"the only permanent thing in this world is change."
i can't recall who first said that, but he was 100% right. things are always changing. and we change, too. we've got to, there's no choice in the matter. and hopefully, we change for the better.
easier said than done, of course. one of the absolute hardest things in the world is to change a negative character trait. because that's changing a part of you . and for some reason, people assume that that's a bad thing. you know, when people sign your yearbooks or something like that, they always write, "I'll miss you. never change".
but what if i want to change? what if there are some things about myself that i am far less than happy with? things that need to be changed?
i am a firm believer that everyone has to keep trying to grow. it's like standing on a down-moving escalator- if you're not climbing up, you'll end up going down. we have to keep trying to improve ourselves.
this is just my personal opinion, of course.
so i was thinking about everything we talked about on the last post, and all the horrible things that have been happening lately- natural disasters, wars, Virginia tech, and that horrible thing that happened last week. i don't know if you've heard about it, but last week a terrorist broke into a school in Israel and started shooting. a bunch of students are in the hospital, and eight were killed on the spot- some as young as fifteen years old.
when you hear something like this, it makes you think, doesn't it? we're obviously doing something wrong. so i was thinking, what can i do to make things right? what can i change? now, it would be great if i could change the whole world. but i can't it's hard enough just trying to change myself.
but i will change myself. i will become a better person. it will be hard, and i haven't figured out exactly how I'll do it, but i will. i want to make a change.
who's with me?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
change
Posted by griffinrider at 9:36 AM
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188 comments:
Go you! It's really not that hard to change yourself for the better. :D At least, I think how I changed was for the better.
well griffinrider i think that is a good idea but aboutr the change thing i will someday invent a car that goes faster then the speed of (light or sound, i forgot which one it needs to be) and then there won't be change exept it might be lonley in outerspace so i have to make it big anough for my family and friends.
Inspiring :D I try to change a little bit every day for the better.
When I'm older I want to do something big to help the environment.
I'm in! Great lecture. btw, Haeley is one of my best friends who (whom?) just moved to Hawaii.
v. inspiring
each day i will sat my self a motto to change and feel good about it!!
havva nice day!!
Hey Griffin! That was really inspiring. I also wanted to say I like your pic for the profile. It's really kewl! I'm not sure when you had it but I just noticed! I'll keep checking back.
Fumiko
change. you are so right about that. we are changing every second of our lives and can never go back to even one second in the past. it's a shame really, cos sometimes, i just want to change the bad things i've done in the past. i wonder if there will ever be a time machine invention when i'm alive.
chee, time is the one thing we can never change. we can never go back, only forward. believe me, i have done a lot of things that i really regret, and i wish more than anything that i can go back and change them. but i can't. i can't change the past, but i can change myself now, so i'll be happy with my future actions.
and the profile picture is new.
dorky, according to einstein, you have to travel at the speed of light for time to stop, but that won't stop you from changing your character, it'll stop you from aging, that's all.
I'm one of those people who are OPPOSED to change. Ick. I no lika de change.
Twilight is actually really good. But I understand how the girly freaks can put you right off something.
But if I were you I'd give it a go.
Good point, griffinrider. I often think about all the awful things that go on in our world and wonder that exact same thing. I would just like to tell you, the only way to fix the bad stuff, is go back to God. Our nation, and really the whole world, has turned their backs on God. We don't think about Him, don't really talk about Him, and try our best to avoid Him. But if you look back through history, you will see that America was at it's best when we were fully relying on God. The Great Awakening, for instance. Some great things happened in that time period, and it was because we realized that we needed God. We can't really change ourselves for the better without Him, I know I can't. And I'm glad I have Him in my life as a solid rock, a friend I can always turn to, and the one I can trust to help me through everything. We as people need to turn back to God, and I just wish people would know that. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them as soon as I can. I'll pray for you.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
P.S. I would just like to say, daydreamajo, you're pretty cool, but you need to allow anonymous posts on your blog. Thanks!
good idea! i hope im changing for the better if not i better stop!
and your right, its was not the best idea not to go to the doctors when you were ill!
yeah, I know, I kept saying I was gonna stow away with her!!XD
mii maker, i agree. i'm a religious person, but i'm pretty sure i don't worship God the way you do. that's ok, cuz everyone has a different way of relating to God.
except, it's not ok when your religion says you should go blow up innocent people in the God's name.
basically, the way i see it, i don't particularly care how others worship God, as long as they don't interfere with anyone else's religions.
i know some people will hate me for saying this, but i absolutely despise missionaries. everyone worships God differently, and no one should be pressured into worshipping Him the way that somebody else thinks is "right".
you know I've thought the same thing several times, and I am all up for change, heck for me it's non stop. But knowing which change is right and what's not is the hard part. And when we step up tp the plate are we just being idealistic in our dreams or are we really going to cause change. btw I believe people can make good and bad decisions with religion without religion. Sometimes the people preaching and praying are being just as stupid as the people shouting and hoping (if you know what I mean).
P.S. I'm not against missionaries who are just letting you know that there is always an open door to help, but completely against missionaries who insist on shoving their ideas down your throat.
wow, didn't know you guys didn;t like that stuff so much, but you know, there are alot of diferrent ways to worship God. But, there is only one way to heaven, and that is believing that Jesus is Lord and asking Him to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart to help you out with life and stuff. Now, I'm not trying to "shove anything down your throat" but I do want you to know that. I personally love the missionaries that are going out and preaching the true gospel, and I would like to be like that someday, hey, maybe I can start now. Make that change in my life. I hope you guys have ears to hear tis, and not just shove it off. I hope with all my heart that you come to know God, because I know Him and I love it. He's always there for me, He's always ready to listen to me, and I know He'll always be there, even when I stray off of the straight and narrow. Hope you listen, not just hear.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
mii maker:
this is exactly what i'm talking about! you think that believing in jesus is the only way into heaven. that doesn't necessarily mean that it's true. you believe in jesus. believe it or not, i don't. it doesn't mean i'm wrong. of course, i think i'm right, and you think you're right. that's because we each worship and relate to God in a different way. that's what i was trying to say.
you said that there's a lot of different ways to worship God. so how can you say that the only way to heaven is believing in jesus? this implies that all non-christians are doomed to hell, while you just said that everyone has different ways of worshipping God.
contradiction mucho?!
and why don't i believe in jesus, you might wonder. simply because christianity has way too many contradictions for my liking.
I wasn't contradicting myself. My grandma is Catholic, I'm baptist, we both worship God differently, but we both believe in Him, we've both excepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, so you can worship God in a mass or in a pew or even on the street, and you can all still think the same thing. And the Bible says that if you don't except Jesus as God's son, ans you don't believe in Him, then you've pretty much rejected God. He and Jesus are one, part of the trinity. The Pharasies, the religious leaders of Jesus's time, didn't believe that Jesus was who He said He was, and Jesus said that they were condemned, because they wouldn't believe because of their own selfish ambitions. And a lot of people don't wanna believe in Jesus because they think there are too many rules. But the truth is, God doesn't wanna hold you back and not let you have any fun, He loves you, and wants you to get the most out of life, He just doesn't want you to do the bad things. He wants you to turn to Him with all your problems and fears, and I tell Him about my fears ans stuff all the time! And it makes me feel really good, because I don't have to bear them on my own. God wants you to have a good life, but we sometimes have problems. I'm in the car on the way to the hospital as I write this, because I have health issues. But I'm not really sour about it. I don't like it, but I ask God to help me with it, and He does. And if you still think I'm wrong, let's look at it this way: if there is no Jesus, and you can get to heaven by good works, then the all of us are sunk. I'm sunk, you're sunk, everyone. We can't work our way to heaven, if I could, I wouldn't make it, cause nobody can be good enough for God. Sorry, but if it is that way, I guess I could be a little better...but if it isn't, then I'm totally golden.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
time out- you actually think that believing in jesus gives you a free ticket into heaven?! no offense, but i'm laughing. according to you, someone can be a mass murderer, kill thousands of people, and still get into heaven just as long as he believes that jesus was the son of god? do you realize how incredibly stupid that is?
ok, so when you said "everyone worships god differently," you meant only christians. in your mind, it doesn't matter whether someone's catholic, lutheran, whatever, just as long as he believes in jesus. but people of other religions, and there are quite a lot of them, are doomed to rot in hell, even if they're the best people in the world.
do you not realize the absurdity of your loigic?
as i said before, i am a religious person. i believe in God. but i DON'T believe in jesus, because the entire religion is based on lies and contradictions. if you would like some examples of these, just ask, and i'll happily provide them for you.
wow, i must say. but this discussion is going in circles, and it is evident that mii maker and griffinrider are adamant and firm to their beliefs. I would highly recommend, as a skilled pro in this particular area, that you cease the dispute immeadiately. I personally, do not agree with a single word that mii mkaer has uttered, but even so it is clear that no agreement will ensue from this discussion.
i'm not trying to get mii maker to agree with me, cuz i know that he/she won't, not in a billion years. i simply wish to discuss my ideas with him/her, in order to simply get my point of course and, perhaps, broaden both of our understandings of religion.
okay griffinrider, but remember, you wanted me to continue this.
If a person, when they are a young child, goes to church and accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, then they are saved. Now, if this person decides to grow up and become a mass murderer, then that's their choice, but God will still love them and they will still be saved. Fortunately, you can't lose your salvation. And how about we look at it this way: Someone is a mass murderer, but then they get caught and go to prison. Now, in prison, let's say there's a Bible, and because they have nothing better to do, they pick it up and read it. Suddenly, this person realizes that they were WAY wrong, and realize that they need Jesus to be saved. So, They pray to God, are truly sorry for the things they've done, and ask Him to clean them of their sins. God will forgive them, because that's the kind of awesome God He is. If that little kid that asked Jesus to be your Saviour, then they do all that bad stuff, well, when they get to heaven, they're gonna be seriously ashamed for what they did. God loves everybody, even if they're total sleezeballs. He HATES the wrong things that they do, but he loves the person, because He created them. It's a complicated thing to understand, but it's true. God loves the Muslims, and the Catholics, and everybody. But the only way to get to Heaven is to believe in God and His Son, and to ask Him to forgive you of your sins. And you know what, I don't think anyone who reads this is gonna believe me, because they think that there are too many rules, it can't bethat good, yada yada yada. But to the person who reads this and does believe, I will be sooo happy for you. All I want to do is touch the lives of others now and when I grow up. And griffinrider, I'm firm enough in my faith that I DARE you to give me proof that Jesus wasn't God's Son or whatever. I will pray for you, because believe it or not, I really like you. I want to be able to meet you someday, so I'll pray for you. Touching, isn't it? ;P
;) The Mii Maker ;)
aww, mii maker, i like you too. and i love this conversation. it certainly has given me a lot to think about.
ok, i accept your dare. here is some proof that jesus is who you say he is. please, don't give me some lame answer, like "have faith". please give m a valid reason why this makes any sense:
you say that jesus is the messiah, right? this means that he fits all the criteria for messiah that the bible says. so clearly, jesus must have descended from the royal family of king david, cuz that's one of the most basic requirements for messiah. so far so good, rite?
ok. now, you believe that jesus was the son of god, and not the son of joseph. if i remember correctly, his mom is refered to as "virgin mary", correct? so jesus had no biological human father.
correct me if i'm wrong, but i was under the impression that royal blood passes from father to son, not mother to son. actually, i checked up on this, and it's accurate. in order to be considered a descendant of david, your father has to be a direct descendant of david.
you see the problem here? how can jesus be the messiah if he isn't from david? how can he be from david if his dad was God, who obviously wasn't a son of david?
i eagerly await your response regarding this issue.
on another note, i found that story you gave...interesting. let's change the situation a bit, shall we?: what if there is a mass murderer who believes in jesus. then he goes to prison and, lo and behold, there is a bible waiting for him. he picks it up, reads it, and says, "see, i was right! jesus is god's son." then he puts the book down. and, well, that's it. he doesn't feel bad for what he did. he doesn't change. he eventually gets out of prison, and kills a few more people, then dies.
are you telling me that this guy is going to be allowed into heaven? ok, granted that god loves him. but still. he's standing at the gates of heaven, and the angels say, "so who are you?" and he says, "i'm that guy who killed 40 people." "did you beleive in jesus?" "sure did." "great. come on in! here's a halo."
somehow, this doesn't make much sense to me. why should he be allowed into heaven, while a righteos, pious, genuinely good, selfless, generous, kind and considerate person is doomed to an eternity in hell just because he wasn't christian? your entire logic makes no sense.
Some people call Mary "virgin Mary" because she was givin Jesus before she was married to Joseph. I don't call her that myself, but Joseph is Jesus's human father. But see, the funny thing is, that God created all of us, so He's our Father too. He's our heavenly Father. My dad is my earthly father, God is my heavenly Father. An angel came to Mary and told her she was gonna have a baby. Lots of people think she was only about thirteen, and that kinda freaks me out, but it was because life-span was shorter then. Now, it really freaked her out, because she wasn't married yet, and she hadn't committed adultery or anything, so she was like "HUH?" But the angel told her it was from God, and that the baby would be God's Son, so she calmed down. But, since she was betrothed to Joseph, he bacame Jesus's earthly father. So, He is from the line of David.
And the story with the kid who grew up to do some bad things, well, he'll get to prison, (more than likely won't get out) and eventually die. Now, when he gets to the pearly gates, he's gonna look and say, "Man, I'm sunk." Because he's done so many bad things. God'll look at Him and say, "Why'd you do it?" And He's not gonna be very happy, and that dude's gonna be really ashamed, but God still loves him, so He let's Him in. You can't lose your salvation, it sticks with you all your life, no matter what you do. But that doesn't mean you should go through life thinking, "I can do what ever I want cause I'm gonna go to heaven anyway." No, you should go through life thinking, "What can I do that would please God?" Because God doesn't like it when we sin.
And you know what? The Pharisee's (the religious leaders during Bible times) appeared to be all good and stuff, but they didn't believe in Jesus or ask Him to forgive them of their sins, so I doubt they're gonna be in heaven. Jesus called them hypocrites, because they were the ones who knew all the rules, but they didn't keep them. Now, you can be a perfectly good person, (But no ones perfect) and follow all the rules, but if you don't know Jesus as your personal Saviour, then you're not getting into heaven. That's just the way it works.
