To Know

Thanks to my buddy Forrest, in November I acquired an interest in slam poetry. Stemming from hip-hop music, slam poetry is recited in a rhythm mimicking rapping with memorized hand gestures, and most often has an important message to deliver or shows a perspective not normally seen. It is a very fascinating art form and I highly recommend watching some videos on YouTube. It blew my mind.

Last night I sat down to write what I was intending to be lyrics for a song on piano I am in the middle of; but when I began to write something else came out. For a few months now I have been mulling – more than usual – over many, many questions about truth, right and wrong, life, God, eternity, etc. And I really had gotten in a state where I was so confused I was avoiding thinking at all; I felt like there were so many perspectives justifying themselves in my brain that it was impossible to be sure of anything anymore. I don’t know if any of you have ever felt this, but I am sure you can imagine how miserable it is. When one doesn’t know exactly what one thinks, one loses touch with one’s identity and starts to feel like a spirit flitting from one body to the next but never having one’s own feet touch the ground.

This poem, such as it is, finally helped me figure out what I believe. Uncertainty has left me and I can walk self-assuredly on my own two feet again. Most importantly, I feel filled with “the peace that passes understanding.” I feel not only like a giant burden has been lifted, but that I now have wings.

The form/rhyming/etc. could always use improvement, so anybody is welcome to make suggestions of any kind. This does not have to be the final product.

So, without further ado...

To Know

Logic
What logic?
Logic is only a game
Think your perception is better, clearer
But rationalization is the key
Fake reason isn’t the answer
When used so high and mightily
Wrong answers are found
By looking in the wrong places
Don’t bother looking elsewhere
You won’t, and you won’t see

Time
What time?
Time is simply now
Stop pretending to balance records
Against something you have no
Knowledge of – and whoa –
Don’t go there and base your case
On what newfangled know-it-alls
Have declared to know all of
When philosophers, scientists, artists
So “primitive” to progress today
For thousands of years
Have said something else

Fate
What fate?
Fate is just a name, supposed
Substitution for careful planning
Good fate is luck, or universal balance
Bad fates just suck
Or maybe God has turned against us
But have you ever thought
We ought to have a better outlook
See past our petty sorrows
See tomorrow – we never do
Someone has a plan for this – and us
Maybe bad happens now
For the greater eternity that lies ahead
But you don’t see the big picture

Truth
What truth?
Truth is all there is
Without it we are lost and don’t accost
Ourselves to consider the price
We all pay for an individual’s fascism
So many disagree on the nitty-gritty
Details; itty-bitty issues of what is true
But do you not see past your fine long nose
You look down in disdain
At people just the same as you
And see as humanity – as one – we all agree
That God says to love one another
And hating is murder

God
What God?
God is a big guy in the sky
Laughing with glee when we skin our knee
And eagerly awaiting the day he can
Toss us all into the furnace
No. God is love. God of all people
Should know the art of mercy, compassion –
Forgiveness for us all, for whether we
Know it or reject it, we are all his
Children, and we all do the same things
None of us deserve his love; the entire race of man
Screwed up this beautiful world so much
That God died.

Every one of us is at fault
He not only forgave us, but he saved our very souls
If it’s too crazy to believe, I don’t blame you
Because I’ve been down that path
But let me ask – this act of ultimate love:
Where did it come from?
From he who IS love – the creator of love himself
How else do you think we know love?

The Truth About Truth

Now, I am no great and wonderfully intelligent modern-day philosopher. I am not even that well read in all these philosophy books that a lot of y'all debate people have read a million times before. I'm just your average person with a worldview that doesn't necessarily coincide with the norm, and is therefore hard to explain. Nonetheless, I will try my best, if you try your best to understand.

First of all, I believe 100% that there is Absolute Truth. Do NOT misunderstand me. I believe there is a Divine Power, aka God the Father/Son/Holy Spirit, who knows the real truth, the real right, and the real wrong.

However, I am going to throw some "howevers" into this statement.

Each person believes what he or she believes, correct? And each person believes that what they believe is true. If they didn't believe it was true, they wouldn't believe it, would they? No. That is just impossible. But, not everybody believes the exact same thing. Many people even have drastically different beliefs.

There are some people who do not even believe there is a God, and don't even believe in absolute truth because of that.

So, what is truth?

J, F.K.A. Jos, F.K.A. and A.K.A.I.T.R.W. (In The Real World) Jonathan, brought up a simple situation of Coke. The instance was, he belives Coke is "well-used dishwater", while I believe it is a delicious soda that I would like to drink right now. Who is right? Most of you would probably agree with me, I know. But does that make it Truth? No, majority does not make something true (shocker). Jonathan could perform many science experiements to prove that Coke is as good for you to drink as dark, greasy dishwater, and it would make sense. But does that make it Truth? No, because even if it all seems great and amazing, dishwater and Coke are simply not going to be the same substance...and if that isn't the issue, then something else will be, guaranteed. If we kept up the Coke vs. Dishwater debate, we would be at it till the day we kill each other (like most people with strong religious and political views...heh...).

That said, I say that only God knows whether Coke is soda or dishwater. Of course, if you don't believe in God or any Divine Power, this is a faulty assumption. And THAT can keep going around and around in a circle, much like the coke/dishwater debate above.

