock immediately after the judge had pronounced sentence. The man was fat -- enormously fat. The flesh hung in rolls about his chin; it creased his huge, stumpy neck. He was clean shaven (perhaps I should say a few days before he must have been clean shaven) and almost bald. He stood in the dock, his short, clumsy fingers clasping the rail, looking straight in front of him. The feeling that his expression conveyed was not so much one of horror as of utter, absolute collapse.

There seemed nothing in the man strong enough to sustain that mountain of flesh.

I rolled up the sketch, and without quite knowing why, placed it in my pocket. Then with the rare sense of happiness which the knowledge of a good thing well done gives, I left the house.

I believe that I set out with the idea of calling upon Trenton, for I remember walking along Lytton Street and turning to the right along Gilchrist Road at the bottom of the hill where the men were at work on the new tram lines.

From there onwards I have only the vaguest recollection of where I went. The one thing of which I was fully conscious was the awful heat, that came up from the dusty asphalt pavement as an almost palpable wave. I longed for the thunder promised by the great banks of copper-coloured cloud that hung low over the western sky.

I must have walked five or six miles, when a small boy roused me from my reverie by asking the time.

It was twenty minutes to seven.

When he left me I began to take stock of my bearings. I found myself standing before a gate that led into a yard bordered by a strip of thirsty earth, where there were flowers, purple stock and scarlet geranium. Above the entrance was a board with the inscription --

CHS. ATKINSON. MONUMENTAL MASON.
WORKER IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN MARBLES

From the yard itself came a cheery whistle, the noise of hammer blows, and the cold sound of steel meeting stone.

A sudden impulse made me enter.

A man was sitting with his back towards me, busy at work on a slab of curiously veined marble. He turned round as he heard my steps and I stopped short.

It was the man I had been drawing, whose portrait lay in my pocket.

He sat there, huge and elephantine, the sweat pouring from his scalp, which he wiped with a red silk handkerchief. But though the face was the same, the expression was absolutely different.

He greeted me smiling, as if we were old friends, and shook my hand.

I apologised for my intrusion.

"Everything is hot and glary outside," I said. "This seems an oasis in the wilderness."

"I don't know about the oasis," he replied, "but it certainly is hot, as hot as hell. Take a seat, sir!"

He pointed to the end of the gravestone on which he was at work, and I sat down.

"That's a beautiful piece of stone you've got hold of," I said.

He shook his head. "In a way it is," he answered; "the surface here is as fine as anything you could wish, but there's a big flaw at the back, though I don't expect you'd ever notice it. I could never make really a good job of a bit of marble like that. It would be all right in the summer like this; it wouldn't mind the blasted heat. But wait till the winter comes. There's nothing quite like frost to find out the weak points in stone."

"Then what's it for?" I asked.

The man burst out laughing.

"You'd hardly believe me if I was to tell you it's for an exhibition, but it's the truth. Artists have exhibitions: so do grocers and butchers; we have them too. All the latest little things in headstones, you know."

He went on to talk of marbles, which sort best withstood wind and rain, and which were easiest to work; then of his garden and a new sort of carnation he had bought. At the end of every other minute he would drop his tools, wipe his shining head, and curse the heat.

I said little, for I felt uneasy. There was something unnatural, uncanny, in meeting this man.

I tried at first to persuade myself that I had seen him before, that his face, unknown to me, had found a place in some out-of-the-way corner of my memory, but I knew that I was practising little more than a plausible piece of self-deception.

Mr. Atkinson finished his work, spat on the ground, and got up with a sigh of relief.

"There! what do you think of that?" he said, with an air of evident pride. The inscription which I read for the first time was this --

SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF
JAMES CLARENCE WITHENCROFT.

BORN JAN. 18TH, 1860.

HE PASSED AWAY VERY SUDDENLY
ON AUGUST 20TH, 190-

"In the midst of life we are in death."

For some time I sat in silence. Then a cold shudder ran down my spine. I asked him where he had seen the name.

"Oh, I didn't see it anywhere," replied Mr. Atkinson. "I wanted some name, and I put down the first that came into my head. Why do you want to know?"

"It's a strange coincidence, but it happens to be mine." He gave a long, low whistle.

"And the dates?"

"I can only answer for one of them, and that's correct."

"It's a rum go!" he said.

But he knew less than I did. I told him of my morning's work. I took the sketch from my pocket and showed it to him. As he looked, the expression of his face altered until it became more and more like that of the man I had drawn.

"And it was only the day before yesterday," he said, "that I told Maria there were no such things as ghosts!"

Neither of us had seen a ghost, but I knew what he meant.

"You probably heard my name," I said.

"And you must have seen me somewhere and have forgotten it! Were you at Clacton-on-Sea last July?"

I had never been to Clacton in my life. We were silent for some time. We were both looking at the same thing, the two dates on the gravestone, and one was right.

"Come inside and have some supper," said Mr. Atkinson.

His wife was a cheerful little woman, with the flaky red cheeks of the country-bred. Her husband introduced me as a friend of his who was an artist. The result was unfortunate, for after the sardines and watercress had been removed, she brought out a Doré Bible, and I had to sit and express my admiration for nearly half an hour.

I went outside, and found Atkinson sitting on the gravestone smoking.

We resumed the conversation at the point we had left off. "You must excuse my asking," I said, "but do you know of anything you've done for which you could be put on trial?"

He shook his head. "I'm not a bankrupt, the business is prosperous enough. Three years ago I gave turkeys to some of the guardians at Christmas, but that's all I can think of. And they were small ones, too," he added as an afterthought.

He got up, fetched a can from the porch, and began to water the flowers. "Twice a day regular in the hot weather," he said, "and then the heat sometimes gets the better of the delicate ones. And ferns, good Lord! they could never stand it. Where do you live?"

I told him my address. It would take an hour's quick walk to get back home.

"It's like this," he said. "We'll look at the matter straight. If you go back home to-night, you take your chance of accidents. A cart may run over you, and there's always banana skins and orange peel, to say nothing of fallen ladders."

He spoke of the improbable with an intense seriousness that would have been laughable six hours before. But I did not laugh.

"The best thing we can do," he continued, "is for you to stay here till twelve o'clock. We'll go upstairs and smoke, it may be cooler inside."

To my surprise I agreed.

* * *

We are sitting now in a long, low room beneath the eaves. Atkinson has sent his wife to bed. He himself is busy sharpening some tools at a little oilstone, smoking one of my cigars the while.

The air seems charged with thunder. I am writing this at a shaky table before the open window.

The leg is cracked, and Atkinson, who seems a handy man with his tools, is going to mend it as soon as he has finished putting an edge on his chisel.

It is after eleven now. I shall be gone in less than an hour.

But the heat is stifling.

It is enough to send a man mad.

-Carpenter,

To God Be The Glory

1:00 PM on the 4th of May in The Year of Our Lord 2009

Happy Earth Day. (not really)

Seeing as it is Earth day today, I thought I'd share with you a part of an essay I wrote a few weeks back on "What does the Bible have to say about Environmentalism?"

It reads....

Does the Bible have anything to say about environmentalism? This is a good question and I think many people struggle with it. First, there is a difference between the biblical view of the environment and the political movement known as "environmentalism." The Bible is clear that the earth and everything in it was given by God to man to rule over and subdue. "And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth'" (Genesis 1:28). God also commanded us to be good stewards of the earth. (I haven’t seen any hugging-of-trees mentioned in the Bible. Am I missing something? ☺). Stewardship, from a biblical perspective means caretaking not abusing, and intelligently managing the resources. Also, more than this, we are called to appreciate the functionality and beauty of the world, for indeed God poured into this world his grace, power, and creativity. However, according to the secular humanist, environmentalism (also which can be defined as a social movement) seeks to influence the political process by lobbying, activism, and education in order to protect natural resources and ecosystems. They recognize that humanity is a participant in ecosystems, and thus the environmental movement is centered on ecology, health, and human rights. (This is where the tree hugging comes in) It does not recognize this as God’s world or that mankind is not the enemy of the world, which many environmentalists consider. Remember, too, Doug, that it takes a certain amount of arrogance for a few people to think they, and they alone, can change a planet that God created. We can change our little bit of the environment with air conditioning, etc. But, to change an entire planet’s heating/ cooling, spinning in the atmosphere is something God can do, not man.