But here's something I think you'll like. God says that there are crowns waiting for us in heaven, for some of the good stuff we do. So, if a good person goes to heaven, they're gonna have more crown than the total sleezeball. So, the good guys are rewarded. My mom said there was a guy who did horrible, unspeakable things to people. He got arrested, and then said that he had found Jesus in prison. My mom said she was sooo mad when she heard that, because she didn't want him to go to heaven. But now she thinks that if he really did find Jesus, when she gets to heaven, she's not gonna think, "there's that totally evil dude" she's gonna think, "You're here by the grace of God, just like me." and that's what I'll think too. The grace of God is one of the most wonderful things about Him, if you repent, He'll listen. I'm gonna keep praying for you, and I still like you...no I love you. Cause God told us to love others more than our selves, so I love you, even though we disagree.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
P.S. Sorry I wasn't able to respond earlier. I'll try to get back to you sooner from now on. :)
good people who don't believe in jesus don't go to heaven, says you. and why? because "that's just the way it works". mii, i feel bad for you. you accept things as fact because "that's just the way it works". that, my friend, is sad. don't you find it a bit pathetic that "it is this way because it is this way, even if it makes no sense" is the best answer your religion can come up with?
ok, second of all, i would like some proof, please, that the pharisees were hypocrates who didn't listen to their own words. that would be much appreciated. thank you.
so, you're saying that joseph WAS jesus's biological dad? which follows that mary wasn't a virgin, correct? wow! i have been misinformed, apparently. so jesus was a regular guy, born in the regular, natural way, and is only called God's son because everyone is god's son? hey! that means that if david was my great grandaddy, i can be the messiah too! just wait till i tell all my friends!
seriously, is this what you're saying: jesus wasn't literally the son of god. he wasn't born from a virgin birth. he was just thought of as the messiah because that's what he claimed to be.
this is what you just said. as far as i can tell.
also, what are your views on the old testiment? is it just as valid as the new one to you? you probably think i'm nuts, but i did a lot of research o this. i decided that i wanted to look into christianity before i rejected it. i bet you didn't look into any other religions before you rejected them, rite? that's ok, most people don't.
anywho, look what i found out: the old testiment clearly states that one may not worship a man. even a man who claims to be godly. it also clearly states that if a prophet comes and claimes he is the messiah, and turns the people away from God's laws, he is a fake, and people must reject him.
now, let's see if jesus fits the criteria: he most certainly claimed to be the messiah. in fact, that's the only thing he claimed. after he died, his followers decided that he was the son of god. interesting, don't you think? anyway, so he said he was messiah. and he most certainly turned people away from god. the first followers of jesus were definitely not loyal to their "torah", although they were jewish. it seems that jews have the obligation to refrain from eating pork, and to not work on the sabbath (i.e. saturday) and all sorts of other stuff.
but jesus changed all that. he said that as long as you listen to him, you don't have to follow all the jewish laws and cutoms.
so, it seems jesus fit the bill, rite? he was most definitely a man who claimed to be a prophet, and he turned the people away from god's laws. i don't see any christians around who refrain from eating bacon.
well, well, well. according to this, it seems like the pharisees were right in rejecting jesus. because that was exactly what the old testiment told them to do.
how can you believe in both the old and new testiments, when one tells you to reject people like jesus, and one tells you to embrace him? am i missing something here?
additionally, you said that we should try to do good, not because we get rewarded for it, but because it pleases god. you believe that a bad person will go to heaven anyway, but he should do good just to make god happy. but why should i care if god is happy, if i'm going to heaven anyway? what difference does it make? i can do whatever i want, because i believe in jesus, so i won't get punished. so god will be disappointed. so what? according to you, in the long run, god's dissatisfactiobn doesn't really matter. it doesn't affect me at all. well, no wonder there's so many criminals running around, and so many of them wear crosses around their necks!
you know, i figured out why our debate isn't exactly going anywhere. my arguments are based on logic, while yours are based on faith. that's all nice and good, faith is great, but for me to take your arguments seriously, you're going to have to think of a better answer than "have faith" or "god loves you" or "that;s just the way it is".
if those were the only answers my religion could give me, i would feel extremely dissatisfied.
Mary was married to Joseph, therefore, he was her husband, therefore, he was Jesus's biological father. But, Mary was given Jesus before she had time to "Make him" so to speak, with Joseph, so Jesus was given to her from God. And you're only including some of the facts in the things you say. Jesus and His diciples didn't really "work" on the Sabbath. They picked some grain because they were hungry. The Old Testament said that you weren't supposed to do work on the Sabbath, but if your cow fell into a hole, it was okay to get it out. Because if you didn't, it would die. So you were allowed to do that. Jesus and His diciples were found eating grain on the Sabbath, and Jesus healed some people on the Sabbath. Those things were okay do to! You have to read all of the words, not just the ones you like. and there's acctually a sientific reason that God told the people not to eat pork and bugs and BATS, because they were unhealthy and carried diseases and other bad stuff. And you're not supposed to worship anyone who CLAIMS to be the son of God then leads you away from God. There was acctually a guy on the news a few months ago (or longer than that) who said he was God's son, and you know what? He wasn't!! He was leading people away, telling them that it didn't matter what they did, but that all of them were going to go to heaven! And surely you don't believe that, seeing as though you don't like the fact that I believe God is compassionite and will forgive anyone whose truly sorry and askes for forgiveness. Jesus Himself said we neede to be careful, becaus there are people who will come and tell us that they are the Messiah, but they really won't be. But a bunch of people will come around and say "Look! It's the messiah!" But you need to do your reaserch before following them. Make sure they're saying the right things. And why would you want to make God happy? I don't know. The reason I want to make Him happy is becuase I love Him. He changed my life, so I wanna do all I can to please Him, because for a period of my life I didn't and I feel really ashamed about that believe it or not. I turned away from God. Didn't care what He thought. But I got turned around, and now my life is completely changed. If that hadn't happened, I'd probably be a total train wreck willing to kill myself. Yeah, it was that bad. I've seen God change lives, and I've seen Him change mine. I don't know how many people have had their lives changed by your religion, but more than a TON have been changed by God. I want more than anything to believe me, but I guess I'll never get through to you. Only by the grace of God will you believe me. But I'll keep praying, keep hoping, and if you'd like, keep debating. I really, seriously, love you.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
............wow........people are so deep now........my head hurts........what's ODD?
mii maker, let's get one thing straight here: I AM RELIGIOUS. I DO BELIEVE IN GOD.
i do not believe in jesus. why? because i don't see how he is any different from that guy that you just talked about on the news.
i noticed how you didn't answer any of my questions. is it because there is no answer?
how do you know that jesus was who he said he was? how do you know that he wasn't like any of the other dozens of people who claimed to be messiah? what makes him different from them, besides for the fact that you believe in him, and not in them?
i'm glad to here that you want to please god because you love him. that's nice. but i highly doubt that everyone thinks the way you do. if i were christian, i would do whatever i wanted, because i knew that i wouldn't be punished for my actions. i would get to heaven, just as long as i believed in jesus, no questions asked. soo god would frown at me a little bit. big deal.
so, joseph WAS NOT jesus's biological father?! that's what i was saying all along. if he wasn't his biological father, but was rather, for lack of better words, his adoptive father, then jesus was NOT from david. so he couldn't possibly have been the messiah. if i was adopted by someone that was from a royal family, that is NOT considered like i have royal blood. i've done research on this, and it is accurate.
so, jesus didn't tell people to go against the "torah" laws, right? really. well, then why don't christians refrain from eating pork, or driving to work on saturday, or why don't they were skullcaps on their heads? all of these things are required, according to the old testament, so if jesus didn't turn the people away from that, shouldn't christians be doing it?
you keep saying you'll pray for me. that's nice. but i won't pray for you. not becuase i don't like you or anything, but because there is nothing for me to pray for. you seem perfectly happy with your religion. as i said at the beginning, i don't particularly care what your religon is. you can go on believing in jesus and whatever else you want. it makes no difference to me. i just want to explain to you that just because i don't believe in jesus, it doesn't mean that i'm going to burn in hell. your religion is not the only right one. in fact, i think it's the wrong one. but of course you're never going to agree with me on that. the purpose of this discussion is that i wanted to show some obvious flaws woth christianity.
one thing that really bothers me is that christianity was founded by one individual person. there's really no way to tell that he was who he said he was. you either believe him or you don't. like you said befor,e there was a guy on the news who claimed to be the messiah. what makes him different from jesus? nothing, as far as i can tell. the only difference is that mor people believed jesus than this guy. you can believe that he could fly or walk on water or heal people or whatever, but there's really no way to prove that these claims are accurate. you only have to believe.
that's my problem with jesus. it's all based on one man, and no one yet has given me a good enough reason why i should believe him. the best you can do is say, "God loves you, and if you don't believe in jesus, you'll burn in hell." WHY?! what, exactly, is the proof that this guy wasn't just some crazed lunatic?
please, try to actually answer my questions this time. if you can't think of an answer, just say so.
Like they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. My answers aren't gonna be good enough for you. Not in a million years. You're never gonna believe me. I don't even know what your religion is, so I can't contradict it really well. Lots of things take faith, evolution takes faith, because there is no proof supporting it. And yet tons of people believe in it. Do you wanna know why they believe. One evolutionist himself said "I only believe in evoluthin because the only other choice is a devine Creator, and that would be unthinkable." I know that this doesn't have much to do with our debate, but I'm just throwin' it in there. Jesus and the dude on the news are COMPLETELY different. Jesus had moral values, that guy evidentally didn't. And there aren't dozens of people who claim to be the messiah. probably only afew. Jesus is different because He DID stand up for what was right. Some of our nations greatest leaders believed that Jesus was God's Son. So I guess they were wrong too. At least in your opinion. You don't have to pray for me, at least not to believe in your religion, because I won't. And I answered all the questions that i found. They were all jumbled together so I guess it was kinda hard for me to go through them all. Jesus died on a cross for my sins. I know that. He was a perfect man, and was the Son of God. You can chose to accept that, or not. God gave us all a free will, so do whatever you want. No one's stopping you. Go ahead, believe what you want, "But as for me and my howehold, we will serve the Lord."
;) The Mii Maker ;)
btw people don't refrain from eating pork becaus they don't have to any more!! I told you, God said they couldn't cause it was filled with ucky germs!!! And it wasn't founded by an individual person, it was founded by God. The prophets spoke about Jesus, told people about Jesus, and what thanks did they get? they were killed. Not alot of thanks in my book. And Jesus's bro's didn't even believe in Him. Sometimes, His disciples were a bit scepticle. The pharisees all kept trying to tell the people that Jesus was demon-possesed, but Jesus told them that "a house divided amongst itself can not stand." So, He couldn't have been demon-possesd, seeing as though he cast a herd of demons into some grazing pigs once. (That got the local villagers a bit angry) Satan tempted Him, and you know how He withstood the temptation, by reciting Scripture! And things do take faith. Jesus said, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." He said that to Thomas when He appeared to him, cause he was kinda like you, unless he saw it, he wouldn't believe it. But Jesus appeared to him after He had been crucified to show Thomas that it was true. And then Thomas believed. God Even made Saul blind so He could reveal to him that Jesus was real, because Saul had been persucuting Christians because they believed that Jesus was who he said He was. You need faith to believe that Jesus is God's Son. You need faith to believe that God is real. You need faith to believe in evolution. I need faith to believe that you're not some total jerk who wants me to reveal something personal so you can track me down. Lots of things take faith.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
ok, this debate is getting a bit hard to follow. let's organize things a bit, shall we?:
1) why is it fair that a good person who doesn't believe in jesus be doomed to hell, and a bad person who does believe in jesus be blessed with heaven?
2) how could jesus have been the messiah if he obviously wasn't from david's family, because according to you, god was his only father, and joseph was simply jesus's mother's husband?
3) the old testament clearly states that if someone claims to be a prophet and messiah, and he turns people away from the will of god, he is a fake and should be rejected. since no believers in jesus follow the many obligations required of them by the old testament, the old and new testaments clearly contradict eachother. how can you explain this?
4) what is the proof that jesus is different from any of the many people who claimed to be messiah? (and yes, there were many.) how do you know that none of them had moral values? if i have moral values, can't i just come up and say that i'm messiah? if enough people believe me, i can start my own religion, jsut like jesus did. what makes me any different from jesus?
5) what makes you think that belief in jesus is the only way to serve god?
6) do you seriously believe that people who follow jesus will not be punished for any sins that they might commit, and the only result from their evils will be god not "being pleased"?
7) why are you praying for me? what are you saying? (this is strictly out of curiousity.)
8) i don't believe in the theory of evolution at all. i found major flaws with that one, too. how about you?
9) i'm sick and tired of being looked down on just because my religious views are different from most of the world's. but i will not believe in jesus just because everyone else does. i believe in what i feel is right and makes sense. and for me, christianity doesn't do that. does it seriously make sense to you? you say you love me, but do you hate me because my religion is different than yours?
10) can you please give me some proof of how the pharisees were hypocritacal? some examples would be appreciated.
11) how does jesus being crucified have anything to do with your individual sins?
12) how could jesus have been perfect? didn't you ever watch barney- "Nobody's perfect."
13) i think it would be a good idea for you to number your answers, and answer my questions in the order they were asked. this does make things a lot more organized, don't you think?
sorry, i didn't see your second post until i published mine. so let's get back to that: i do have faith in god. not jesus. didn't we go through this already? i believe plenty of things. but i don't believe that thinking you can get away with anything and still get into heaven cuz you believe in jesus is a moral way of thinking. in fact, it is completely immoral.
also, ickiness was NOT the reason why god forbade pork. did he forbid driving cars on the sabbath, committing adultery, walking around without a skullcap, or eating bread on passover because that's also "icky"? if what you said about the pharisees being wrong is correct, then all christians should be following the old testiment's obligations, too.
and while proving that jesus was authentic, you probably shouldn't use evidence that "jesus appeared in a vision", because if i don't believe in jesus, why would i believe that?! the only reason why you believe that jesus came to ome dude in a vision was because it says so in the new testament. but i don't believe that the new testament is accurate, because i don't believe in jesus. so...you didn't really prove much.
right. we're not really getting anywhere, are we? no matter. i'm still enjoying the conversation.
don't worry. i'm not a stalker who will try to track you down. i don't even know if you're a boy or girl! or why your name is "mii maker".