The environmental movement is consumed with trying to preserve the planet forever, and we know this is not God's plan. He tells us in 2 Peter 3:10 that at the end of the age, the earth and all He has created will be destroyed: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up." There are also some in the secular humanist ecology movement who do not consider man (humans) any different that any other living creature. They even want to extend “human rights” to other animals. They do not recognize that God made man “in His image” or gave man a conscious, thought, a spirit, and free will. We are the only creature that has this.



Carpenter,
To God Be the Glory!



9:45 PM on the 22nd of April in The Year of Our Lord 2009

Back at the guild at headquarters...

Back at the guild headquarters all is not well. Politics is ever present
in most walks of life.  Finally the guild treasurer arrives and Axelrod has
to deal with her, while his guild has fun and works towards the relief
efforts at large.

Kayna brushed past a lumbering brute of a dragon and that new Ranger,
Terius.  Neither moved to let her pass - how very uncouth. They were likely
going out to kill some of the area's wildlife and call it an adventure.
This guild needed to learn some manners and protocol when dealing with a
fiendish woman for her caliber. Xarfax had landed on her roof in Kirasanct
and sat there breathing heavily, like a cat drooling over a mouse.  It was
quite unsettling.  Eventually, when she addressed the great beast, the
message was delivered that Axelrod would like to see her about guild
finances.              

Message Delivered, Xarfax had left as silently as he had come.  Now she
was here in the Fellowship's hall.  Still, seeing Axelrod was always nice.
He was easy on the eyes and often just did as he was told like a good,
obedient male.  If only he could get his mind off of Darla she might be
able to replace her in the guild, further cementing her usefulness.

"Kayna, you’re here! Good to see you.  How goes?" Axelrod was always the
ladies' man. His behavior, harmless as it usually was, included subtle
flirting to obvious attentions. This behavior did not lend itself to
keeping a monogamous relationship in good health and is likely why he and
Darla hadn’t worked out.  Pity, he liked them fiery.  This one, however,
was cool and collected, not his type but very pretty. She seemed to have a
mind to use him and his guild.  He could play that game too. It did not
please him to play politics usually, but such games are all part and parcel
to his position as guild master.

"Ax, you know I don’t mix business with pleasure.  I’m fine. Though, if
you’d like to come back to Kirasanct and discuss this over a fine vintage
of blackberry mead, it would be another story," she replied coolly with a
somewhat sinister smile. Kayna liked to have control. She was part of this
guild only to make money, but she wasn’t fool enough to let others know
that.  This brute seemed to be interested in her and her ways with money.
She could use that to her advantage.

"I’m afraid not my dear. There's far too many things going on at present.
Though you know, if a rain check were possible…"

"Perhaps… Now, what were you needing of me?"
  
"I need to know our current liquid assets.  I need to know how much money
we can afford to donate to the IRF.  I also want your advice on what would
look best, coin donations, labor, or volunteer militia."

"Professionally, I'd say that given the guild’s current assets, four
hundred fifty gold coins, with some extraneous silver and copper in the
treasury, and I’d estimate close to that in personal assets, you can donate
several hundred gold to the cause.  I would advise the amount of two
hundred fifty gold coins. It is a very large sum. It will be sure to turn
heads. However, I think man power would be a greater asset to them.  Thus
donate half of your crafters and one quarter of your combatants to the
cause.  A small to medium percentage of them should be veterans."

"So manpower would be of more use?"

"Most likely."

"Drop the coin total to two hundred gold coins and I’ll donate my entire
guild’s time to this until the contest ends then.  I like to win." Axelrod
asserted his leadership this time, he knew this would throw her off guard.
To be sure he added one of his heart melting smiles.

"All of the guild’s manpower? You won’t be making any profit during that
time," stammered Kayna. "You surely don’t need to devote the entire guild
to this task.  Not me at the least."

"Of course not, I plan on having you take the donation to Tazoon and help
recruit new members in New Trismus. Surely you can handle that.  It is for
the good of the Empire as well as the guild after all.  You and I are two
peas in a pod; we do whatever it takes for our guild to triumph.  Oh, I
forget myself. This isn’t a tyranny.  Anyone have a problem with my decree?
…Didn’t think so." Axelrod was a confident man.  His decrees weren't the
end all, nor did he want it to be.  He simply liked the illusion that he
was in charge and unquestioned.  He liked the image he portrayed, therefore
he wore the mask of an egotistical tyrant almost entirely in jest.

"It would be my pleasure to aid you in anyway possible."

"I’m certain of that Kayna. I know I can count on you." He bent, kissed
her on the brow and went to check on Flintstahl in the kitchen.

Kayna saw herself out.  She silently fumed at how any man, especially a
human, could resist her obvious charms and wiles.  Perhaps her wiles worked
fine, maybe he was just a quality man himself, possessing untold willpower.
One wouldn’t know it to look at the oaf. It was of no consequence at the
moment, for she had a job to do.  After a quick gate to Kirasanct to
collect the requisite funds and put her feet up, Kayna left for the
scorching desert of Tazoon.

On the trip she pondered. 'How could he be donating all of the guild’s
time and effort?'  Yes, the Empire is the main reason all the races work
together and trade flows so nicely, but this was down right inconvenient
and not very conducive to her plans.  She marched up to the new building in
the west side of the city and fixed her demeanor immediately.  Kayna signed
up the entire guild for their assigned duties.  It surprised her how well
she knew these people despite not caring about them. In a sense they were
the closest thing she had to family.  She shook this frivolous thought from
her head. Kayna donated the large sum of gold as decided upon by her guild
master and went to find the nearest travel gate to New Trismus.

Changing into standard Kirsanct wear usually turned a few heads and Kayna
didn’t mind.  If people would join the guild and pay more guild dues in
hopes of chasing her, finding that she has a twin sister, or friends, more
power to them.  She only cared about filling the guild coffers and in turn
her own.  Right?  Over time had she perhaps realized she served something
greater. May Moraven knife her in the back! That lummox of a guild master
perhaps grew on her a bit too.  Of course, she couldn’t let anyone learn of
this.  She passed out guild pamphlets hoping to gain a few potential
hopefuls to join the Fellowship.  She happened upon a trio of what appeared
to be friends fresh from the Spirit Isles.  The satyr, elf and dryad all
looked haggard from their travels.  Although it almost hurt, Kayna bought
them each a chocolate gruok tail from Geoff. She chatted with them about
the Imperial relief efforts and asked them if they had considered a guild
yet.  The satyr was immediately distrustful.  Seeing that perhaps a fiend
was not the best candidate to win people’s hearts, she tried appealing to
their logic.

"Perhaps my guild is not for you three, but be sure to keep guilds in
mind.  I made some of the greatest friends I ever may find in mine."

"Really?  A fiend has friends?" All three made mention of something akin
to this but she wasn’t sure which stung more.

"This one does, even if sometimes she doesn’t realize it.  Look, maybe
guilds aren’t for you three malcontents.  However, the Empire deigns to
help people like you and if I were you, I’d choose to be a part of
something bigger than yourselves.  The Empire has all of its citizens
trying to do what they can to help displaced Gifted and normal folks alike.
Perhaps it is time you set a path early unlike so much other rabble around
here, hmmm?" With those stinging remarks she left.  Recruitment wasn’t a
task she was suited to unless it was a dull witted male chasing her tail.
She had tried and she’d return to Axelrod empty handed.  No, not empty
handed, not entirely.  She had a guild and knowledge deep down that she
would never be alone if she didn’t want to be.

The Entertainment Issue

Well I've done it. I have finished all of SG1. Last night I watched Season 10, episode 20/200 "Unending". It wasn't a massive plot jumping episode but it was really fun and interesting. Now I look forward to finishing re-watching Atlantis, as well as the Stargate movies.

Stargate Universe is set for a fall premier, and the first trailer is out. I recommend you go and check that out.

Also, the Public Enemies trailer is out on Apple trailers now! That looks like an amazing movie. Did I ever tell you how I saw them filming the movie, and personally met Michael Mann, the director? Yep!

I built a really cool lego Puddle Jumper -- picture will be up on facebook soon.