1) I've told you before, that's just the way it is. You have to believe in Jesus or no deal. (Course, you hate that answer, but I can give you nothing better.)
2)Joseph was His earthly father, because Mary was His mother, and they got married. Joseph is His dad, things just played out differently in His case.
3) did I answer this in the other post? I can't remember...my brain may be getting a bit fuzzy.
4) you can go right ahead and start your own religion. Lots of people did. Go ahead and say, that, but don't expect me to be one of your followers. And Jesus was different because His moral values were perfectly aligned with God's. And don't you remember when Jesus got baptized? A dove came down in the form of the holy spirit and God said "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased"
5) It's not the "only way to serve God" It's just the only way to get to heaven. You can serve God in lots of ways.
6) Okay, you're not gonna get sent to hell, but you will get some sad feelings from God. It's wrong to do that bad stuff, so you can go through life thinking you'll get away with anything, but that's just sad and slightly pathetic.
7) I'm praying for you because I pray for lots of people, I have kind of a prayer list. I pray for my family, that they'll be safe and stuff, and I pray that the President will be safe, and make good decisions, and I pray for certain people I've met, that they'll get through their problems okay, and I pray for you because I like you. I ask God to help you, and I pray for other bloggers too, that you'll be safe and make smart decisions. (like not drinking and driving. lol)
8)don't believe in it either. Won't go into too much though, it would take too long to type.
9)I would just like to say, that this number has more than one questions put into it. And lots of people have different religions, and I'm not looking down on you, just having a debate. But here are the answers in order.(hopefully) Cristianity does make sence to me. I think it's crystal clear. And I love it that Jesus loved me enough to die on a cross for me. It means that He and God love me more than anyone. And To me, that's a great feeling. And yes, I do love you. I really really do. I don't hate you at all. (I may get a little frusterated sometimes, but I get frusterated at my brothers too, and I still love them a ton)I want you to know that I do really love you, hence my praying for you.
10) The pharassees told people to give to the poor, but instead, they took from them. They told people not be prideful, but they walked around and boasted about themselves, and prayed really loud about how they were so much better than people because they were the religios leaders.
11) Jesus being crucified has everything to do with individual sins. Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins. If we ask Him to forgive us, He will. Before Jesus died, people had to sacrifice lambs to have their sins forgiven, says so in the old testament. But when Jesus died on the cross, he was the ultimate sacrifice. So we don't have to sacrifice lambs anymore, becaus Jesus died for us.
12) Jesus never sined. He was tempted, just like the rest of us, but He never gave into that temptation.
14) God didn't say that driving on the Sabbath was prohibited, and I don't think that it is. It would take much more work to walk to church, atleast in my case. And if you believe that the old testament is true, then you should believe that the prophets saw what they saw, or heard what they heard. Well, keep on posting, and I'll keep posting too! Glad you're enjoying it, cause I thought you were getting pretty sick of me. ;) Well, be safe! and I'm going to bed soon, so unless you post, like, right away, don't expect anything else from me tonight. And If I forgot something, let me know.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
woops, I went from 12 to 14....my bad. and btw, Jesus didn't ask people to serve Him. He served them instead. He washed the disciples feet, He helped people by healing them, and lots of other groovy stuff. And when He was teaching His diciples to pray, He said, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be Thy name. Thy kindom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven......" He was kinda an interceptor for God. He was His Son, but He didn't ask people to worship Him, He told them to worship God. So when I pray and say, "Dear Jesus," I say it because He kinda intercepts the message and passes it on. Catholics use priests like that, but I think you really just need Jesus. Just thought I'd let you know that.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
i like the list thing, makes things more clear. so i'll comment on your answers in order. ok, here we go:
1) so bad people getting into heaven just because they believe in jesus is not fair. it's just the way it is. according to you. but i thought god was supposed to be fair and good and perfect. that doesn't seem very just to me. don't you think "that's just the way it is" is a pretty pathetic answer to such a basic, important question? if i were you, i would try to look into that one, because that is not a satisfactory answer. i was under the impression that god is fair!
2)no, if mary was a virgin, joseph was NOT jesus's father. they weren't even related! the only connection between them was that he happened to be married to jesus's mom. why don't you just accept that this is an obvious contradiction? joseph and jesus were not blood relatives, according to you. so jesus couldn't have descended from david.
3, A) let's see, what was question 3 again? let me check...oh, yes. don't the old and new testaments completely contradict eachother? no, you did not sufficiently answer this.
3, B)just as a side point- the reason why god told people not to eat pork was NOT for health issues, actually. if that was true, then why is it often forbidden for jews to eat cats, which, you muct admit, are a lot cleaner than cows or chickens? i'll let you think about that one.
4)first off, i don't believe the whole dove thing, cuz i don't believe the new testament, remember? anywho, jesus's thinking was the same as god's? really? because i keenly remember god saying, "you'll go to heaven for doing good and hell for doing bad," NOT, "everybody listen to this guy with hair like a girl, or you'll spend an eternity being poked with a pitchfork by the devil." i think you should reread the old testament, honey!
5)so i'm doomed to hell? that's comforting. and real encouraging. why would anyone serve god if he's going to hell anyway? and why would anyone bother being good, if all he has to do is believe that jesus was ressurected or whatever? this is an obvious flaw in your moral views.
6)that doesn't really wanser my question. just because it's "sad and pathetic", that doesn't mean it isn't true and won't work. according to you, i can be a horrible person, and totally not get punished for it if i'm christian. am i the only one who sees something very wrong and disturbing about this?
7) thanks, i guess. i pray every day, but i must admit that you aren't on the list. but now i feel guilty. should you be? i mean, you seem to be getting along just fine. i hope you make smart decisions, too. and i hope that this discussion isn't doing too much damage to your beliefe in jesus. it seems that the 2 of you are buds, and that's nice. i guess. although i disagree with your religion, i respect that you actually have one, and aren't one of those atheist idiots who think the world "just happened" all by itself.
8) at last, we agree on something! a welcome relief, i muct admit. i'm tired of always attacking everything you say.
9)that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. but i've seen and heard of plenty of christians who hate me for my religion, and would do anythng to get me to believe in jesus. and it's getting a little annoying. as i've said before, i don't care about your religion, as long as it doesn't interfere with mine. so many times throughout history, christians have violently tried to force others to believe in jesus. and i think that it is wrong. "live and let live" is what i say. i don't force you to agree with me; your people should do the same.
10)uh.. i asked for PROOF. i don't accept the new testament as an acuurate source. please bring me proof from either the old testament or an unbiased historical source. nothing that i've read showed any sign of the pharisees exploiting money from the people. in fact, as far as my research has shown, they seemed to be just and loved religious leaders. are you sure it isn't your blind faith that's distorting your view of history?
11)"jesus died on a cross to forgive us of our sins". huh? i thought that he died on a cross becuase he was starting trouble with the romans. you've got to read your history books. i do not see the connection between jesus's death and my sins. so, accrding to you, we can get away with anything because jesus "died for us"? what about the rest of the people who the romans crucified? how come their deaths don't absolve us from sin?
and actually, we don't sacrifice lambs anymore because the temple where they were sacrificed was destroyed. after jesus died, the jews kept up the sacrifices until general titus destroyed the temple. it had absolutely nothing to do with jesus.
12) oh, really? why did he not listen to god's many obligations of the jews, if he was jewish? why did the christians murder so many in his name, all through history? that doesn't seem too perfect to me.
13) [or is it 14? i'm confused!] actually, driving, operating machinersy, and using electricity are all prohibited on the sabbath, according to the old testament. and jews must were skullcaps, and not eat bread on passover, and pray 3 times daily, and a bunch of other stuff that christians don't do. which i don't understand, because that means that the old and new testaments contradict eachother.
you know what i think? i think christianity is so popular because people want to be close to god, but they don't want to do all the work and weird stuff that jews do. so they basically copied from the jews, took their book and everything, but they decided that if you believe in jesus, then you can go to heaven, and are automatically considered a good person. and everyone who isn't christian is WRONG! see, there you go- you've succesfully created a religion in which you can absolve yourself from all of god's demands, while still thinking that you can get into heaven, and you can sin as much as you want, because the worst that can happen is that god will frown on you a bit. wow, that religon rocks! you can pretend that you're going to heaven, even if you do nothing to deserve it! good job!
I acctually have a question for you now. The old testament has prophets in it, correct? And they prophesied about a coming Messiah, corect? So, My question to you is, how can you believe the old testament and not believe in Jesus? And I'm not Jewish!!! According to the Bible, I'm a Gentile. (Gentile means anyone who's not Jewish, btw, so you're one too.)
1) God IS just and rigteos, if you don't like this answer, then you're out of luck, becuase that's JUST THE WAY IT IS. End of discussion.
2) been over this, but not going over it again because you won't listen...again.
3) They do not, you'll have to be more specific with this answer so I can look them up in my Bible and find the verses that are "contradicting"
3 B) Becuase cats are cute! jk, I don't know why God forbade eating cats, I'm not Him, so I can't tell you. Maybe I should ask my good friend (not telling his name), he'd probably know.
4) The Jewish people had to sacrifice lambs and other animals to get cleansed from their sins. But when Jesus died, He was the ultimate sacrifice. Someone prophesied about it in the old testament.
5) It's not a flaw. People serve God because they love Him, because He told them to. He helped us, so we wanna please Him. If you go through life thinking you can get away with anything, then you obviously weren't holding fastly in your faith.
6) probably not. In fact, I know you're not the only one who has a problem with that. But it's the same thing as #1. Sorry, but that's how God made it work.
7) you do not have to feel guilty. I pray for you because I care about you, and because God loved me first and told me to love others more than myself. And even if I hated you I would still pray for you! Why? Because Jesus told us to love our enemies, isn't that a nice principle?
8) whew! I can skip this one!
9) obbviously, the Christians you've met weren't full grasping the "Love your neighbors" thing. And I can't remember Christians giong up to people and violently forcing them to believe what they did. Those were Catholics, with the Crusades. I think that's what you were referring to. And some missionarys get killed for telling people about Jesus, in fact, alot of missionarys have been killed as martyrs. Not them killing people so they'll believe them.
10) again back to my top question. How can you believe the old testament and not the new one? Just wondering, cause they kinda fit together!
11) The other people that were crucified were crucified because of doing acctual crimes, like murder, or theft or something like that. Jesus was a perfect man. And He wasn't starting trouble with the Romans. He never said anything against Ceaser, or the Romans in any way. The Jews thought that He would wipe them out, but He came to save their souls. Pilate even said that he found no reason for Jesus to be crucified. But the Jews all shouted "Crucify Him!" so Pilate gave in to them. He was afraid of the Jews, not Jesus. And The pharisees took false witness against Him, but you won't believe that cause it's in the new testament. And the Jews kept sacrificing because they didn't believe that Jesus was God's Son either. Huh, it's funny that God's chosen people didn't even listen to Him sometimes...
12) It was the Catholics. Jews murdered people in God's name, if you call going to war murder. They went to war with opposing people time and time again, because God told them too. You will find many battle scenes throughout Acts, I find it very facinating. I don't know where you heard about people killing others for the sake of Christianity, but please tell me.
13...or 14) Because we're not Jewish!!! Ugh! we believe in the Bible, but those are all ancient customs that we don't necisarrily need to follow anymore. We're allowed to work! God said that if your cow fell in a hole, you were allowed to get it out, because if you didn't, it would die. so you are allowed to do some work. The Sabbath is set aside as a day of rest, because God rested on that day, so we don't need to over-work ourselves. It's a day that we don't have school on, because we get to rest. But most Christians look at Sunday as the Sabbath. Yes, Saturday is the last day of the week, but we go to church on Sunday. There are certain customs that religious people have, that others don't.
And please, tell me what your religion is called, so I can be on the offensive for once! That's all I'm asking, cause you seem to know alot about mine, but I know absolutely nothing about yours. Thank you, and have a nice evening. I will still pray for you, and love you.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
you know more about my religion than you think. is that a clue? thing is, if i tell you, you'll think i'm just having this argument in order to prove MY religion correct, which is not the point of this conversation at all.
"the old and new testaments fit together." once again, i beg to differ. the old testament was written thousands of years before the new one, and makes no reference to the new testament at all. the only reason why the new testament exists in the first place is because people who believed in jesus wanted a "holy book" like the jews had, but needed one that said jesus was messiah and god's son and whatever.
the old testament does talk about a messiah. true. but it in no way states the messiah by name. it never says "the messiah's name will be jesus" or "the messiah's name will be bob", or anything like that. in fact, the old testament is purposely vague when discussing anything about the messiah. it doesn't state who he is, when he'll come, or even exactly what he will do.
i wasn't satisfied with most of your answers this time, by the way. you just keep repeating yourself. as do i.
you know what i've realized? we keep going in circles. i give reasons why your ideas might be false, and you simply answer "that's the way it is" or "have faith, god loves you" or something along those lines. this conversation is getting absolutely nowhere, and i'm getting sick of writing the same things over and over.
so, let's just some it up:
you believe that christians have always been peace-loving, while i've seen from history that they've often murdered and done some other not-so-nice stuff to non-christians.
examples: crusades, charlemange, the spanish inquisition, pogroms, blood libels, murders because of bubonic plague, etc.
(newsflash: catholics are christians! and protestantism didn't exist in the time of the crusades, so of course they were all catholics! what difference does that make, anyway?) want details for some things i've mentioned that you're not sure about? i'll gladly provide them.
you believe that bad people will get into heaven by believing in jesus , while i think that everyone will be fairly punished for his sins and rewarded for his good deeds.
you believe that jesus died for your sins, while i believe that everyone is responisble for his own actions.
you think that everyone who isn't christian will burn in hell, while i believe that there are many ways of worshipping god, and so long as you're a good, religious person, you can still get major reward.
you believe missionaries are saints or something, while i believe that they're annoying.
so, i think that summed it up pretty well.