Also, I am looking forward to being finished with my Worldviews class by the week of Easter! :)





To God Be the Glory,
-Carpenter





9:14 AM on the 31st of March in The Year of Our Lord 2009

Winner of 40,000 Chevrons!

Yay me!! I just won a online Forum game that took the last 7 months to complete! I was named joint-winner along with Jnadreth, and we all got greened many times over because of it. :D :D

Once again, Yay me!!

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?p=9857677#post9857677




-Carpenter,
To God Be The Glory!





12:23 AM on the 7th of March in The Year of Our Lord 2009

My final's essay

“Everything Old is New Again.”
By: Carpenter

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” -Ecclesiastes 1: 9-10


King Solomon knew that "everything old is new again." There are no new thoughts; no new worldviews (Christianity grew from Genesis when God promised a Messiah). So, if these worldviews have been around forever, what’s a world view and where can I get one? A brief explanation would see a worldview as a comprehensive sense of personal relationship to the world surrounding us. It allows a person to understand how the world functions and how it is structured. "World" here means the totality, everything that exists around us, including the physical universe, the earth, life, mind, society and culture. Every person is an important part of that world. Therefore, a world view should include the basic question: "Who are we?" It is the bias through which we see and judge everything around us. Like a pair of colour-tinted sunglasses can let you see the whole world in a different colour, a world view let’s you view the whole world in a different way. Because of one's worldview, one sees life's elements differently. For example, if one views human life as nothing but "matter" then there is nothing wrong with destroying that bunch on non-descript cells via abortion. If one views the jihad of Islam as fighting against anything contrary to the Muslim thinking, then it can justify any violence or war against infidels. To understand the many conflicting cultures, societies and worldviews on this great planet of ours, we must examine each of the major worldviews and their thinking through the different tenets of theology, ethics, philosophy, and biology.


CHRISTIAN worldviews originated from the beginning of time when God created the world and man therein. It became more specific after the death and resurrection of Christ 2,000 years ago. And the Christian worldview has been evident all through the history of Western civilization. It has been advanced by people throughout history; from Thomas Aquinas to Galileo; from the Pilgrims to Sir Isaac Newton; to most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and all the way up to former President George W. Bush. The Christian World view affirms theism, the belief in the existence of a supernatural God.


The foundational beliefs, or theology, can all be found in the bible. When one accept Scripture as the Word of God, the teachings and events described in the Bible become the most important basis for understanding all reality.
“For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)


Christians believe that Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) But more than this, Christians believe that God exists (Heb. 11:6), God created everything that exists (Gen.1:1), He is the standard by which we measure everything else, everything is held together by Him (Col. 1:17), the Bible is God's divinely inspired Word, revealed to mankind (2 Tim. 3:16). Christians believe that mankind chose to rebel against God in the Garden of Eden and because of that act of rebellion, sin and death entered the world (Rom. 5:12-14), we believe that the fullness of God came to earth and lived in the human body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth 2,000 years ago (Col. 1:19), and we believe that believing in (John 3:15-19, 5:24), and obeying (Luke 8:21, John 3:20, John 14:21, 23-24), Jesus Christ is the only way to have eternal life or to be reunited with God (Acts 4:10-12). Because God created all of mankind, it is the most inclusive worldview – No one is excluded because all people are equal before God and all have the ability to come into the family of God through faith in Jesus. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” yet all can be redeemed. A person’s personal relationship and belief through salvation in Jesus Christ and belief in the existence of a creator affects their view of every thing in the world from biology to psychology.


Philosophy takes a natural flow from theology “Faith correctly viewed is that illumination by which true rationality begins” –W. J. Neidhardt The Christian philosophy may be the most rational of all worldviews and may require less “faith” than any other worldview. For the Christian, philosophy and science need not be the enemy. Those who view the world from a Christian perspective founded modern science. For the Christian, the mind existed before matter and brought matter into existence. Christianity views the mind dualistically—as both physical (the brain) and spiritual (the soul). Everything in a Christian philosophy worldview always points to the existence of God and his inner action with us whether it’s through Science or through the mind and that all Christian philosophy is consistent with the Bible. Christian philosophy always points to a meaningful, purposeful, God given life.


The task of Christian ethics is to determine what conforms to God’s character and what does not. We as Christians know that God’s ethical order is the only true source of morality. C.S. Lewis said, “The human mind has no more power of inventing a new value than of imagining a new primary colour, or, indeed of creating a new sun and a new sky for it to move in.” Christian ethics in one sense is simply an expansion of a moral order that is generally revealed to everyone. If we wish to please God and prevent sin from separating us from Him, we must act in accordance with His moral order. Christians are assured of this truth about God’s nature and judgment as a result of special revelation. Christians are called to follow the Ten Commandments as well as other commands in the Bible given to us. Commands such as “love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27) implies that Christians have responsibilities. The highest good that there is, is the glory of God. And to please God, we must follow his ethical code.


The study of biology was generally thought of in terms of God's creation. But, since the onslaught on Darwinist thinking arrived on the scene in the late 1800s, Christians have been conflicted between their religious belief with the origins of man and the Darwinist view. The Christian knows how life was started and is stated in its most simplicity in Genesis. “In the beginning God. . . ” (Gen. 1:1) – meaning that in the beginning, before anything else God was. The Christians believe that everything started with God, and that He created the land the sea, the waters, the birds the animals, and finally man. "God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a human being." (Genesis 2:7) It is important to know that man is the only living thing with a spirit and a conscience. Of God’s creation, Christians can distinguish between the two aspects of evolutionary theory; microevolution, and macroevolution. Microevolution being the small changes that occur within any species. “No science is ever frightening to Christians. Religious people don’t need science to come out any particular way on IQ, or AIDS or sex differences, anymore than they need science to come out any particular way on evolution. If evolution is true, then God created evolution.” – Ann Coulter. The Christian view of biology answers the questions of purpose, intentionality, and why. While it seems that science and Christian faith are always at war, in the end one will ultimately win.... and it will be God.


ISLAM presents a different worldview even though some of the history is similar to Christianity. Christians and Muslims believe that God exists, that he revealed His will through prophets and that all humans are accountable to Him. But the similarities largely cease here. One major difference is that the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and the founder of Islam, Muhammad, had many sins and flaws. Muhammad was born around 570 A.D. He believes that the angel Gabriel came to him in 610 A.D. He thinks he was the chosen bearer of the divine message and began proclaiming the oneness of God. His new religion, Islam, means “Submission to God”. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last prophet of God. Islam follows the guidelines written in the Qur’an and the Hadith. The Hadith record the teachings, rulings and actions of Muhammad as recounted by his early associates. The Qur’an, according the Muslims is the Holy book of God, or Allah . There are six pillars of Islam that they are to follow in order to escape judgment. Some add a 6th pillar, that of Jihad, which has two facets. The first one is the battle against temptation and sin for the sake of self-control, and the second is the battle against any and all who oppose Islam. Approximately a 5th of the world’s population is now Muslim, roughly a billion people.


The are central beliefs in the theology of Islam are Unitarian Theism – The belief in one God in one person Capping off the central beliefs of Islam is the Day of Judgment, a day when every human being will face a weighing of deeds, both good and evil. Only if the weight of one’s good deeds surpasses that of one’s bad deeds can each person hope to enter into paradise rather than descending into Hell. Monotheism is the belief in one God and the belief that Muslims embrace. Though God has ninety-nine names in the Qur’an, every Muslim affirms monotheism. It is encased in their fundamental creed. “There is no God but God (Allah) and Muhammad is his prophet.” Muslims believe that theirs is the original faith, the faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, John the Baptist, and Jesus. They’ve distorted that Jesus is the Son of God, because they can’t believe that God would have let his son die in such a horrible way. He is simply a prophet. Muslims deny the Trinity, viewing it as one of the greatest of sins. They also believe that Christians have distorted and denied that original faith, especially in revelation to the doctrine of the Trinity. The Qur’an denounces the Trinity in no uncertain terms. Muslims also deny that Jesus was crucified Only Muslims are accepted by God. “If anyone desires other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the hearafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost.”