I do NOT believe missionarys are saints. I believe they are good people spreading the word about Jesus! and CHRISTIANS are VERY different from Catholics. 1: Catholics pray to the diciples and to Mary, Christians only pray to God. 2: Catholics believe that you must profess your sins before a priest to have them forgiven, Cristians believe that you can just tell God your sorry for them and He'll forgive you. 3: Catholics believe in pugetory, Christians do not. They believe that you go straight to heaven or hell, no waiting in a total void. Christianity was very scarce during the time of the Crusades. Most of the people were Roman Catholics or Muslims. And those were the two religions fighting against one another. They were fighting over possesion of the holy land, that's why there was so much bloodshed. Until Martin Luther realized a few flaws with the Catholic religion, (the Nintey-nine Thesis) there were very few Christians. So your knowledge there, was a bit wrong.
And the old testament DOES refer to the Messiah, like in Isaiah 7:14; Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sighn: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Which means God with us, or Jesus)or Isaiah 9:6; For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Or Isaiah 53:3 A (A means the begining of the verse); He was despised and rejected by men, (Like the pharassees and most of the Jews!) 53:5; But he was pierced for our transgressions, (When the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus's side to make sure he was dead) he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was apon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (When he was crucified!) 53:7; He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (All while Pilate and the priests were acusing Jesus, he didn't say a word! He only responded when they asked if he was the son of God. Then he said, "It is as you say." But that was it!) 53:11 A; After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. (That was when Jesus rose from the dead!) Those are only afew, but there are lots more. See, there is evidence that Jesus is God's Son! But you never answered MY question, How can you believe in the old testament but not the new one? And I don't know what your religion is. Maybe you're Jewish, you're definitely NOT catholic...Muslim...Budist...I'm stumped. So please, do tell. I know I kept writing the same stuff over and over, but that's because you kept asking the same questions! Well, glad I got that off of my chest. I hope that got rid of at least a little doubt, but if not, oh well. Still praying for you, in fact, I pray for you every time you pop into my head.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
P.S. The Bible I looked all these verses up in was the 2:52, NIV, boys Bible. Maybe you could go pick it up?
wow! thanks for enlightening me. for some reason, all my history books said that christians are all people who believe in jesus. there are 2 main branches of christians- catholics and protestans. of course, there are many branches of protestintism as well. so, according to all my research, protestants are a type of christian, they're just not catholic. so someone's wrong here- is it all the history books, or is it you?
all those quotes from the bible confused me. fist off, which translation are you using? because "imanuel" and "jesus" are most definitely NOT one and the same. how do i know this? i read the bible in its original hebrew text. and i know that though "emanuel" DOES mean "god is with us", "jesus" means nothing of the sort. actually, jesus's hebrew name was "yeshua", it became jesus because when translated, the latin letter for "y" became the sound for "j".
second, i'm pretty sure you're taking those quotes a BIT out of context. the problem i have with this is that people should really look at what the bible says, then look at jesus and see if he might fit the bill but what you're doing is saying jesus is messiah, then looking in the bible to try to find a way to make it seem as though your ideas are true. taht's how christianity started in the first place.
sorry, shouldn't have said saints when i was talking about missionaries. i forgot who i was talking to for a minute there. where icome from, the word "saint" is used to mean "very good person". sorry for the apparent misunderstanding.
as i said before, this conversation just keeps going in circles, because my arguments are based on logic, while yours are based on faith. so maybe we should just end this. i don't agree with you, and i'm pretty sure that i'm not going to hell. i don't think you're going to hell either, because you seem to be a genuinly nice person. the way i see it, jesus doesn't enter into the equation at all. he was just some random guy who badly needed a haircut. and now he's dead. and that's it. he has nothing to do with our sins or whatever.
but you knwo what? christianity seems to be working for you, so go right ahead. i just wish you'll stop the mentality of "they're all going to hell because they don't agree with my religious veiws." that's what the whole point of this discussion was in the first place. you even said yourself, that doesn't make any sense, it's "just the way it is". you seem like an intelligent person, so i can't believe you accept that as an answer! if i were you, i would expect more from the supposedly incredible religion of yours.
and no, i'm not budist.
whoa! go GR!
you rock!
okaaaay...you are STILL not answering MY question, though I have answered all of yours to the best of my ability. But if you want it to end, I will let it end with these two things. 1: your version of "good" may not be the same as somebody else's, so maybe you could be in trouble. I guess it depends on your point of view in your religion. because stealing a paperclip is still stealing, and telling a little white lie is still lying. (And how do YOU get forgiven for your sins, according to your religion?)2: If you only have to be "good" to go to heaven, (good as in not killing people and all that nasty jazz) then I should be all right. But, if you DO need Jesus to get to heaven, then I'm still good. You on the other hand, not so much. And I don't think I took those verses out of context. And when you reviewed Christianity before rejecting it, you did some pretty poor research, or you had very unreliable sources, and there are different forms of Christianity. Some good, others not. I'm defending MY view of Christianity, not the Catholics. And to tell you the truth, I don't want to have to expect more from my religion. I'm happy with a God whose merciful enough to except me at whatever stage I may be in. I will continue praying for you, and reading your blog. And those are MY closing remarks.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
P.S. Do me the favor of answering my questions please, it's the least you could do after I answered yours.
anonymous, thank you! i'm touched.
mii maker, i'd love to answer yor questions, but i'm not exactly sure what you were asking. first off, i agree that stealing a paperclip is still bad, hence i don't steal paper clips. and i try to avoid little white lies too. i know that it's the little, seemingly meaningless things that sometimes count the most. what made you think that i would think otherwise? was it something i said?
and where you asking me how forgiveness works in my religion? well, it's a multistep process, but i'll abridge it for you: basically, you have to admit that what you did was wrong (not to a priest or anythng, this is 100% personal.) you have to make a commitment to change. basically, you have to decide that you don't want to ever do that thing again. you have to change yourself, which is always an incredibly difficult thing to do. and, of course, you have to pray to God so that he'll forgive you, and so that he'll give you the strength to become a better person. and if what you did was against another person, you have to ask him to forgive you, because god won't forgive you until the offended person does. (this is incredibly hard too, believe me.)
i don't understand why you asked me this, though. how else could one possibly obtain forgivness?
if you're right, and christians are the only people who go to heaven (which i HIGHLY doubt), then i guess hell is really full. a mice big percentage of the world is there, some of them the greatest people on the planet, apparently. gandhi must be down there, as well as einstein, and even moses for that matter!
are all people who lived before jesus in hell too, mii maker?
hmm. well then, i guess i'm going to hell, according to you. while you're hanging out with god knows who up on top, i'll be having fun on bottom, talking to some of the most brilliant and moral people on the planet.
shall we just agree to disagree?
mii maker, i was just thinking. according to you, a lot of good people are in hell, and a lot of bad people are in heaven. if that's true, i'd prefer to be in hell in any case. i think i'll have a much better time talking to moses and gandhi down there than i would having to spend an eternity in heaven with a bunch of crimminals who are only there cuz they believed in jesus.
i've discovered the main difference between us, mii maker! being a good, ethical person is my number one priority. your main concern, however, is believing in jesus. being good is just an added bonus. i think there's something seriously wrong there.
okaaay....I guess we're not ending this. I AM a good person, at least I hope I am. I know I'm not perfect, and I know you aren't eather. Guess what? Moses will more than likely be in heaven! And so will lots of other good people. God doesn't like sin, so the bad things the people did AREN'T gonna be in heaven. Just the people that believed in Jesus. And hell is going to be WORSE than your worst nightmare. Because you're not gonna be down there partying, you're gonna be in TURMOIL. Hell is a hideous, aweful place that I don't want you to go to! That is why I said what I said. If you really think that hell is gonna be that much fun, then you are sorely mistaken. And you still didn't tell me what YOUR religion is. And yes, alot of people that lived before Jesus are gonna be in heaven. I don't know how many, but I know they'll be there. Why? Because God loved them and created ways for them to get to heaven before Jesus was born. Like sacrificing, praying, fasting, all that jazz. The reason we don't fast and sacrifice stuff now is because we don't need to in order to get to heaven. We just have to believe in Jesus. And I seriously fell bed that you don't want a God who is merciful enough to take you at whatever stage you're in. God is loving, and merciful, and all the wonderful things. He's a God of second chances! Don't you know about Jonah? He didn't obey God, but God gave him a second chance after he repented. Salvation is the key thing needed to get into heaven, it's the only thing. And you keep looking at that like it's a bad thing, but it's not. I suppose we will have to agree to dissagree. But by believing in Jesus, you do have to do good things. If you don't, then you're wasting your life. I just wish you would listen to me, but obviously, you don't want to. I'm sorry that you don't believe me, but God gave you a free choice. I know where I'm going where i die, no matter what.
The Mii Maker
i don't get it. i know god is good, and merciful. i know he always takes people in and never forsakes them. i know god loves me. believe me, I KNOW!!! i've experienced it firsthand. as i told you quite a few times, i'm a very religious person, and i 100% totally believe in god. and i beleive he's good. and i believe he's fair, which you apparently don't. so what does this have to do with jesus? are you implying that it's impossible to believe in god and not jesus? i think that's funny, cuz the way i see it, it's pretty much impossible to believe in god and jesus. so why are you going on and on about how great god is, if i know that already?
what i don't know is how jesus fits into the picture at all. the more you try to explain it, the more ridiculous it seems.
and how do you know so much about hell? it's not like anyone ever comes back from there to discuss the matter.
I know so much about hell because the bible talks about it. And the way you describe God makes Him sound kinda...mean, because He won't accept the sinner into heaven. If that sinner has repented of his sins, and belives that Jesus Christ is Lord, then he's gonna get into heaven. And I have some questions for you:
1: what is your religion? could you please tell me?
2: how much of the New testament do you belive? any of it? parts of it?
3: do you believe in all of the Old Testament, or only parts of it?
4: do you believe that Jesus even existed, or that He was just some ordinary dude?
5: where in the Bible are the Old and New Testaments contradicting eachother? Exact verses please.
6: do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
the reason I'm asking these questions is becuase I want to know more about your religion. From what I've gathered, you don't believe in Jesus...and you think every good person gets into heaven. It would be kinda nice if it was that way, then I wouldn't have to worry about those I loved going to hell because they don't believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. But that's not the way it is. I can't tell you why, because I'm not God. I didn't make the world, and I didn't make the rules. He did. So, I guess you have to trust Him, don't you? Well, I'll keep praying for you. I still love you, too.
The Mii Maker
ok, more questions! yay. but this time, i'm on the recieving end. interesting.
listen, mii, just to let you know, i am NOT trying to get you believe in what i believe in. i am NOT trying to tell you that you are bad. the point of this is simply to share some ideas, to see if we can maybe learn more about religon.
ok, to your questions. i'll try to answer them as best as i can. here we go:
1) what difference does it make in this conversation?
2)i pretty much don't believe in all of the new testament. it simply doesn't seem like an accurate text. though some of the names and dates might be accurate, come to think of it. but that's just about it.
3) all of it. seems accurate to me. how about you? do you believe in all of the old testament?
4)yes, i believe jesus existed. as far as my research has shown, this is pretty much what happened: around jesus's time, the romans were persecuting the jews terribly. things were getting so bad, that the jews were almost positive that it was time for the messiah to arrive. (they always thought that when things got really bad.) so a bunch of people got up and declared that they were messiah, or a prophet sent from god, or whatever. then a group of people followed them, though their followers were always the lower class, ignorant people. the country's leaders and scholars never followed these self-declared messiahs. anywho, so what would happen was that the "messiah" would get a group of followers, and claimed he was "the salvation", until one day he would die. so the people would say, "oh, guess he was lying. cuz one of the main criteria for messiah is that he has to be...uh, ALIVE." the exact same thing happened with jesus. again, it was only the ignorants who followed him, none of the learned people. the only difference was, instead of people shrugging their shoulders and saying "oops, we were wrong" when he died, some of his followers decided that he was "resurrected" and was, in fact, the messiah. and a few hundred years later, when gentiles got involved with the whole jesus thing, it spread like wildfire, and well, here we are. discussing this. all because of one dead guy who many probably mistook for a girl from a distance. the only thing i can think about jesus getting so popular was he must have been a pretty persuasive speaker. then again, so was hitler.
5)gosh, i have to get out a bible to answer this one. is it ok if i paraphrase a little? if you want, i'll find the exact verses later. remind me tomorrow. ok, so i distinctly remember god calling the jews his "chosen people". he promised he would never forsake them. i mean, god never forsakes anyone, but he specifically stated that the jews are his chosen people and always will be. and the bible is theirs. also, according to the old testament, no human is ever allowed to change any part of the bible, not one word. no changes, no adding anything on, no taking anything out. so how can there be an entire "New testament" if the old testiment specifically states that such additions are invalid? also, god said that if someone will claim to be a prophet and try to turn the jews away from traditional judaism, which jesus most definitely did, then that means that he is a false prophet and should be rejected. but the new testament says to embrace jesus. so which one is it? embrace or reject? it's all so terribly confusing if you believe in both. additionally, the old testament says that it is an incredible sin to worship a man, or anything else besides god.
on a different note, there are many historical names that are inaccurate in the new testament. i had them all written down somewhere, i'll have to go try and find them....
also, how can jesus be from david he has no dad? you never really answered that one. and how can he be the messiah even if he did have a dad? if he was a messiah, he wasn't a very good one, because he didn't fulfill the messiah's job, now did he? and how can he be the messiah, if he's, you know- DEAD?
6)can you please give me more information regarding your belief in the "holy spirit"? then perhaps i can see if my definition matches yours. cuz i'm pretty sure it doesn't.
just out of curiosity, when you pray for me, is it to jesus? i sincerely hope not. i think praying to god would give you better results. just a helpful pointer.
I'm with u! We need to change if we want the world to become better!
Ok i just got done reading all the agruements between u and Mii Maker. I'm a religous person as well and right now you two need to SHUT UP! MY GOD! Will u two finally agree on a compromise and end this stupid thing. Oh and for hte record even though i told u both to shut up, I'm on GR's side bout the whole thing except that i do believe in Jesus but he is not the only way to heaven. If u beleive in ur religion then u will get to heaven.
monkey kid, i'm glad you agree with me. i'm not trying to tell you all to stop being christians. if it's working of ryou, great. it's not the religion for me, but it's yours and that's fine.
the only thing i would like to see changed, mii maker, is the mentalilty of, "they don't worship god the way i do, so they deserve to burn in hell". personally, i think that's a very nawwow-minded way of thinking.
oops. i meant "narrow-minded." how did that happen? the "r" and "w" aren't even next to eachother!
okay, monkey dude, you realize you just SWORE right? using the Lords name in vain here! okay, here are my responses to your answers:
1: I want to know what your religion is so that I can know more about it, because right now, I'm learning about a religion that has no name....
2: There are a TON of arceological discoveries from places in the New Testament. And I think it's pretty acurate. and btw, how many other people who claimed to be the messiah have their followers write their deeds down? one: Jesus's diciples.
3: Yes, I believe in the Old Testament. And I believe that the prophets in it were right about the Messiah being Jesus, because if you look at some of the passages in Issaac, you will see fortellings of the Messiah, and I think that Jesus pretty much filled the quota there. So you must believe in the prophets too, right? But evidentally you don't, becuase you don't believe in Jesus...
4: Okay, here's what the Jews thought the Messiah was gonna do: They thought he would come down on a cloud or something and totally wipe out the Romans, they thought he was gonna destroy them, but the Messiah was only came to save their souls, not start some violent war against the romans. Most of the people who claimed to be the messiah were people who wanted the Romans to be wiped out. Plus, the rligious leaders didn't really do anything to them, but they KILLED Jesus. Hung Him on a cross between two sinners. With the Jews He came hurling insults at Him! And the diciples weren't the only ones who believed that Jesus had risen from the dead, becuase Jesus appeared to over 500 people! And I have the verses sitting right here on my lap to back me up. And quit making rude remarks about his HAIR for crying out loud! Lots of people in the bible had long hair. We don't even know for a FACT if Jesus had long hair or not! (He more than likely did becuase there aren't any barbers mentioned in the New Testament.)
5:Acctually, I don't want you to paraphrase. So exact verses please! :) Thank you!
6: I believe in the Holy Spirit as kinda your "conciens" so to speak. It helps you when you're tempted to do wrong to resist that temptation. The Holy Spirit makes up part of the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and Goth the Holy Spirit. So, when I pray for you, it doesn't matter if I say Father, Lord, Jesus, God, they're all the same. Usually when I pray I say, "Dear Lord" Or shorten it to "Lord" Yes, I pray to God. And I also believe that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray.
;) The Mii Maker ;)
P.S. I don't believe people need to burn in hell, I don't want them to! I just know that there is only one way. And If you're not happy with that, then tell that to God, He's the one who made it that way, not me. And the nawwow-minded thing was kinda funny. It's like you were twying to be a wittwe kid wif a funny voice. :P
Listen up Mii Maker if that was swearing then i swear all the time. Now that i have officially entered the arguement im not saying that jesus didnt do all those things oh and by the way how dare u say i dont believe in jesus. I said so in my previous comment. But just because i dont believe jesus isn't the only way doesnt mean i dont believe that jesus was the messiah. Before u accuse pple of things get ur facts str8. MY GOD!
wow, monkey kid and mii maker! you 2 fight even worse than i do! shall i let you take over, monkey kid? truth be told, i'm getting a bit bored of this.
mii, i am NOT trying to proove that my religion is true! i believe that it's true already. it's the perfect religion for me. i know that my way of serving god is the best way possible. thing is, YOU think YOUR way is the best way possible. so nothing either of us say will sway us in the slightest.
the only problem i have is the "non-christians burn in hell" thing. that's the exact attitude that starts trouble. not accepting other people's cultures and beliefs always leads to hatred. i'm not saying that you have to agree with my views. i know you don't. and that's ok. no 2 people think the same way, so no 2 people should worship god the same way. expecting others to worship god your way is fruitless. and since god created each of us differently, i know that he knows of such differences. thinking that your way is the only way will cause you to be unaccepting and even hateful towards people who are different from you. i know this, i've experienced it firsthand. plenty of people dislike me, just because i don't agree with their religios views. and i don't think that god will hate me and condem me to hell because i beleive in him and serve him in a different way than most of the world. he created me differently from everyone else for a reason. and if you can't accept that other people have a right to their different opinions, then that is very sad in regard to your people skills.
i believe that god is just and fair. if you deserve punishment and don't repent, you WILL get punished, regardless of whether or not you believe in jesus. and if you do good, you WILL be rewarded. just because you believe in jesus, that doesn't give you a free ticket to heaven. thinking that your actions don't matter just so long as your a christian is a completely immoral mindframe. mii, you think that doing good is nice, but jesus is the main thing. that is immoral. don't you think your behavior should be your top proiority? it is your actions that determine who you are. you do something, you recieve the consequences, whether good or bad. you can always repent, of course. then you won't get the bad. which is nice. but believing in jesus doesn't have anything to do with your ethical behavior or your rights into heaven.
and sorry i kept making fun of jesus's hair. hope it didn't hurt your feelings.
hey, you say jesus and god are one and the same? then how can you have pictures of jesus in the first place? the old testament forbids carving or drawing an image of god in any way, shape, or form. interesting...
monkey kid, sorry i had to erase that. do you terribly mind watching your language, please? thank you!
Oops i swore? Sorry griffinrider, i'll try to watch my language next time.
thank you. your cooperation in this matter is highly appreciated.
where did mii maker go, i wonder?
and another little problem i have with christianity: they're supposed to be against paganism, right? RIGHT? well, if you do some research, you'll find that TONS of christian customs have pagan origins. a few examples: christmas trees, mistletoe, santa claus, halloween, sabbath on sunday, and a whole lot more.
do i detect a hint of hypocrasy here?
yea u should ask him to continue and the reason why my blog is named that is because im very random. Thats why
oh, just wondering.
i feel as if i should add something to this conversation. i am christian, but i believe with a lot of the things you have both said. first, mii maker what are you talking about? the last time i checked, catholics were christians. where did you get the idea they were not? and griffin, i agree with your statement about the terrorist thing. i actually asked a pastor at church and they said we can't know for sure. she told me that in her own mind, it was hard to rest thinking that they would get the same treatment. she believes that they would probably have some sort of dicipline from God for their actions. i'm still not sure. what do you think of that answer? bye.
-Christine♥
Thank u Christine. Thats exactly wat me and Griffinrider are trying to say! Come on people readingthis blog post, we need more comments like that
beachbum, i'm not really sure i understand what you said. do you mind clarifying, please?
oh. sorry. what i was talking about is the fact that the christian belief is that if you ask for for giveness and claim jesus as your savior that you get into heaven. so i was just saying that it didn't even rest easy with my pastor. is that what you were talking about? i hope that clears it up for you. bye.
-Christine♥
oh. well, if even your religious leader isn't sure about it, then there is a slight problem there, isn't there?
if there are obvious flaws with christianity, why is it such a popular religion? seriosly, answer the question. it's not rhetorical. just out of curiosity.
honestly, i think it is so popular because of the lack of rules. i do believe in my religon though. and i try to live through it's beliefs. and i don't think she had promblems with it, she just had her own idea of what happens after they get to heaven. she does believe they get to heaven. i left a comment for you on my blog.
-Christine♥
i'm glad you like your religion, beachbum. but i do think that there is a lot to think about in regard to christianity's accuracy. if it's the perfect religion for you, great. i just want rhe whole mentality of "the rest of the world will burn in hell". because that leads to hatred, and complete unacceptance for people who are different. and i think that this is a sorry result from a relgion that is always preaching love and peace.
now, the statement you just made upsets me. in my opinion, catholics do think that way, but not all christians are catholics. that is not the mentality that i personally send across. some people think that they are the only correct ones out there, but the way i see it, we are all right because religion is a very personal thing. i truly think i'm right and i also think you are right because it works for you. and i don’t think that just because you don’t claim jesus as your personal savior you won’t go to heaven. the mii maker and i are on completely different pages. some day, you are so going to have to tell me your religion and beliefs, i'm very interested. bye.
-Christine♥
okaaay... sorry I've been gone so long, I've been taking a break. Letting my brain rest. So, here we go! Okay griffinrider, I don't hate people because they believe differently from me. I definitely don't. Hate is wrong, so I don't hate you, or my cousins who believe differently than me. I know what I know. You evidentally know what you know. But I would like to say, you still haven't given me verses to support the whole New and Old Testaments contradict eachother thing. Sorry, but I want the verses so I can look them up myself and give you a good reason. And I still want to know what your religion is, cause I still don't know. (maybe I'm just stupid that way?) And beachbum, not everyone can be right. Let's say you have two blind-folded people that have to figure out what they're touching, just by the touch. You put a bowl of spaghetti infront of them and tell them to tell you what it is. One of them says worms, the other says spaghetti. They both can't be right, can they? Just a thought. Well, I am still praying for you griffinrider, and I definitely DON'T hate you. God told us to love our neibors, so the people you've met that "hated" you because you believe differently, were not very good Christians. (Yes, you can have a "good" Christian and a "bad" Christain. The "bad" ones are the ones who don't do good and don't follow in Jesus's footsteps. So good deeds do count, but they're not the ticket to heaven.) I shall get back to you later!
;) The Mii Maker ;)
P.S. Not to be rude, beachbum, but in the Bible, it says that girls can't be pastors.... just to let you know...
mii maker,
in my religion, we have different views on that. there are instinces that contradict that where women are left in charge. and i'm not 100% sure, but i believe that it does not say "girls cannot be pastors" please, correct me if i'm mistaken. and i don't like your comment about worms and spaghetti. i don't think that is an accurate discription of what i said. you can have things that you think happen AFTER you get to heaven because no one knows what it is like. not even you who obviously knows alot about religion.
-Christine♥
oops. i meant description and instances. sorry.
Christine♥
"good deeds do count, but they're not the ticket to heaven". so says you, mii maker. well then, what do good deeds count for, according to you?
ahh. it's good to see you abck, mii maker. you make me think, and i like it. i waste so much time online, i'm glad that at least here i can use a little brain power.
i found a few contradictions between the old and new testaments, in addition to the problem of the so-called fatherless jesus being a descendant of david.
ok, here's some verse you asked for, mii:
1) in 3 different places of the old testament, (genesis 46:27, exodus 1:5, and deuteronomy 10:22) it is clearly stated that the patriarch jacob went to egypt with a total of 70 people. while acts 7:14 says it's 75.
2)Hebrews 8:8-13 of the new testament, when quoting jeremiah, says that god replaced his covenant of the jews with a "new covenant" cuz god "no longer cared for them" because they didn't keep their covenant. however, the original hebrew text in jeremiah 31:32 doesn't say that god didn't care for them, it says god "remained a husband to them," which basically means the exact opposite! i don't know if some bibles changed the words of jeremiah around to fit the new testament, but that was definitely the original text.
3)Hebrews 10:5 of the new testament, when quoting psalms 40, claims that, as mii said, the death of "messiah" replaced animal sacrifices. it says, "sacrifices and meal offerings you have not desired, but a BODY you have prepared for me. but the original quote from psalms actually goes like this: "sacrifices and meal offerings you have not desired; my EARS you hve opened." this is actually talking about how god wants us to listen to him, as it says in in I Samuel 15:22: "Behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice."
and then, of course, is my personal favorite:
4) Deuteronomy 13:1-6:
"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises and gives you a sign or wonder [i.e. miracle], and that sign or wonder comes true, saying, 'let us go after other gods whom you have not known and let us serve them', you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the L-rd, your G-d, is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your G-d and fear Him; and listen to His voice, and serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death..."
as these verses make clear, G-d said He would send to the jews a man who seemed to be able to perform miracles, IN ORDER TO TEST THEM. clearly, jesus was turning the people away from G-d, because those who followed him were definitely not worshipping G-d in accordance with the old testament. so. we have a few contradictions here, don't we? i'm sure i can find more, but my research isn't complete yet, and i want to make sure i'm accurate.
look, since you believe in jesus, i'm sure you can argue from here till tomorrow that this verse is not referring to jesus. but i am 100% positive that it is.
people, you can believe in jesus. i don't care. but i don't. i would NEVER feel comfortable trusting in a religion with so many contradictions. but if it's right for you, great.
griffinrider, how do you feel about women pastors? does it contradict your religion. bye.
-Christine♥
my religious leaders are all men. women can be great people, and have a huge influence on religion and everything, but they don't have the title. why do you ask?
because mii maker was opposed to the idea and i wanted to know if you were. so is it just that you don't happen to have girl leaders or it isn't allowed? i'm just curious to see if there are any other religions that allow women to be leaders. hope your break is going well. bye.
-Christine♥
women can lead, i guess. but they don't have the title, because they don't have the same jobs that men have. my religious leaders act sort of like judges sometimes. and women can't have a title or job like that, because they often make decisions based on emotions and not intelect. it stings to know this, but it's true.
you know griffin, i am really starting to want to know your religion. and i know you don't want to put it on here. when and will you ever tell? i'm curious because you never know, it just may be the right religion for me. i'm still trying to establish what i do think and believe and what i don't. God is a hard thing thing to grasp, i'm just not sure yet.
-Christine♥
it's great that you're actually thinking about G-d and religion. a lot of people don't. good luck on your search. i hope you find the one that is right for you. what is your family's religion? are you satisfied with it?
and i don't think my religion will be right for you. it's great, but there are a lot of obligations. and though one who wants to join will be accepted, we don't generally encourage converts. my religion has no missionaries. that kind of thing is for christians.
well, i guess i have no real reason not to tell you my religion, but i have one last question before i do. will you ever tell me your religion? that's my only question. i don't care when you do, only if you will.
and i was sorta wondering why you always write G-d? is that just a way of saying you believe in a god just not "God"? idk.
so if you will ever tell me your religion, i will tell you mine in the next few days. ok. is it a deal?
-Christine♥
griffin,
i'm getting confirmed on the 20th. does your religion have any sort of confirmation?
and if it's not to much to ask, will you or are you going to answer my previous question?