In Islam's philosophy,: Muhammad taught that three things can continue to help a person even after death: charity, to which he is given; knowledge, to which he has taught; and prayer, on their behalf by a righteous person. Islam permits fighting, in self-defense, or in defense of its religion. Muhammad impressed his followers with a profound belief in the values of blood shed as opening the gates of Paradise.


The Muslims worldview affirms Ethical absolutes. Muslims derive their ethical behaviors from the Qur’an and the Hadith. These contains commands and laws that Muslims must obey and “the exemplary human chrematistics” which Muslims must imitate in all respects. Muslims see the Prophet Muhammad as an exemplary human being whom all people should seek to imitate. The foundation of Islamic ethics are the five pillars of practice. Muslims are motivated to practice ethical behavior because of their anticipation of the final judgment.
Islam sets down clear guidelines as to when war is ethically right, and clear guidelines as to how such a war should be conducted. In brief, war is permitted: in self-defense; when other nations have attacked an Islamic state; or if another state is oppressing its own Muslims. Also, the 6th Pillar of Islam which states that the Muslims should battle any and all who oppose Islam also adds to the guideline for war, and can be considered a “defensive move” becausee the Muslims are defending Islam. In the year 2004, Theodore Van gogh, a European filmmaker, made a documentary on the shameful abuse of Muslim women by Muslim men in Europe. He was murdered in broad daylight by a Moroccan Muslim man bent on Jihad. Van gogh had taken his freedom of expression for granted but, the Muslims, felt this was an assault on Islam and so felt justified to kill him.


In biology, Muslims believe that God created the universe and that God is above and beyond his creation. “The basic Islamic concept is that the entire universe is created by God… He is the Lord of the Universe which he alone sustains.” – Khurshid Ahmad God has always existed and he set everything in order. According to the Qur’an, God created the universe in either six days or eight days. Islam denies the significance of the fall of Adam and they reject the view that God “cursed” the ground after the fall. Throughout history Muslims have not made any significant advances in the area of modern science. Most scientific advances have come from countries, which traditionally hold a biblical Christian view. The majority of Muslims reject evolutionary theories on both religious and scientific grounds. Those who have adopted the evolutionary theory have done so by the influence of those in the west.


SECULAR HUMANISM honors the tradition of atheism. They also reject supernaturalism, and seek man’s fulfillment in the here and now of this world. Secular humanism, according to Dr. James Dobson has now become the prominent way of thinking in most of the power centers of society. It has invaded every aspect of not only the institutions in the US but has spread to most western countries as well. For over a century, Secular Humanists have been replacing Christian moral values with their own atheistic ideas – focusing on human development in social progress. Sadly, they have “methodically” run over Christianity in the past couple of generations, in every aspect of life. :


The theology of the Humanist is unshakeable in its dogmatic belief that the supernatural – including God, Satan, angels, demons and souls – does not exist. ‘Humanism is the belief that humanity is the highest of all beings and truth and knowledge rest in science and human reason. “Humanisms…. considers all forms of the supernatural as myth” –Lamont and “Humanism in its most accurate philosophical sense, implies a worldview in which nature is everything, in which there is no supernatural.” The bottom line on Humanism is that "faith" is placed on humans and their abilities instead of God and his. Remember that when he was still in the heavens, Satan declared he could live without God. And, for that he was thrown out of heaven by God. Luke 10:18, "Jesus said, 'I beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven." A person's fate will be the same with the Secular Humanist belief system.


Humanist Manifesto lays out the Secular humanists views – the central themes is the elaboration of a philosophy and value system which does not include the belief in God. – Ultimately it is of little importance whether the denouncing God or the deification of man is a humanist's theological. The foundation of their theology still remains anti-God. Unfortunately for the Humanist, this theology often strips him of all sense of purpose in life. One of the leading past proponents of the humanist worldview was John Dewey. Dewey was an educator and spent much of his time indoctrinating children through the public school system. He did this by discrediting biblical Christianity and replacing it with secular humanist ideas. For Dewey, “Science and the scientific method have exiled God and the supernatural to the dust-bins of history.” Many children of the 1950s until present times have been forced to endure this brainwashing.. Secular Humanism has spent so much value and work denying God that is has become a religion of it’s own.


Philosophy: of the Secular Humanists is based on their philosophy on science, specifically naturalism. Naturalism is the belief that reality is composed solely of matter and that all phenomena can be explained by natural causes. Science is a way thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. Secular humanist have no need for a God in order to explain the Cosmos. They believe that the physical universe came into being by accident and that’s all that exists. They believe that matter spontaneously generated life, and ultimately the human mind through evolution. They believe that the physical universe is all that exists and Science is our only source of knowledge. Carl Sagan even says that “Science has it’s self, become a kind of religion.” According to Secular humanists, there’s no distinction between the physical body and human conscience ness. Therefore there is a denial of life after death.


Some would argue that ethics in Secular Humanism should be “interpreted as a moral point of view”. Paul Kurtz argues that Secular Humanists have no specific foundation for ethical principles. However, they believe in a limited number of basic values and principles. (So as not to go against the desires of anyone . . . In short, it’s all about them). There is a lack of consensus about the foundation of ethics which is problematic for the whole concept of Humanist ethics.
Lamont says that as long as we pursue “activities that are healthy, socially useful, and in accordance with reason, pleasure will generally accompany us; and happiness, the supreme good, will be the eventful result.”


Humanists desire is to wed ethics to biology – this view allows Darwin’s concept of the struggle for existence to become the absolute on which all moral decisions are based. “The only religious belief driving opinions of evolution is atheism. God can do anything, including evolution, but the value of Darwinism for atheist is that it is the only way that they can explain why we are here (It’s an accident). If evolution doesn’t work out for them, they’ll have to expand on theories about extraterrestrials or comets, bringing life to earth.” – Ann Coulter; Godless: The Church of Liberalism.


Their foundation is based solely on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and is crucial to the humanists world view. They believe that man is a part of nature and man emerged by continuously evolving. According to humanists, then, we have not finished evolving and must be in a state of lower life form. Secular humanists believe that evolution is a fact, not a theory, although they can’t base this on the scientific method because it’s still a theory. They believe whole-heartedly in Darwin’s conclusions in microevolution and macroevolution. Secular humanists embrace the mechanism proposed by Darwin of natural selection. Which states that, through competition, only those life forms best suited to survive can live and reproduce. This is also known as "survival of the fittest". In conjunction with natural selection is the idea of eugenics. Eugenics began in the mid 1800s by sir Francis Galton – cousin of Charles Darwin – who theorized that if talented people only married other talented people. They would produce measurably better offspring. As his ideas were imported into the United States, it took on a more sinister theory. Eugenics was determined to wipe away all human beings deemed “unfit”. This began a national policy of force sterilization, segregation laws, and restricted ‘marriage between races’ law. “Elitist and utopians fused their race fears and class biased with their desire to make a better world.” -- The horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics. Their intent was to populate the earth with their own superior kind and less of everyone else. They alone were fit to in inherit the earth. Hitler took this concept of eugenics and applied it to his Nazi regime. Secular humanists rely on evolution much more than a theory on the Origins of Life. They believe evolution to be the foundation of every individual’s worldview.


MARXIST-LENINISTS take the rejection of God even further and adamantly declare – "God, whether known as a Supreme Being, Creator, or Divine Ruler, does not, cannot, and must not exist." The Communist Manifesto This rejection of God and all religions is the basis for all the tenets of this worldview.


In denying God's existence, Karl Marx said, “Man is the highest being for man.” Marx explains that this view signals the demise of all religion: “The criticism of religion ends with the teaching that man is the highest being for man.” For Marx, then, humanity is God. We created God in our own image. We created religion in order to worship ourselves. Because Marx believed that we are God, he also believed we must seize control of reality and shape it to our specifications. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways,” says Marx. “The point however is to change it.”


The main philosophy of Marxist/Leninist (Marxism) is that of Dialectical Materialism – Everything has a thesis and an anti-thesis and both will ultimately clash, and the resulting struggle is a synthesis. Their philosophy is that all matter is real and not from God, so they deny God’s existence in every facet of their philosophy. Knowledge, according to the Marxists, can only be applied to the material world. Marxists state that we can never have belief in the supernatural because this belief cannot be tested scientifically so we can only determine our true beliefs via our speculations of the material world because only these can undergoe a systematic investigation. Everything is changing to the Marxists Leninist, because the thesis's are constantly changing. What we suspected 20 years ago has been proven wrong today. And what we know now will be proven wrong in the future.


Marxists ethics is routed in Dialectical materialism and the class struggle. Their moral standard is their own. Their ethical standard is for the "advancement" of the society as a whole, not for the benefit of an individual. For Marxists, morality is conduct that is in harmony with history as it flows in the direction of a classless society and beyond. It is this Marxist morality that gave us Joseph Stalin, who killed more than 20 million of his own countrymen. It’s this Marxist morality through which the Chinese government has forced abortions on millions of women. “In our country, the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.” -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn


Marx and his followers embrace a theory of biology that makes God unnecessary for the origin of life. Marx believed that Darwin’s evolutionary theory could be extended naturally to answer questions about human society. “Darwin’s origin of the species is very important and provided me with the basis in natural science for the class struggle in history.” Karl Marx – Marxists believe that the most important aspect of the evolutionary theory is spontaneous generation; the belief that life arose from non-life. This allows Marxists to forsake God completely. However, Marxists also affirm Punctuated Equilibrium; the belief in Punctuated evolution which allows for rapid change and chance in the evolutionary process.

"You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 2-:3
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” --1st John 4:1


COSMIC HUMANIST take these biblical absolutes and completely disregard them. Most commonly referred to as the New Age movement. Becausee it disdains dogma, this worldview is even more vaguely defined than the others (except perhaps Postmodernism). Some might say that this worldview “has no religious doctrine or teachings of its own.” Jonathan Adolph sums up this worldview “In its broadest sense, New Age thinking can be characterized as a form of utopianism, the desire to create a better society, a 'New Age’ in which humanity lives in harmony with itself, nature and the cosmos.” This is a worldview that has spread throughout the globe. It is clear that Cosmic Humanism; a transplant from the East is becoming a presence throughout the Western hemisphere.


Cosmic Humanists believe that the Bible is no more the word of God than is the Qur’an or the teachings of Confucius. The Cosmic Humanist see Christ’s life as important only in the sense that it showed humanity to be capable of achieving perfection, even godhood. “The Significance of incarnation and resurrection is not that Jesus was a human like us but rather that we are gods like him – or at least have the potential to be.” Cosmic Humanist believes that we and God are ontologically one. That is why anyone can hope to achieve such a divine consciousness – because everyone is a part of God. Cosmic Humanists have this “all is one” mentality and they believe that humanity can become attuned to all the powers of its godhood by achieving unity of consciousness. The concept of humanity’s unity tends to support the theological concept of reincarnation. Almost every “orthodox” adherent of the New Age movement believes that each individual’s soul was present in other material forms earlier in history and that it will manifest itself in still other forms after it’s present body dies. The body may be dead, but the soul will continue its quest for perfection. Reincarnation is not the only logical consequence of a theology based on the unity of God and man and the concept that all is one. If we cannot delineate between God and ourselves, how can we be certain that we can delineate between other living or dead things and God? If all is one, then is everything that exists God? And so it is, leaves and trees are God, water, stars, and the whole earth is God…. everything is God. This belief is called Pantheism – the belief that God is everything. Ultimately, every person will achieve a godhood, and total unity will be restored. New Age theology, like fairy tales, guarantees a happy ending for everyone!


The philosophy of many Cosmic Humanists embraces Zen Buddhism, which believes that enlightenment can be attained through meditation and self-contemplation., or self-actualization. “From a very early age I was aware of an extra dimension or presence to the world around me which as I grew older came to identify as a sacred or transcendental dimension.” –David Spangler If the spiritual aspects of life lead to a higher consciousness and inner truth, we should view all reality (Pantheism) from a supernatural perspective. And it is this perspective that leads Cosmic Humanists such as David Spangler to a philosophy of non-naturalism – nothing is natural, everything is supernatural. The Cosmic Humanists believes the whole universe is a living organism., according to the Gaia hypothesis. In Cosmic Humanism, ultimate reality is spiritual rather than material. “This worldview encourages us to treat all things not only as ourselves, as the holistic view would see it, but as honored and precious manifestations of God.” -David Spangler –Emergence Cosmic Humanists emphasize the importance of getting in touch with their inner, higher selves. When they get in touch with the God-force within, they can intuitively know truth without limits. However this is not truth as is commonly understood. New Age truth is based solely on emotion. Each person creates his own truth according to the principle ‘if it feels like truth to you, it is’. Joseph Campbell asks, in one of the New Age movements most influential books, “What’s the meaning of the universe? What’s the meaning of a flea? It’s just there. That’s it. And your own meaning is that you’re there. We’re so engaged in doing thing to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about.”


The Cosmic Humanist ethical standards of morality come straight from its belief in pantheism and philosophical monism. If each person is God, then final authority resides in each person and they must seek the freedom to act in harmony with their inner truth. Individual self-rule places the authority for judging values squarely within the soul of each human being. They must not acknowledge outside boundaries – especially the boundaries of the Ten Commandments, which are the external authority. As such, they hinder our evolutionary growth. The Cosmic Humanist, due to moral relativism, cannot distinguish between good and evil. The lines are all blurred together. What may appear evil in this life could be reversed in another reincarnated one. This concept is what Cosmic Humanists refer as Karma – ‘the total effect of a person’s actions and conduct during each phase of existence, determining the person’s destiny.’ In the end, New Age followers pick and choose from the multitudes of options in each area of life according to personal preferences.


Cosmic Humanist biology is based on a belief in positive evolutionary change over time. This approach focuses more on emphasizing humanity moving upward toward an age of higher consciousness. The evolution suggests a theory that not only includees individuals but also collective development. This sort of evolution is called Cosmic Evolution. The belief says that not everyone will evolve at the same rate toward higher consciousness; rather when enough people achieve higher consciousness, others will be absorbed into the enlightened collective consciousness. Even the“blind” followers of Christ need only to witness the evolution of one soul that has been ascended, and we will see the truth. It is easy to understand why Cosmic Humanists have a dislike for science. They view science as only having one purpose—to control nature (which according to pantheism is God). For New Agers, the next evolutionary step is a “New World Order”. Instead of further human physical evolution, determined by geography, environment, and natural selection, Cosmic Humanists believe evolution is psychological. This psychological evolution guides humanity to this “New World Order”. Once collective higher consciousness is achieved, humanity will be at one with itself in collective godhood.


POSTMODERISM probably began back in the Old Testament. Judeges 21:25 "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." But our more modern version was developed in the mid-1900s. The basic premis is 1) a commitment to realitivism; 2) and opposition to rationalism, and 3) promotion of culturally created realisms . They believe (if they actually believe in anything) they should deconstruct humanity itself..... along with the death of God, truth, and reason, humanity.
“Great joy is had in the endless invention of turns of phrase, of words and meanings, the process behind the evolution of language on the level of parole. But undoubtedly even this pleasure depends on a feeling of success won at the expense of an adversary – at least one adversary, and a formidable one: the accepted language, or connotation.” Jean-Francois Lyotard


Postmodernists have a perspective, more or less on all the disciplines. Their perspective on ethics is relativistic. Their perspective on biology views humans as merely clever animals.
Historically speaking, we would expect Postmodernism to be something that came after the modern era. However, many Posmodernists find their roots in thinkers such as Nietzsche and Marx. One of the more descriptive definitions of Postmodernism is this: “Truth is a short-term contract here...... You can no longer look to ideas like morality, justice, enlightenment or human nature and expect them to form a globally agreed basis for your own point of view. It is impossible to draw up a complete map of the world in such a way that everybody would be able to recognize it as representing their own knowledge and experience...”


Since atheism is the backbone for the Postmodernist belief as well as the secular humanist and the Marxist-Leninist it sometimes feels like an oxymoron to discuss theology. But there is a theology within this worldview. The Postmodernists embrace such atheists as Frederick Nietzsche who famously stated; “God is dead, we have killed him.” By this Nietzsche means that we have gone past an ignorant belief in God, and that God is no longer necessary.
While Postmodern atheism has been around for over a century, it increased exponentially in the 1960s and 1970s. During that time, Postmodernism promoted the idea that religion did not need to invoke ‘God’ in the area of theology. While the postmodernists promote a godless society, they also promote religious pluralism. “Religious pluralism is the belief that one must be tolerant of all religious beliefs because no one religion can be true.”