-Christine♥
oh, sorry i didn't answer you earlier. i haven't checked back here in a while. will i tell you my religion? perhaps. but i don't think i need to. if you look at everything i've been writing, and you do a little research, i'm sure you can find all the clue and figure it out yourself.
anywho, i sometimes write "G-d", because in my religion, we're not really supposed to say or write G-d's name. actually, that rule doesn't really apply if you say it in english, only in another language that i happen to know. but to be extra strict with it, i sometimes try to write it "G-d" so as not to spell out the full thing. and a lot of people say "Gosh" instead of "G-d". the purpose is to not overuse G-d's name, because every time you say it it's supposed to make you aware of His power and awe and all that, and if you say it or write it too often, it becomes meaningless.
"confirmation"? what exactly do you do? i guess we might have something sort of like that, but since i don't really know what you do, i don't know if my way is similar. more info, please?
and are you or are you not satisfied with your family's religion?
hmm. confirmation is pretty much what it sounds like, confirming your religion. you kind of learn some things, help some people, and have fun and just make sure that the religion is right for you.
my family is methodist. i am satisfied with my families religion. methodists are widely known for all of the mission projects and good they do for the community. i really am happy to be know for helping. that's what i want to do with my life, i'm just not sure how yet.
and, could you give me one more clue? i want to know if your religion is one that i have probably heard of. i just want to narrow my search a little.
-Christine♥
you've undoubtedly heard of it, it's a very popular religion in certain places.
your religion sounds nice. glad you like it. it's important to be satisfied with your religion.
as for the confirmation thingy, i guess we do something sort of similar. in a way. it's this big coming-of-age ceremony, the transition from child to adult sort of thing, in which you take upon yourself to follow the religion throughout adulthood, and of your own free will, not just because you were trained to do it by your parents. is that similar?
yes, that sounds very similar. we pretty much just become a member of the church by our own choice. you kind of say that this is what you want and not what you have been told to want. you can say no when they ask if you want to become a member of the church.
am i supposed to guess your faith? will you answer if i do? i'm still looking into it.
-Christine♥
i know this is a bit random, but do you want me to call you beachbum or cathrine? does it make a difference to you?
and i have a reason for not letting on to my religion. i don't want a certain person (i.e. mii maker) to know it, for various reasons, the first of which being that he won't take my arguments seriously. why are you so curious about it? personally, i think it's quite obvious.
well, you can call me beachbum if you like but i would prefer if you didn't call me cathrine. it isn't my name. lol. my name is christine. and i really don't care if you call me by name or screen name.
about why i'm so curious, i like to know where other people stand in the world. knowing that people are different and can still be great is something that is very important to learn. i just want to keep myself from going astray and remember to be nice to everyone.
-Christine♥
a.k.a. not cathrine! lol.
oops. got the name wrong. i meant to check to make sure i got it write before i published the comment, but i guess i forgot. sorry about that.
it's nice that you want to learn about other people's religions. real nice. and i think that if you put all the hints i gave you together, you'll figuure it out. this is fun- like a scavanger hunt for you! it amuses me, cuz i think the hints i gave were quite obvious.
remember- i am not christian. or budhist, as i told mii maker.
i soooo knew it! even before i asked you, that was my guess. i feel proud. yeah. and if you didn't want mii maker to know, why are you putting it right here? he/she can look at it and figure it out. i'm smiling right now 'cause i'm happy.☺☻☺☻☺
-Christine♥
good point. maybe i should delete it. i think i'm going to right now. so...what do you want to talk about now? is your curiosity satisfied, for the time being, or is there anything else you'd like to know?
once again, congrats on figuring it out. i applaud you. you deserve a medal or something. and sorry it took so long for me to tell you.
hmmm... the smilies i put on there didn't show up. they look like circles. i wonder why.
for now i think i'm pretty satisfied. is there anything you wanna know? it might be fun to answer insted of asking.
side note, some of my family is the same religion as you. it's kind of funny because his wife is catholic and on christmas he gets dragged along to mass. sometimes even polish mass because she is polish. makes me laugh.
-Christine♥
really? that is strange. i don't think i've ever even set foot in a church.
do you study other religions a lot? i told some of my friends that i was having a debate about christianity on my blog, and they thought i was absolutely crazy. i guess it's not too common. but i wanted to find out what other people think about things, cuz most of the people i know have the same religion as me. of course, that doesn't mean that all of our views are the same, but i wanted to speak to someone who thinks totally differently from me. hence my interest in my conversation with mii maker. but i think that he/she is just plain wrong in many areas.
how about you? what do you think about my conversation with mii? do you agree with any of the contradictions i found?
and i'm sorry your smiley faces didn't come out. i would've loved to see them.
could you clarify what exactly you want to know? i found a lot of questions in there and i don't exactly know what you want to know.
if you want to know if i found contradictions, kind of. i do think there are some large gaps in christianity but i still believe it. i don't know, i guess it just feels right.
if you wanted to know if i study other religions, no not really. but even if i don't study other religions i do respect them. in college i hope to take a religion class and learn about all the different beliefs. my favorite that i sorta know now is greek mythology. i started studying it in 4th grade and still love reading and learning about it now.
-Christine♥
here are those smilies☺☻☺☻☺☻☺
uh... i still don't see any smiles. i'm upset, i want to see smiles! oh, well.
anywho, yeah, i was asking whether you agreed with me in regard to my debate with mii. by the way, i wonder where mii went? haven't seen him/her in a while. hmm.
anywho, i don't really study other religions, either, but when some question pops into my head regarding religion, i usually do a bit of searching to find the answer. greek myths are ok. i've read a lot of them. i have a friend who's obsessed, she knows all the myths and everything.
you know, i was checking the comment counter thingy, and there's about 95 comments on this post! i never knew kids were so into discussing religion. i mean, i love debating religion and stuff, but i didn't think anyone else would. and i'm not sure how we got into this conversation in the first place, cuz the original post had nothng to do with it. but i guess you're getting a little bored cuz you know my religion now, right?
well in that case, i do agree with some of the points you made in your argue ment with the mii maker. and i guess i'm not really into discussing religion. or at least i wasn't before i found this. and no, i'm not really getting bored yet. and about the smilie faces, they are there, just little. if you want to see what they look like bigger just follow these instructions. 1 open a word document 2 make sure num lock is off 3 press alt and keep holding it 4 then press 1 or 2 and the same time 5 make the font size bigger and tada, smilies!
-Christine♥
and if you get a chance, stop by my blog and tell me what you think on the most recent post. it is greatly appreciated.
i was on your blog and posted a comment, as you probably know. just my personal opinion, as always. thanks for the smiley directions.
by the way, i might not be on for a while this weekend, cuz i have a holiday coming up, and i won't be able to use electricity then. do you think that's absolutely insane? i never really spoke to someone about this who didn't have the same religion as me. i wonder what you think about it.
i don't think that's insane. what holiday is it? and why can't you use electricity? and that's okay, i'm pretty busy this weekend. babysitting, birthday party, and confirmation. do you do anything special on your holiday?
-Christine♥
just a few quick questions. when you write the year on your paper do you put 2008 or 5768? and what do you put for the month? when you have a holiday that does not permit work do you stay home from school? is that allowed?
i'm sorry, i just don't know much about the Jewish religion. i don't mean to ramble.
-Christine♥
you call that rambling?! it's only rambling if it goes on for, like, a page.
ooh, questions! your curiosity is never satisfied. the holiday coming up (on saturday night, in fact) is Pesach (pernounced with the gutteral "ch"), or as you would probably call it, Passover. of course we do special things then- what, you think we just sit there staring at eachother? my family's going crazy trying to clean, cuz we can' have anything in our house made from grain on Passover. well, it can have grain in it, but if it takes more than 18 minutes to manufacture it, we can't have it. so that rules out almost every food made from grains.
anywho, about the dates. yes, to me today is actually the 13 of the month of Nissan, 5768. but on legal documents and tests and stuff like that, i write April 18, 2008. so i basically know 2 different dates, from 2 totally different calanders. how did you know it was 5768, by the way?
we don't use electricity on holidays, just like we don't use electricity on the Sabbath. it's a day of rest, so we don't do any "work". in addition to actual employment, we don't light a fire, turn light on and off, cook, write, erase, drive cars, and some other stuff. basically, we take a break for a day. it's great. you don't realize how bogged down you are with t.v., internet, malls, and so many other things, until you step back and take a break for a while. it's like, you have a moment to breathe, without thinking about the normal worries of the rest of the week. i know you might not understand me, but it's something that you can't really explain. it's a "you have to experience it to understand it" sort of thing. but i don't know how i would be able to survive without my Sabbath and holidays. i love them.
and i usually don't have school on my holidays, except for some of the days of Hannukah, but i'm allowed to go to school and do work then, so it doesn't really make a difference.
any other questions?
what exactly do you do during your confirmation?
where to start?! well i knew it was 5768 because i looked it up online. no work sounds very relaxing. what exactly do you do? why are you allowed to go to school on Hannukah?
well i went to our rehearsal for confirmation last night and so i will tell you what we did. all of the people getting confirmed take part in the service. i am doing the announcements(joys and concerns) and some others are reading scripture or helping with the children’s portion. then we all line up in front of the church. those who need to be baptized are and others just remember their baptism and put water in the shape of the cross on their head. then we all are asked questions like if we want to belong to the church. and then the congregation is asked if they accept us into the church. then the service is pretty much over and we go back to our seats. when it is over we stand in the back of the church. then people come up to us and welcome us and congratulate us and stuff like that. does that answer your question? bye.
-Christine♥
sounds like fun, i guess. how long does it take?
anywho, i can go to school on Hanukkah, cuz on Hannukah and Purim, i'm allowed to do work. this is because those 2 holidays aren't mentioned in scriptures (they occured way after that), so they don't have the same status as Sabbath and other holidays. so on Hannukah and Purim, we can drive a car, use electricity, and all that. Purim is only one day long, so i don't hvae school. but Hannukah is 8 days, which is a pretty long time, so i go to school for some of the days.
a weird question just occured to me- you call my holidays "Purim" and "Hannukah", rite? we purnounce them the same way, except Hanukah's a little different; it has a gutteral "CH" sound in front instead of an "H" sound. but it's basically pernounced the same. and you probably pronounce "Yom Kippur" the same way i do. so why is what i call Pesach called 'Passover" by gentiles? how did that happen? just a thought.
it takes about as long as a normal church service, so about an hour. i am very excited.
i've seen Hannukah spelled Channukah before. which way is correct?
and what is Purim? i have never heard of it before.
how long does Pesach last? that is the upcomming holiday, right?
-Christine♥
happy Pesach! i'll talk to you when you can. i hope it's relaxing for you. wish me luck for tommorow. bye.
-Christine♥
yeah! i'm now confirmed and baptised. very exciting. hope you are having a good holiday! bye.
-Christine♥
congrats on your confirmation thingamabob. "Channukah" is the correct spelling, cuz that's how it's pronounced in Hebrew, but most gentiles can't pronounce the gutteral sound "CH" (can you?), so they pronounce it "Hannukah." Purim is a holiday that was about a month ago. it's one of my favorites . Pesach, Passover, whatever, is a week long. it's still going on right now, but i'm allowed to use the computer and other electronics today. the holiday is great. i spent time with my aunt. it's probably the last time i'm going to see her for a while, cuz she just got married and she and her husband are going to move to israel soon. it's very sad, i'm gonna miss her.
i don't know what a guteral "ch" sounds like so i have no clue if i can say it. and i realized one other similarity between you and henson(my friends boyfriend) you are both Jewish. you know, i don't get why Jewish people have suffered so much for just having a different religion. how do you feel about the holocaust? does it make you uncomfortable in school when you learn about it? it sure makes me feel horrible. sorry, that was a little off topic but i kind of want to know. if i offended you or you don't feel comfortable answering just don't. i will talk to you later. welcome back. bye.
-Christine♥
why is your aunt moving to israel? do you think you will visit her often? someday i want to move out of america. i don't think it's the right place for me. i would love to move to australia. i'm fasinated with everything about it. do you ever think you will move from america? talk to you later. bye.
-Christine♥
my aunt's moving to israel because her husband is going to learn there. i'd love to see australia. seems like a very nice place.
so, about the holocaust. it is the worst tragedy in the history of my people. i read about it a lot, and i've spoken with survivors. my family was originally from germany, so a good portion of my family tree was murdered. to me, the holocaust isn't some textbook lesson. i don't read it, say "that's sad", and move on. it is very, very real to me. the more i think about it, the less i understand it. it defied all logic.
my culture places a lot of emphasis on remembering. especially the holocaust. with so few survivors still alive, it's easy to forget. but we can't. the murder of 6 million of my people... six million. i can't even fathom a number like that. one day, i had a pad of graph paper. it came with 80 pieces of paper, i think. i started drawing a dot into every one of the little boxes. i sat there for hours, making dots. and i only filled a few pieces of paper. still, a lot of dots. then i made a calculation- if i wanted to make six million dots on six million little boxes, i would have to buy another 52 pads of graph paper. i never did, but maybe i should. i was just trying to show myself what the number "six million" was like.
i've started writing poems and stories about the holocaust, but it's very hard. we've lost so much. you know what really makes me mad? what makes me so angry, i want to scream? holocaust deniers. ever heard of them? they claim that the holocaust was all a big hoax, some conspiracy. that the jews made it up in order to elicit pity from the world.
you see? people are already denying it, even though only 60 years have passed. people are already forgetting. but we have to remember. if we know the story, we have to retell it, so that the 6 million innocent people, including well over a million children, should not have died in vain.
because if we don't remember, who will?
sorry i was rambling a bit there. but the holocaust is painfully real to me. i have a whole lot more to say on the subject, but if i say everything that's on my mind, i'll be sitting here for hours.
in language arts we are learning about the holocaust. for one activity we had to make butterflies. we each recieved a poem that was written by children at a camp called terizin. we had to read the poem and make a butterfly for the kid that wrote it. after we were all finished we hung them up on the ceiling. a few days later my teacher had us take them down so she could tell us if our author had survived. she hung the survivors back up. there were three. out of about 100. it was horrible. like what you did with the graph paper, it is just so hard to picture 6 million. i am also bothered by the deniers. remembering is the hardest and most important thing we can do. the holocaust will always be in my memory.
-Christine♥
wow. that means a lot. i'm glad that you're remembering the holocaust. seriously, it means more to me than you know.
every once in a while, people scream at me or my family things like "Heil Hitler" or "turn on the gas chambers." i know i should be used to it by now, but anti-semitism scares me. i know their words mean nothing, but for some reason, their hatred scares me. it is not a pleasant feeling.
and it's weird that the person i remind you of is also jewish. we share some jewish humor, or something? weird. is he religios? i'm orthodox.
are you KIDDING! people do that?! oh my goodness. i have never heard anyone say something that horrible.
and about henson and being Jewish, i don't know why you two seem so similar to me. in some ways i think that Jewish people might have a certain personality. maybe more appreciative and excepting because of history. just an idea though. he is more of a smart a** than you are though. lol. but he's usually pretty nice.
-Christine♥
aww. glad you like me. yep, people say things like that all the time, which is surprising. i mean, to think it is one thing, but to actually go out and say it? oh, well. some things never change.
so...what should we talk about now?
how about we discuss presidential canadates and who you would like to see as the next president. that could get quite interesting.
or maybe we could talk about something of less importance. like maybe favorite movies or books.
why don't you pick. or come up with something else to discuss. idk. think it over. bye.
-Christine♥
hmmm...i don't know. i'm not too interested in politics, to tell you the truth. books, yes. relgion, yes. history, yes. politics, not so much. anything specific you'd like to discuss?
say hi to henson for me!
let do books. they're kind of my thing. i have read too many to count and i think you have also. have you read twilight yet? if not, shame on you! haha, lol. just kidding but it is really good. and i will be sure to say hello to henson for you. he might be a little weirded out though since i don't reeealy know you.
have a swell day! bye.
-Christine♥
nope, i haven't read twilight yet. i will, eventually. probably. but i've read lots of other books.
of course you don't really know me. it's impossible to really know anybody. even if you think you know someone inside-out, you really don't. it's impossible.
what would you say is your all time favorite book? and yes, i know that that is a hard question but try to answer. talk to you later. bye.
have a swell day!
-Christine♥
hmm...that's a tough one. but i'm gonna have to go with A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. ever heard of it?
yes, i have heard of it. i've thought about reading it but i have so many books on my reading list that i have no time. i've also had massive amounts of homework the last few weeks. i wonder why that is all of the sudden?! my favorite book is probably to kill a mocking bird by harper lee. have you read it or heard of it? it has a lot of things in it that make you think about life. have a swell evening!
-Christine♥
yeah, i've heard of that one. never read it, though. i wonder, did the two of us ever read the same book?! somewhere on this blog is a list of my favorite books, you can check it out if you want. i think it was one of the really early posts, maybe sometime in december or january. tell me what you think of it!
you crack me up! i hope we have some mutually read books. it's more fun to talk about books when you've actually read them! i will try to find the post when i get a chance. you should also look at my list of books. in my profile i have a list of some of the books i've read. but i have read probably three times as many that i enjoyed, so just ask.
have a swell day!
-Christine♥
ok, i'll check it out, bli neder.
ha! I can't believe i actually wrote that! i'm so used to writing that to my jewish friends. that's really funny. well, mow that it's written, i guess i'll just explain it.
"bli neder" is hebrew for "without a promise". i always say that, cuz if you don't keep your word, it's a lie, right? and it's a very serious thing to lie in my religion, and probably yours as well, right? so when we say we'll do something, we add "bli neder", to make sure that what we're saying won't be considered a promise. cuz if it is, we'll be obligated to keep it. everything that comes out of your mouth is important.
aaawwww! i feel special now. so i was wondering, do you go to an all Jewish school? because you seem to only have Jewish friends outside of blogger world. is there even such thing as Jewish school?! maybe i will start a new thing. how exciting. and i like your tip of the ice burg post. i will respond later, i just don't know what to say right now. hope your wednesday is great! i know mine will be, i have chorus! yeah!
-Christine♥
thanks for the complement about my post. and i hope you have a great thursday!
yes, my school is all-jewish, actually. for half the day, i learn jewish subjects, and regular subjects the other half. it's great. because of this, most of my friends are jewish, naturally.
what do you Jewish subjects do you learn? Hebrew? or religion? i'm just curious.
do you know any languages other than Hebrew and English? Spainish (did you tell me that or was that someone else?)
what book are you reading currently? who knows, maybe i've actually read it! talk to you later.
-Christine♥
i took hebrew grammar class last year, so now i'm done with it. (thank G-d! it was the most boring thing ever!) but in some of my jewish classes, the teachers mostly speak in hebrew, so you really have to know the language to understand the lesson.
this year, i'm learning jewish philosophy, jewish law, jewish history, and bible studies. i mean, i guess that's what you'd call them, translated into english. most of those classes are pretty easy.
i take spanish class, but i can't speak it fluently at all yet. and i know the teeniest drop of yiddish. and my persian friend is trying to teach me persian, but it's not going too well. i'm not very good with languages.
i'm rereading the bartimaeus trilogy. have you ever read them? they're great!
sorry i've been gone for so long! my step-mom just had her baby on monday so i've been at my grandparents all week.
what does jewish law actually involve? is it different than other kinds of law?
i haven't read it. i've been told that i should. i'll make a deal with you, if you read the twilight series, i'll read the bartimaeus trilogy. what do you think?!
have a swell day!
-Christine♥
fine. it's a deal. i just have to get the twilight books now. but i should warn you- the second bartimaues book is not that good at all. but it's worth it to read it, in oreder to get to the last one, which is amazing.
what does jewish law involve? everything! and i mean everything. laws with money, property, prayer, kosher, sabbath, purity, speech, the commandments....
did you know there are 613 commandements? that's a lot. there are hundreds of huge books just discussing the laws of property and such, not to mention all the laws about proper ways to treat other people. speech is a big one in my religion. it is absolutely forbidden to gossip. it's hard, and i'm currently trying to work on it. so there are a bazillion laws just regarding proper speech.
in short, jewish laws cover just about everything. it'a a lot to learn.
now i have to get new books, too! i'll either have to buy or borrow them because my school library won't check out books this close to the end of the school year. do you and your friends trade/share books like i do? it's nice to have good friends that also LOVE to read!
wow! 613 commandements?! when you first said jewish law, i was picturing court-room type law. haha, i'm so out of it! lol!
talk to you later! bye.
-Christine♥
no, not that type of law! although that does have to do with some of it. Jewish courts and all that. but that's boring stuff.
yeah, i borrow books from my friends all the time. one of my friends is buying herself a library- her goal is to own 50 books. so far, she has something like 45. i'll ask her if i could borrow twilight, probably. or as i'd say, bli neder. that book had better be worth reading!
i probably have more than fifty books, and i'm not even trying. i love reading so much and my family knows it. for holidays like christmas, birthday, and easter i usually get at least a twenty-five dollar gift card to barnes and noble. best present ever. my family is made up of HUGE readers, is your's?
hey, when you get a chance, would you answer my question about siblings? it's on a response comment to you on my blog.
talk to you later!
-Christine♥
yeah, my family likes reading, too. most of us, including me, my father, and most of my brothers, like science fiction and fantasy best. though we also like reading history books. we read a ton. i also get gift cards! i got a $50 gift card on channukah! i still didn't spend it all. maybe i'll use it to buy twilight...
and since you've asked, i guess i'll tell you how many siblings i have. twelve.
(bah).
i have 4 sisters and 7 brothers. i'd rather not tell you their names, though. call me crazy, but i'm really paranoid when it comes to giving info online.
wow. that's a lot to live with. do you have to share a room?
i'm the oldest, what number are you?
and it's okay if you don't want to share their names, i really didn't think about that. (just so we're clear, Christine is not my first name.)
i always wanted and still want an older brother. do you have one? my friends have just started getting along with their big brothers, i'm so jealous.
talk to you later.
-Christine♥
i'm fourth in my family. i have two older brothers and an older sister. i usually get along pretty wel with my oldest brother, though our differing opinions very often lead us into good-natured debates (i.e., vicious arguments). i get along very well with my second brother, but i haven't seen him in a while, cuz he's been in israel for the past 2 years.
though my big sis is only a year older than i, we are as different as possible. we don't even look alike! but we're close, and we get along just fine. usually. i can;t imagine what it would be like to not have older siblings!
i have 8 younger siblings, too, which can be a little annoying sometimes. but always exciting. you know, i don't find movies like "Cheaper by the dozen" funny at all. they're so unrealistic!
my siblings range from ages one to twenty-one, just by the way.
oh, and i forgot to answer your question- yes, i share a room with my big sis. everyone in my family shares a room, besides my oldest brother.
you are so lucky to have such a big family. all families have their struggles though. i feel selfish, now that my sister is here we're building a room in the basement for me. i get my own bathroom and space. but for my defense, the oldest sibling that i live with is four years old. i would go crazy living with him. i got to go to bed. bye.
-Christine♥
wow. your own room. i can't even imagine that. in my old house, i shared a room with 3 of my siblings. we had nine kids then, and only three bedrooms!
now, my house has 6 bedrooms, so everyone shares. except the oldest, since one of my older brothers lives in israel now. though i think he's coming home for the summer! i'm so excited! i haven't seen him since november, when he came home for my aunt's wedding.
this is a bit random, but ijust remembered something funny about that wedding. there were some gentiles there, and they were so confused the whole time, cuz they had never been to a jewish wedding before. it was funny. why am i telling you this? i haven't the faintest idea. some people think jews are crazy, cuz we have so many different customs, i guess. plus most jews have large families. most of my friends have at least 5 kids, and most have more than 7. i guess we stand out, right?
i have pictures up! finally.
wow. six bedrooms. that's got to be a pretty big house to have six bedrooms. my will soon have five. you there is a difference between you sharing a room and me sharing one. your sister is only a year apart from you. my brother is ten years younger than me. i don't think it would work.
someday i want a mildly large family. like four or five children. and a dog. i couldn't live without a dog. do you have one?
i've never been to a Jewish wedding. aren't they like super long? maybe i'm thinking of something else.
why is your brother living in israel? i can't imagine not seeing one of my siblings for almost six months. i would miss them so badly.
do you think you would pick knowledge or ignorance? i have really wished to be more ignorant, even before you posted that.
have a swell day.
-Christine♥
yeah, i can't imagine sharing a room with my four-year-old brother, either. i dont know if jewish wedding are long. how long is long? my aunt's wedding lasted 6 hours or so.
anywho, so my brother's in Israel cuz he's learning there, and he's generally finding himself, i guess. traditionally, american jews go to israel to learn for a year, between graduating hischool and starting college. but my brother liked it so much, he stayed an extra year, and he's probably staying next year, too. he might end up moving there for good, and he's even thinking of joining the israeli army! i'm worried for him, and i miss him a whole lot.
i would LOVE to get a dog. my whole family wants one, except my mom, who's terrified of animals. so yeah, it's not gonna happen. when my dad was little, he hada dog named charlie, and he always wanted to get another one like him. besides for the stray that i took care of for a few months, i've never had a dog, but i'd love to.
about the ignorance and knowledge thing, i don't know. i'm tempted to say knowledge, cuz i love to learn everything about everything. but there are some truths that i have learned that i would rather i didn't. i've seen the ugly side of the world. i've seen people do horrible things, to themselves and to others. if i hada choice, i wonder if i would go back to being ignorant. honestly, i just don't know.
6 hours would be considered long. VERY long. just so you know. us gentiles tend to stick with some where between an hour and half an hour. catholic weddings are a little longer though.
i'm glad your brother likes it so much. will you be going to israel after highschool? i've been thinking about taking a year in europe sometime. maybe after i get my masters. i want to be a doctor. or maybe a teacher. elementary school. definatly elementary. what do you want to do?
i thought of some other books that i find worth reading. i can't remember the authors off the top of my head. i'll add them later.
elsewhere. great book
nick and norah's infinate playlist.
my mom would disaprove of this, so if your parents are strict, maybe not the best.
ely and naomi's no kiss list. it's by the same author as the one above. same rules apply.
the truth about forever. wow. i love this one. and she has TONS of equally great books.
the after life. talks about drugs a little. so again, if you have touchy parents, maybe not a good pick.
that's all i have time and energy to put down. what are some great books that you haven't mentioned to me yet?
have a swell day!
-Christine♥
i'm probably going to go to israel after hischool. at least, i hope i am! the school's there are hard to get into, though. but i can't wait! i've wanted to go to israel since forever, and my brother told me it's an amazing place.
what job do i want? i'm not sure yet. though i have to start thinking about it, cuz i have to choose which AP classes i want to take based on what i want to do in college. so much pressure, and i'm only 15! but i'm interested in writing and editing, and teaching. so maybe a little of all three? i don't know.
anywho, books! yours sound great, and as long as my parents haven't read the book first, they'll let me read anything. i mean, they don't know what i read. so it's all ok. but are the books really gross? as in, inappropriate, icky gross? cuz if they are, i'm not interested.
so, what kind of books do you like? sci-fi? if so, i definitely recommend Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Ender's Shadow and the Ender's Shadow series are really good too, but read Ender's Game first. that is one of my all-time favorite books.
hopefully, i'm going to borrow twilight from one of my friends, but you have to keep your end of the bargain, too! don't forget about Bartimaues, by Jonathan Stroud!
they aren't icky gross. i don't really like super over the top in depth icky books. not what i'm looking for.
the most innapropriate one's are nick and norah's infinate playlist and ely and naomi's no kiss list. especially nick and norah. they get a little close for comfort. idk. it wasn't like "OMG. i need to put this down!" you might not like it. but you should read the description on barnes and noble.com before you make a decision. and the reviews.
i remember my end of the deal, don't worry.
sorry to cut this a little shorter than i planned but i have to go to bed. we have my 9th grade canoe trip tomorrow, if it doesn't get rained out! talk to you later.
-Christine♥
okay.
canoe trip? that's fun. i canoed in lakes many times, and i canoed 10 miles down a river once. me arms were KILLING after that. but it was fun.
we didn't get to go! so sad. it rained all day and even the night before. our rescheduale date is june 4th. i hope it doesn't rain then. have a swell memorial day!