The philosophical ideas of postmodernism have infiltrated every corner of academia; from science, engineering, and math to humanities. They believe there is no universal truth and/or absolutes, and definitely no right or wrong. The Postmodernists adheres to the idea of "subjective truth;” everything is subjective and dependent upon different societies, groups or individuals. There are no standards of truth beauty or goodness. The Postmodernist loves the phrase, “It’s just your interpretation.” And they view documents that adhere to absolute truth, such as the Bible and the U.S. Constitution, as “living, flowing changing” documents that are open to whatever interpretation one wants to give them.


Postmodernism ethics are based on this same subjective, ever-changing, philosophy that is open to interpretation. Since their ethics are not based on moral absolutes, and because they deny the existence of God, their ethics also change from culture to culture. This is commonly called “Cultural Relativism”, which is the belief that truth and morals are relative to one’s own culture. Each community governs the moral choices its members are allowed to make. Of course, this can create conflict between cultures. For instance, when a Muslim community within the United States of America, practices “honor killings” and doesn’t think this should be under the jurisdiction of the United State’s judicial system. In their culture, it’s perfectly all right to have honor killings.


Postmodernism, like Marxism and secular humanism, denies the existence of a Creator and thus denies a creation event. They tend to shy way from endorsing the classic Darwin theory of origins and evolution, because they can’t come to a consensus on what it means. The evolutionary theory in itself is a grand tale, and postmodernists traditionally reject such grand tales. Each metanarrative s is a creation of each culture. However, they do have a propensity toward Darwinism because they believe that evolution was merely chance, and that human beings are the ultimate goal of evolution.


Humans are not just a chance element. We were made specifically and purposefully by God – that makes you feel proud, doesn’t it? For the Christian, we follow God’s absolutes. Man’s absolutes are always and ever-changing, but God’s are set forth in the Bible and will never change. The Bible is the true word of God, and the instruction book of how we should live our lives. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 says, “Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.” Every other worldview discussed leaves man without any means of redemption. Either because there are no eternal, bad consequence for his actions or because there is no way to be redeemed. Christians DO have the only road to redemption and that is through Jesus Christ. Christianity encourages us to live holy lives in accordance with each other and with God. According to the Bible, there can only be one true worldview. King Solomon knew that there is nothing new under the sun; "everything old is new again." There are no new thoughts; no new worldviews (even Christianity grew from Genesis when God promised a Messiah). We as Christians must learn to be well equipped to counter the worldviews of Islam, Marxism/Leninism, Secular Humanism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism. This begins with learning how each worldview, views Theology, Philosophy, Ethics and Biology. Romans 2:5 “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

“Only a fool says in his heart, there is no God.” Psalms 14:1




To God Be The Glory,
-Carpenter





5:22 PM on the 16th of February in the Year of Our Lord 2009

I'm not the GM, I'm the "Game Keeper!" duh'

Well this weekend was very fun! Friday I went over to Faultersacks and played X-Box 360...in fact I do believe that's all i did. Oh well! I needed to beat Jake at least once at Halo 3 and I did! That night I watched i,Robot and cleaned my room and moved some furniture around. Luckily no one heard my upstairs at two in the morning moving my couch. heheh.
Saturday was very relaxing, all day i cleaned until the Faultersacks came over. We finally got around to creating their characters for my RPG! About time indeed. Then David came over and we managed to get in a few hours of game time in my RPG. It was a lot of fun and everyone loved my system. A few things are still in need of perfection yet. haha. It would'nt be an RPG if that wasn't the case.

This morning was very strange. I woke up at 4:30 AM, and could'nt get back to sleep. Finally at 5 AM, I decide I'll get some school done, so I accomplished two lessons of math and 3 episodes of SG1 before the sun even came up fully. :) But then I was tired so at nine O'clock I took a nap.
Sigh* Oh well.

I'll probably get around to posting my WorldView paper that I had to write. It was supposed to be 6 pages and ended up being 20 pages long. But luckily my teacher accepted it being 20 pages, which was really nice of him.


-Carpenter
To God Be the Glory!



10:34 AM on the 2nd of February in the Year of Our Lord 2009.

Pins and Floor Sensors

Obama is wrong, Bush was an amazing President, I salute him for that, and I have a 4-6 page paper to write in the contrasting worldview of Christianity, Islam, Secular Humanism, Marxism-Leninism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism covering as a whole, in each World View, exactly where they stand in the following; Theology, Philosophy, Biology, Ethics and Phsychology.


Wow that was a long sentence but I still managed to cover all the basics. Oh yeah, did I mention this Friday will be amazingly wonderful and Obama is still stupid.


-Carpenter,
To God Be The Glory!



3:26 PM on the 20th of January in the Year of Our Lord 2009.

Stargate Photo-Creations

Well I just finished photo-shopping (Even though I did not use the photo-shop program at all) a bunch of cast photos for the Cast of Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1. You can check out the photos at this link.
http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=62989 (Just click on each "spoiler" button)

Hope you enjoy them

Also in case you're in the mood for something funny, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIHwIoqTPhU

Stargates, School, and Scary Comedies

Well school is officially started for me now. I found the biggest thing that I had trouble remembering was Algebra II.

I find myself in need of thing to look forward to each week to help me get through school. For instance this week is the Series Finale of Stargate Atlantis! It's going to be a good one from what I can tell from fellow fans at Gateworld. The previous episode, "Vegas" was also exceptional!

I just finished watching A Dog's Breakfast. http://www.adogsbreakfastmovie.com/ Excellent comedy. The best I've seen in a long time! David Hewlett (Rodney McKay) is absolutely hilarious.

http://www.theonion.com/content//node/92328?utm_source=embedded_video_2

Gotta love the Onion. Hehehe! :-)

The following link is a website for stills of the SGA episode Vegas.

http://stargate.mgm.com/stills.php?series_id=2&season=5&episode=19#anch19


The Wraith in this episode was modeled after Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People, as seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXZLZJ5OXsM

Happy New Year

Well Christmas has come and gone. So has New Years for that matter. My New Years Eve was rather lame actually, yet at the same time quite nice! Instead of going to any parties or social events, being the true nerd I am -- I stayed home and watched Stargate SG1 and drank a whole carton of eggnog. Sure, it seems like a rather lonely New Years Eve in the broad scheme of things but, with texting, facebook chat, and Gtalk, i managed to talk to a lot of people and wish them a Happy New Years anyways. What is this world coming to when you can be more social with people from the comfort of your own home instead of actually seeing them?!


Happy New Years to all!
For the record, I start school on Monday though this past week I've been slowly starting various subjects.



-Carpenter
To God Be The Glory!





10:01PM on the 2nd of January In The Year of Our Lord 2009

Merry Chritmas!

The Story of Jesus
(References: Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20.)

Mary, a virgin, was living in Galilee of Nazareth and was engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. An angel visited her and explained to her that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirt. She would carry and give birth to this child and she would name him Jesus.

At first Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel's words. Being a virgin, Mary questioned the angel, "How will this be?" The angel explained that the child would be God's own Son and, therefore, "nothing is impossible with God." Humbled and in awe, Mary believed the angel of the Lord and rejoiced in God her Savior.

Surely Mary reflected with wonder on the words found in Isaiah 7:14 foretelling this event, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus:

While Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant through the Holy Spirit, as foretold to her by the angel. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he had every right to feel disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph not only had the right to divorce Mary, under Jewish law she could be put to death by stoning.

Although Joseph's initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame, so he decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to verify Mary's story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God's will. The angel explained that the child within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that his name would be Jesus and that he was the Messiah, God with us.

When Joseph woke from his dream, he willingly obeyed God and took Mary home to be his wife, in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Perhaps this noble quality is one of the reasons God chose him to be the Messiah's earthly father.

Joseph too must have wondered in awe as he remembered the words found in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV)

At that time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census be taken, and every person in the entire Roman world had to go to his own town to register. Joseph, being of the line of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Probably due to the census, the inn was too crowded, and Mary gave birth in a crude stable. She wrapped the baby in cloths and placed him in a manger.