-Christine♥
that's horrible! i feel so bad. in camp, we went to this super-cool amusment park, and it started pouring rain. but i had a good time anyway. i went on a roller coaster in the rain, which was great, but then they shut all the rides down. so we just danced in the rain and got soaked and ate ice cream when we were freezing and drenched and had a great time.
dancing in the rain makes me happy. i don't have a clue why though. we all wanted to go even though it was raining, but the mean (not really) teachers said no. they put these signs saying "no, not today!" up in the halls so when we came into school we would see. very depressing.
-Christine♥
last night we had another tornado warning. much worse. the sirens went off at about midnight and we all ran down. then we discovered the real issue, the waterfall pouring into our basement. we've been having some work done so that it can be my room and they had to cut a whole in the foundation so we could put an escape window in. the crazy contractor didn't cover the whole except for a piece of PLYWOOD! so we had quite a night starting w/ the sirens and ending w/ standing outside in the rain hammering wood to our house to hold the big sheets of plastic we decided to use to cover the whole. i'm completely exhausted.
-Christine♥
wow. sounds like fun. do you get tornado warnings a lot? we never get them here. we get the after-effects of hurricanes sometimes, but never tornados. do you think you'll ever be carried away by one, and end up in Oz? that'd be interesting.
anywho, so my house is about 109 years old, and the pipes are kind of falling apart. this week, for instance, we have two huge leaks in our kitchen ceiling, two broken sinks, and a leaky radiator. it certainly makes it more exciting to live in a house that seems like it's about to fall apart!
we do get tornado warnings quite often but this year is particularly bad. where do you live? i live in iowa. i just moved back. we lived in illinois for a few years until about three weeks ago. before illinois we lived in iowa. but i'm totally not a hick or anything like that. i've never lived on a farm and never want to. i live in a fairly decent sized city of about 150 to 200 thousand people. i would love to live somewhere big when i move out. maybe chicago or new york. idk. do you think you will stay close to where you live now when you move out of the house? your old house sounsd entertaining. sorry to hear about the problems you're having with it though. how long have you lived in that house? i've lived in about five different houses since i was born. i don't really like all the moving, but what can a kid like me do to change what my parents do. talk to you later.
-Christine♥
i've lived in 3 houses, but i only rememeber two of them. all three were in the same city. (can you guess which one?!) i've moved into this entertaining house about seven years ago, i think. it's in a pretty bad neighborhood, actually. there have been shootings near my house recently, and a 15-year-old girl was shot in the head. horrible. fortunately, i don't frequently go to that side of town. it's still scary, though. and incredibly sick.
so, iowa. i've never liked the sound of that place. don't get me wrong, i'm sure it's great. it's just that throught elementary school, we were forced to take these horribly annoying tests called the Iowas. and ever since then, the mere mention of that word makes me shudder.
the ITBS tests?! i hate 'em too! but i honestly don't think that's a good, well founded reason to dislike iowa. i think you live in NYC. i think i remember going back to your first post to see if you were any good when you started and seeing something about NYC. am i right?!
have you looked at xxxvynnxxx's video yet? it's so weird seeing her other than on her blog. idk. you should check it out.
how long are you going to be gone? do you get to go on vacation or do you have another holiday? talk to you later.
-Christine♥
it's not that i don't like the place Iowa, it's that i don't like the word "iowa". you hear the difference? the word brings up a lot of bad memories. i'm sure the state is a great place.
anywho, no, it's not another holiday, though there is one coming up soon. it's my school's annual end-of-year retreate. basically, for a few days, the school rents out a camp for the weekend. it's great; like being in summer camp, but with all of your school friends. there's a part where each grade makes a presentation to say good-bye to the school's seniors. my grade made a video, and i'm in it. i can't wait to see how it came out! but Senior Farewell (that's what the presentation thingy is called) is very sad. my school is very close- i have friends in every grade. saying good-bye to the seniors is sad. i bet they're all gonna cry, uz they are OBSESSED with the school and don't want to leave.
the retreat is from thursday till sunday. i think you can last a few days without me.
that sounds so fun. i wish my school would do that. but we have some where around 2,000 students at my highschool. that would have to be some camp. i read your new post. it's definatly one for me to think about. you have very interesting ideas that often seem to be quite good and accurate. when i was reading that post this popped into my head. you remind me of a wise old man sitting on a couch speaking his mind. hmmm. that doesn't sound very good when i write it. i hope you know what i mean by that. i don't wanna be offensive in any way. my last day of school is friday. i'm so happy and sad at the same time. when is your last day? talk to you later.
-Christine♥
huh? an old man? i dunno, i never really looked at mysef that way before....
wow, big school! mine only has about 300 kids! there's about 80 kids in my grade. my school's great, we're all like one big family. except, the prinicipals and other people in authority are the biggest jerks on the face of the planet. i seriously can't stand them, and they can't stand me either, so it all works out.
anywho, my last day of actual class was last wednesday. then came the trip, which ended today. for the next few weeks i have tests, then that's it.
i still don't know what i'm doing this summer! i was supposed to work in a daycamp, but that didn't work out, so now i might work in an actual camp. i dnno, it's complicated. i don't really want to work there, cuz i'm not gonna be with my friends, but oh, well.
glad you liked my post, by the way.
i seriously mean the old man thing in the best possible way. like that you are wise and worldly and know and understand concepts way beyond your age. i swear i don't mean that as an insult.
only 300 kids?! in my eight grade class we had about 210 students! but i go to a fairly large public school and you go to a jewish school so the difference is reasonable.
i was still wondering because you never answered, do you live in new york city? you don't have to tell if you don't want. i'm cool not knowing.
i only have three and a half day of school left! and one is supposed to be a canoe trip and another is our graduation/going-up-a-grade-awards-ceremony day. so only two days of real school left. yeah! and i'm still doing homework so sorry but i have to go. talk to you later griffinrider.
-Christine♥
i'm cool with the whole "old man" thing. i'm just happy it was supposed to be a compliment. points to you for creativity!
i'm finished with class, i just have finals now. so annoying! which reminds me, i should proabably be studying now...
and if you don't mind, i'd rather not say where i live. though i have been to NY many times. cool place.
hello griffinrider! i haven't been on here forever. sorry. i have been to camp, mom's, grandma's, mom's again and finally have some computer time. i started reading a great and terrible beauty monday, rebel angels thursday, and sweet far thing sunday. i absolutely LOVE them to say the least. i'm glad you recommended them to me. have fun at your camp. bye(not a forever bye)
-Christine♥
alright griffin, it's july 31st. where are you? just kidding. sorta. i hope you get back here soon. i've had no one to debate with on non relevent issues. talk to you later.
-Christine♥
i'm really starting to get worried about this long drawn out absence. you were supposed to be back 2 months ago and yet here we are. i totally understand if you're just done with blogging. but it would be super great if you could at least say goodbye to me on this "hidden" conversation. then i would know that you aren't dead. and if you are, i'm terribly sorry. but i don't think that's the case. bye.
-Christine♥
hey! sorry about my prolonged absense. now we can get back to our private conversation.
so, had a good summer? mine was...interesting. and how amazing are those Libba Bray books? my all time favorites! i told you so! (for some reason, it always feels so good to say that. i wonder why.)
btw, what ever happened to mii maker? i can't say i mis that whole religion debate, but it was definitely interesting.
i had an amazing summer! one of the best for a while. but it was unusually busy. i had so much swimming for my team that i only went to a real pool for fun one time this year! lol. and those libba bray books are absolutly incrediable. i'm so glad you recommended them. have you read twilight yet?! because that was your end of the deal. how is your school year going so far? mine's going great and i'm having so much fun this year. it feels like a year of immense change for me this year. i don't even know why. i'm quite glad you're back btw! i hope to talk to you later. bye.
-Christine♥
sounds like you had a great summer. mine wasn't too good, to be honest. i haven't gotten around to twilight yet, but hopefully, i will. eventually. school's ok. i think this year is definitely harder than last year was. and busier, what with school production and a job and SATs and all that jazz.
sorry ur summer wasn't so great. and i totally understand that u really haven't had time to read twilight. now that school has started again i haven't gotten to read at all except for weekends. it's horrible! what kind of job do you have? i'm thinking about looking for a job but i'm not sure yet. i don't know if i have enough free time at the moment.
-Christine
i didn't actually start yet, but hopefully i'll have a job tutoring. it's only twice a week though, so hopefully it won't take up too much of my time. and i also want to tutor kids in religious stuff, but i'm not sure if that's going to work out. i hope i can do it!
so, yeah, i've been busy. sorry about that. plus, my New Year was this week and i have another holiday coming up, so i'm not going to be able to blog so much in the coming weeks.
i'm sure you'll do a great job tutoring kids in religion. you seem like an amazing teacher and mentor. i'm sorry i've been gone for such a long time. i've just gotten wrapped up in life pretty much. i hav a boyfriend now!! he's really nice and his name is trevor. i'm very happy with my grades so far this year, too. i gotta go to bed now but i'll talk to you very soon. bye
-Christine
p.s. i got a new laptop and it doesn't hav a number key pad so i can't make hearts anymore :( it's nothing personal, lol!!
oh, man, no more hearts?! that's so sad. oh, well. hurray for laptops, though!
i'm so happy for you that you've got a boyfriend. i don't have one, and i don't really want to have one now. boys are pretty low on my priority list st this stage in my life.
ok, gotta go. i have so much homework, i just want to scream!!
i'm quite sad about the hearts too!! it doesn't seem as happy now lol.
and honestly boys aren't that high on my list either but it just kinda happened and hes super nice. i've never been one to obsess over boys thank goodness!!
and ik, the homework seems soo much worse this year and i don't even know why! well i have to go work on mine now lol so i'll talk to you later! <3 that's the best heart i can do :)
-Christine <3
that heart is ok, but i miss the old one. oh, well. there are worse things in life.
ya, i'm glad i'm not boy-crazy, either. when people get obsessed with boys, i dunno, it seems so shallow to me. i have much more important things to worry about right now than whether some guy likes me or not or if i'm acting too desperate or if i look good enough.... it's seruously pathetic, the way everyone carries on about it.
yes it really is pathetic. but sadly i'm in the middle of major drama and it all has to do with boys... lol. ironic. but so while i was going out with that one guy, i started liking another guy. and so yesterday i broke it off with number 1. and after it was facebook offical, he sent me a very hurtful message. and i took a mental health day today it was so cruel. idk what the heck is going on but everything is up in the air now and the whole school (at least my grade) is talking about it. i hope your life is going better.
-Christine♥
Oh, Gosh, that's pathetic. it's a whole drama scene, over boys? WHY? what's the point? honestly, i don't think boys are worth all the gossip and fights and stupidity. i'm not ready to have a serious relationship right now, so why bother having a boyfriend? some of my friends think it's cool, but i don't think it's worth it.
but don't worry. you'll get through this. if that guy sent you a hurtful message, that just proves that he's not the kind of person you want to be with, so it's a good thing you broke up with him.
well the whole big drama scene is over now and i'm quite happy at the moment. and i am soo glad to be on winter break!! hey just a slightly strange just wondering kinda question, does your school get off for all of hanukkah? or just a winter break, or both? because where i live we don't have any jewish schools so i have nothing to really go by on how that works. well i'll ttyl. bye :)
-Christine <3
glad the drama's over. i hope everything worked out.
for Hannuka (i pronounce it Channuka, btw) i was off for 3 days. well, really 4, because one day we had to come in for four hours for rehearsals for the school production. at the end of january, we have a winter break, too. channuka is the only holiday that i actually have to go to school for, because, unlike most of the other holidays, we're actually allowed to work and stuff on channuka.
so, how was your holiday?
hey griffin, i'm back. i'm really sorry that i've been gone so long but everything has just been so busy lately. and that's not necessarily a bad thing. i've been very happy and have been having a great time just living life. i couldn't ask for more right now and i hope you're doing well also. i'll talk to you soon griffinrider!!
-Suzanne
hi! i know what you mean, i've been incredibly busy myself. i n fact, i don't know why i'm sitting here typing this- i have so much to do!
yeah. so, how's life?
btw, since when were you suzanne?
oh crap... um well that's my real name. i didn't realize i typed that. i figured going by a fake name would be better on such a public website. please don't tell anyone my real name, i would like to stay kind of private.
but it's going really well right now. i just got back from a show choir competition and it was soo much fun! i'm not in show choir myself but i went with some friends and our teams did amazing. the best female soloist went to one of our freshman girls!! it's really amazing that out of the many soloists, one of our girls would get the award, not to mention that she's so young.
i hope eveything's going great with you too! i'll talk to you soon
-umm... me, lolw
don't worry, i won't tell anyone. honestly, who would i tell, anyway?
anywho, that sounds really cool. i wish i could sing. oh, well. my sister was in a choir competition once. she has an AWESOME voice!
thank you!! and i don't have much of a voice either... lol. i really wish that i did though. i would love to be in show choirs and musicals and stuff like that but it's not exactly my calling.
oh, and just wondering, why haven't you posted anything lately? not that i've been so great myself, but i was just curious.
Hey! I'm back! Hows everything been griffinrider? You too Beachbum? What's up?
oh my gosh!! monkeykid! i haven't talked to you forever. im doing great right now. normal teen drama but other then that, nothing much new with me. how are you??
-Christine<3
greetings, comrades!
bonjour! i've been horrible lately...
Why? what's up? you sound like you're going through a hard time
i don't know. just alot of family drama on top of school on top of friends on top of people who are no longer friends... there is just sooo much going on lately. but i'm actually a little better than i was a few weeks ago. how have you been? i've really missed talking to you :(
i've missed you, too. i'm so busy. i have my fair share of family drama, too. not to mention friend drama. it's so annoying. i'm a senior now, and i'm really busy trying to figure out what exactly i'm doing after high school. . .it gets a bit stressful sometimes. other than that, i'm doing great, thank G-d.
drama in general is just annoying. this weeks is finals week and i'm so stressed out. i'm just sick of school right now which isn't good so early in the year. hopefully things look up soon :/
Wow this post sure has changed hasn't it? How was your senior year Griffinrider? Christine how have you been? It miss talking to you two!!
Lotsa hugs and love,
Monkey Kid (Hasta Pasta!!)
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