The Shepherd's Worship the Savior:

Out in the fields, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep by night. The angel announced that the Savior had been born in the town of David. Suddenly a great host of heavenly beings appeared with the angels and began singing praises to God. As the angelic beings departed, the shepherds decided to travel to Bethlehem and see the Christ-child.

There they found Mary, Joseph and the baby, in the stable. After their visit, they began to spread the word about this amazing child and everything the angel had said about him. They went on their way still praising and glorifying God. But Mary kept quiet, treasuring their words and pondering them in her heart. It must have been beyond her ability to grasp, that sleeping in her arms—the tender child she had just borne—was the Savior of the world.

The Magi Bring Gifts:

After Jesus' birth, Herod was king of Judea. At this time wise men (Magi) from the east saw a star, they came in search, knowing the star signified the birth of the king of the Jews. The wise men came to the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem and asked where the Christ was to be born. The rulers explained, "In Bethlehem in Judea," referring to Micah 5:2. Herod secretly met with the Magi and asked them to report back after they had found the child. Herod told the Magi that he too wanted to go and worship the babe. But secretly Herod was plotting to kill the child. So the wise men continued to follow the star in search of the new born king and found Jesus with his mother in Bethlehem. (Most likely Jesus was already two years of age by this time.) They bowed and worshipped him, offering treasures of gold, incense and myrrh. When they left, they did not return to Herod. They had been warned in a dream of his plot to destroy the child.




. . . And to All a Goodnight!



-Carpenter
To God Be The Glory




3:27 PM on the 24th of December in the Year of Our Lord 2008 -- Christmas Eve

Christmas at the Carpenter's

I spend my free time watching Stargates, playing the latest Call of Duty game, and working on my RPG. I am looking forward to Christmas, but I would rather the next few days go by slowly, as to lend more time to friends, and family. Since people keep asking me, I will now share with you some of my Christmas traditions.


#1 [Last Friday in November] Day after Thanksgiving, I put the lights and decor in place in my bedroom, and start listening to Christmas music.

#2 [December 5th] Day before my birthday, our family goes and buys our Christmas tree. Usually a Christmas tree farm, though in the past years we have been known to cut one down at my uncle's house in Cross Plains, (where air-soft party occurred).

#3 [December 6th] My Birthday, I wake up to the pleasant smell of frying bacon, have a splendid breakfast, and then (new to this year) watch Stargates all day. :) In the evening Oma (Irmgard Mittler) comes over for a dinner of my choice. This year my mother made Lasagna, caesar salad, and garlic bread. Also new to this year, Jesse came over with Lucinda to join us in festivities. After dinner we then decorate the Christmas tree and place the rest of the Christmas decor around the house. Then I get to open my gifts. After dessert, my father takes Oma home, comes back, and we usually watch a movie. This year we watched Elf.

#4 [Advent] Usually the weekends of Advent, I devote to family. We try to get in a Christmas movie every week. Holiday Inn is a must see during the Christmas season.

#5 [Third week in December] The annual Caroling Party (not to be confused with a Curling Party which apparently was the basis of confusion for a few people this year.) I have gone to the Caroling party for the past 17 years. The first time I went I was two weeks old. We eat and eat and eat and Karen, one of the hosts makes delicious holiday fudge
by the pound(s).

#6 [Some time before Christmas] Baking day! :-) My mother devotes an entire morning and afternoon to baking cookies. She makes about six different kinds, and Rob (family friend/cop) always is there to help. . . I sneak down from my room and eat the cookies dough from time to time if I'm not helping.

#7 [December 23rd] My father's Aunt Dolores (Oma's sister) and Uncle John from Highland Park, Chicago come up for Christmas Eve. The day before the Eve of Christmas, we have them over for another spectacular dinner. (I eat really well during the Christmas season) :-)

#8 [Christmas Eve day] Not really much happens except I peel about 20 pounds of potatoes for my mother's famous "German Potatoe dish". The way it is spelled, according to our family, is "Toepechugen", which spelling, revealed zero google results.

#9 [Christmas Eve] This is when we spend time with my father's family. On Christmas Eve, we pick up Oma, and go to my uncle's house in Cross Plains where we join up with, my Dolores and John, my Aunt and cousin from Maine, my five other cousins (I'm the youngest of the cousins), and my ten other aunts and uncles, as well as some various other family. We eat and eat and eat, and then the cousins all go to the basement and watch A Muppet Christmas Carol (we've done this for the past 14 years). After that we go up to the renovated attic and sing Christmas carols, until we hear Santa come. (Actually, not Santa, by my father who's banging pots and pans in the kitchen [with a 70% atheist family what can you do? It's tradition, and we've done it for the past 17 years. {Note: we never see Santa, but we hear him.]})
The way the gift giving works is all the cousins recieve gifts from another family. We give to family number 1, #1 gives to #2, #2 gives to #3, #3 gives to #4 and #4 gives to us. lol. I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this but I figured I would because this episode of SG1 is a boring one.

#10 [Christmas day] We see three ships come sailing in. On Christmas morning, Lucinda and I awake, to the sounds of Christmas music, and my dad making coffee. We sit at the top of the stairs until we are called down. In the living room, the stockings are hung and we patiently wait to dig through them until my mother is done taking pictures (pretty typical. lol) Then we spend the rest of the morning opening presents and burrying Buster in Christmas paper. Then we eat Breakfast. What we do the rest of the day until dinner is always a mystery to me. For dinner we either go to mo mother's sister's house for dinner or they come here, or we go to my father's sister's house for dinner. This year i believe the plan is the latter.




-Carpenter,
To God Be The Glory,




9:59 AM on the 21st of December in The Year of Our Lord, 2008.

Pins and floor sensors now.

Well for my birthday I received some super amazing ski boots! Alpina brand :D! Thursday, I went to the Arboretum and skied along the trails for what seemed like three hours at least and what in actuality was barely under two hours. I got home, took a nap, watched some Stargate SG-1(s) and then went to bed. I slept great but in the morning was so very sore. >:( It was my right thigh which is extremely sore. In fact, I still cannot hold up that leg without support, without it hurting. But on a good note, I just got out of our hot-tub where I took a lovely relaxing "soak".
Earlier this evening I went with my cousin to see where Lucinda works, at American furniture. We arrived to find her busy with some costumers so we took the opportunity to take a nap in some of the massage-chairs! :)
Did I mention that my cousin is here for a visit? He's on his way back to Flint, Michigan from Washington (state). He's in the FBI, and so far we've had a lot of fun beating each other up. . . he beats me up more than I, him.
My rpg is still a working progress. I am almost done with the charms [finally :( ], and will now focus on the histoy and game-play of it. My friends have been sending me there character concepts wich we've been going through. I'm very looking forward to actually playing it someday. lol patience ya'll, patience. Don't rush art.



-Carpenter
To God Be The Glory,




12:48 AM on the 13th of December in the Year of Our Lord 2008

Grrrr....Flame. I quit.

Well my rpg is coming along slowly but surely. In an attempt to speed up the process of character creation I sent an e-mail to everyone participating in my rpg explaining the skill/abilities and instructions for character concepts.

I woke up today at 7:30 AM-- about half an hour earlier than usual, to go to the dress rehearsal for our choir concert tomorrow. I arrived around 9:00 AM, for the 10:30 class starting time. This was due to the fact that my mother is in charge of the power point presentation for the concert tomorrow, and had to arrive early. Luckily I brought my lap top and got a significant amount of studying done for my World Views test (which I just finished). The rehearsal itself lasted about 3 1/2 hours long. I believed that of the 13 songs that our choirs sings, I only sing for 2/3 of them :). This is due to my not signing up for any ensembles or solos, or a capela groups. Instead I text to people during those songs. Thankfully Mrs. Lipsky allowed us to sit for the songs that we don't sing so I can't, honestly, say I was tired of standing and singing at the end of the 3 1/2 hour rehearsal. I cannot also say, honestly, that I look forward to tomorrow morning's rehearsal. However, tomorrows conert shoud prove to be quite fun indeed. As they always are for me.....can't say they'll be fun for the audience, but that's flame for ya. ;-)


-Carpenter
To God Be the Glory,




4:57 PM on the 4th of December in The Year of Our Lord 2008.

Thanksgiving/Birthday/Christmas #2

Well I survived that weekend! And what a weekend it was.
Friday, flame was just stupid of course. We had a 4 hour choir rehearsal which lasted more than it should have. Thank goodness for texting in class to keep me occupied, and ummm....alert too!
I got back and cleaned my entire upstairs "bedroom". It was so nice and clean! :)
Aaron, David, and The Faulties came over that evening to play Aaron's rpg (very fun!).

Saturday, I slept in, worked on my RPG for a while, watched some Crusoe, saw Quantum of Solace with David, and then play Galactic Battle Grounds.

Sunday, I went to church. It the fifth and final sermon of the series on Phillipians. This sermon was all about what worry can do to us and how to avoid it. The best way to overcome worry is gratitude. I got back from church around noon, whatched the last few episodes of Crusoe, lifted some weights, took a lovely walk with the dogs, and then watched Casino Royale while working on my RPG, and drank a Dr. Pepper. I don't know why the Dr. Pepper is significant but it just is.

This week I have an essay to write, a math test (last math test I got a 98%!!! [happy]), and a stupid lab report for Chemistry. On Tuesday my Aunt and Chris (My aunt's daughters best friend who recently got divorced because her husband is a jerk. I think she's 26. Pray for her). So I'm excited to see them again. I'm not sure what I'll be doing other than school on Wednesday....probably not a whole lot. Thursday I'll be attending the second annual "Tangentime Rugby Bowl". It will be lovely to see Lydia and Evan (and other people, yes.) again! [happy] Then the cooking begins and the newspaper comes. Time to kick back in front of the nice warm fire and relax -- looking through the adds for any items on my list to buy. For dinner, we'll be eating at our house with my aunt, Lucinda, maybe Luicnda's boyfriend (Jesse), Chris, and Grandmama. I believe my dad's sister and her family will be coming over for dessert and coffee! [happy] I believe I'll be spenidng the night at David's to further the allience which consists of Aaron, David, and myself. It will be like the rennassiance fair all over again [happy/tired]

I can't put into words what will happen Friday but lets just say that we'll get back around 10:30 and I'll be taking a nap. I am having some people over that evening for my "Birthday Party" sort of thing. Hopefully I'll get my lights hung before people come over.

Christmas is one month away!


-Carpenter
To God Be the Glory,




9:09 AM on the 24th of November in The Year of Our Lord 2008.

Thanksgiving/Birthday/Christmas #1

Well it's that turning point in my week once again. Time to make one more push for school tomorrow [Thursday], and then I'll be finished for school for another week. I'm trying to see if people from my Chemistry class would agree to instead of having 'Thanksgiving week off from class, and then two week off in December for Christmas', have 3 weeks off in December for Christmas and no Thanksgiving break. The other people in my class said that would be cool with that, but I'm waiting to hear back from my teacher.
I'm very excited for Thanksgiving actually. My NSA classes deem the Thanksgiving week of school a "reading week" which interprets as 'not very much work at all'. I, will naturally keep working through Thanksgiving on all my classes (with the exception of Thursday) so as to have the entire month of December off of school completely! :D It's little things like that, that make me oh, so happy!
Oh, and what to do for my birthday? Hmmmmm.....I honestly have not thought too much about it. I'm definately thinking about hanging out with friends Friday December 5th. We could play RPG at my house, play LAN, go to a movie, or whatever. Saturday though, I'll be busy having a special birthday dinner with my family and Oma. . . . I usually request something that my mother does not make very often. I'm thinking Either Lasagna and Caesar Salad, or Beef Tenderloin and Watercress. Wow! :O Both of those sound very delicious.

I think I'll send out some e-mail about my birthday right now since I'm thinking about it.



-Carpenter
To God Be the Glory,




8:11 PM on the 19th of November in The Year of Our Lord 2008.

Dear Subscribers. . . .

Well I got back from Chemistry class, and now my work load is a lot more relaxed. Tonight, I'll finish week 11 of US Government and take a math test which will complete my math load for this week. :) Tomorrow all I have to do is study for, and take a World Views test, and finish some things for FLAME.
And then, when that's all done, I will open my dice. =D!!!! I've been looking at the unopened box all week and soon, very soon I can finally open them. It's a great motivation to get my work done.

Regarding my RP: the last few nights, I've been working on the map of my world. I've been figuring out names for places and things like that. I'm now contemplating whether or not I should take my map to Kinkos and have them enlarge it on a big piece of paper for easier game-play. I've been also working on the mechanics, and I'm really stuck on the damage and attack modifiers. . . .

I'll miss Stargate Atlantis for the second week in a row now. :( But hopefully I can convince some of my friends to contribute to the human fund....I mean SGA fund so I can purchase the two episdoes I'll have missed from itunes. The Sci-Fi channel really needs to re-run the new episodes on the following Saturday.


Side Note: The Mazda RX-8 is the car I'm looking into buying! It's such a beautiful car. :)


And now a little song for our troops: By George M. Cohan

"Over There, Over There
Send the word, send the word,
Over There
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum tumming everywhere
So prepare,
Say a Prayer
Send the word,
Send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over.
And we won't be back till it's over over there!"




-Carpenter
To God Be The Glory,




5:19 PM on the 12th of November in The Year of Our Lord 2008.

Hello Monday, Here We Go Again!

Hello Monday, here we go again. . . .

Can't say I love Mondays . . . at all really. First let me say that the only thing considering politics I'll say in this blog is that I am severely annoyed by so many people telling me that we should "really really pray for Obama now that he's President." I've heard it is too many times (many times the same person over and over again) that it is, like stated above, annoying me. In matter of the fact I have been praying for Obama since March. So please stop telling me to pray.... Thank you. ;)


New business! Ummm.....well....let's see..... hmmmm... Oh! I scored 100% on my math test! That always makes me happy. :) There was one answer I couldn't figure out so I took a guess. And with a 60% luck roll, and with there being a 1/6 chance I guess right, I got it!
My RPG is also coming along wonderfully. I finally finished the character sheets and the only things to do now are; Work on the charms, tweak the system for dice success's; and figure out my history. Perhaps by this weekend we'll be able to play! It will be a supplemental session due to my probably not having my history figured out by then. Never the less, I would like to test it before we really get into it anyways.
I am eagerly awaiting my dice too! :) I ordered them Friday so they should be here on
"relatively-soonday". It's little things like that, that help me get through the week. :)

I just got a reputation comment on the Gateworld forum. Wooo!!! Viva Los Hermiod! (Never mind to you non-sci-fi-nerds who read this)

I also need an idea for a Graphic Design project. It will be some sort of logo reflecting my name. It can consiste of my full name written out, or my initials, or possibly some made-up place, but I need a symbol/logo/clever design. I was thinking of a 2-d drawing of the earth shattered into seven pieces with: The word "Piece" and a hand showing the peace symbol above it. It would complimment my other anti-peace drawing quite well. ;) But I'm still open for ideas.



-Carpenter
To God Be The Glory,





8:34 AM on the 10th of November, in The Year of Our Lord 2008.

I'm sitting outside in my back yard now doing school. I find it strange that it snowed in October and I find myself in shorts in November. Some of my mother's flowers are in full bloom and that makes me happy. Our yard looks quite lovely indeed.

I've now stopped 3 Obama people who were going from door to door with flyers. :) I've pointed out that I'm voting for McCain because I'm home schooled and want to home school my children to be able to be homeschooled as well (something unlikely to happen if Obama Hussein is put into office). I honestly am excited for tomorrow (but nervous still). I want to pick up a McCain Palin yard sign before Tuesday just because this is a very historical election and I want to show it to my grand kids someday. I mean I've never seen a "Nixon -- Lodge 1960" yard sign. That would be pretty cool to own!

I already find myself looking forward to Christmas. I've been saying Merry Christmas a lot lately. Heh heh heh. But Thanksgiving has me equally escited. It's a much more relaxed Holiday. And I havn't seen Evan for a long time too. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I even chatted with him. He's such a loser.

I'm very excited for my RPG. I need a name for it. Any suggestions?


-Carpenter,
To God Be the Glory




4:00 PM on the 3rd of November in The Year of Our Lord 2008.