So, perhaps by now you might understand a little why I say that everybody has their own Truth. Because whatever is true to someone is their Truth. There is absolutely no way to know what is true until Kingdom come, right? That is MY opinion, anyway. Of course, some people don't think that "Kingdom" is coming.

The only thing I would hate in this situation is to be Agnostic. I don't want to insult anyone, but here goes my opinion on Agnosticism. I would never want to be Agnostic, because...nothing would be true, even for me. Other religions have their Truth, and Atheists have their Truth...there is no God. At least there is something sure to believe in. But as an Agnostic, I would never be quite sure about anything, and be very confused and never able to make up my mind.

Now, I know some of you are probably thinking that MY views on Truth are borderline Agnostic. That's fine, you can believe that. You can also go ahead with all of that "It's not very Christian to believe this way; after all, if you're such a doormat about what is true, how are you ever going to help anyone get saved?" I don't mean to disregard this; it is a valid point.

First of all, I believe that what I believe is THE Truth, no matter what. With that foundation, therefore, I can go out and advocate all I can. The same with choosing sides for a debate, except that, since Christianity is such an important part of my life, there is much more emotion involved than just a simple "Am I arguing 'for' or 'against' in this round?" I have experienced God, his love, mercy, salvation, and sanctification in the most amazing ways in the past three years. I don't know how I would have ever gotten on had I denied my need for my Savior any longer. And there is definitely no way I could have had such a radical life change had God's hand not been there for me to hold as he helped me up out of that dumpster of a life. There, I have my (abridged) testimony. And, if you think about it, that is basically all I can give. I believe that science can prove God created the earth in 7 days, but lots of people believe the scientific evidence that suggests evolution...I could go on.

Plus, if you think about it, our charge is to spread the Gospel wherever we go, not persuade people with our amazing sales pitches on Christianity. I'm going to "show and tell" them, "this is what I believe. This is why I believe it. This is how I live what I believe. And I would love for you to experience the joy and freedom I have found in Christ, because I care about you." Then it's up to them to decide whether to accept my Truth as their Truth. That is what I meant at the end of my last entry when I said, "I have my Truth, and it may not be your Truth, but it's mine. I wish it could be everyone's Truth, but it can only be your truth if you want it to be."

So, NOW do you see?

~Jessica

Peace sells, but...

Is it a sin to long for the simplicities of youth? Grow up, Jessica. Be a real person in the real world. But why is the real world so full of confusion and complication? Why is everyone so selfish and single-minded? Why must we all disagree, argue, interfere, and destroy?

Expressing these thoughts to other human beings is pretty much impossible. I know you are all laughing. Silly, sheltered homeschooler. Grow up. THIS is reality. Peace is a dream; don't bother with the idea too much. As they say, peace sells but nobody's buyin'.

I like my box. Why do I even need to bother caring whether the government is out to get us or not? What does it matter to me? I suppose, to a degree, it is nice to be able to understand what is going on and, as Allison says, who to trust; maybe when is a good time to react to something that isn't right, or perhaps relocate someplace where I might live a more quiet and peaceful life with no outside interferences.

I really don't care what other people think of me, as long as they keep any negative thoughts to themselves. It's not as if I want to be childish and avoid the responsibilities of being an adult. I want to live, and work, and help people, and get married, and have children. I want a simple life, with little or no interference from outside parties. I only wish I could travel to and live in England for a year. But I can't. I have to have some "legitimate" "reason" which, I suppose, will prove if I am not a criminal or some such nonsense as that. Call me ignorant if you want to, but what sort of crime are they trying to avoid? And why aren't passports enough? If someone commits a crime in England, they should be tried in England, correct? Why does anybody have to be a citizen of anywhere? If you are somewhere, that is where you are, and if you aren't, then you are somewhere else.

But it's not that way. Government systems tese days prevent it. People are in power and want as much control as they can get. Laws are created, wars are started...whatever "needs" to be done.

If children ruled the world, think about how much better things would be. Those who committed wrong would be punished for it by being made to repay 100% to the person they had wronged, and that includes compensation for inconvenience and whatever else was caused by the original wrong. That is "an eye for an eye." You don't take out your wrong-doer's eye just to punish him for taking out yours. You remove the eye and use his eye as your own! Okay, that is a little absurd...as in, impossible. But you know what I mean. If someone kills somebody else, they themselves should not be killed; they should be indebted to the victim's family for life. The family can choose to hunt the murderer down and kill him, or they can make him into a personal slave, or whatever they want. Killing someone is hardly a punishment...that puts them out of their misery, end of story. Even a life in prison isn't the same, because the murderer does not compensate to the family for his wrong. Sure, a life can never be replaced or paid for. But if we're talking "eye for an eye" here, that was never meant to mean that if you kill somebody, you should likewise be killed. It's unreasonable.

I'm not saying that the world would be flawless if children ruled it, but it may be better off. Perhaps we would have equal rights for society and government alike. Kids have a good degree of common sense and of right and wrong that we really don't give them credit for. What we have now is a bunch of power-hungry fascist law school graduates who constantly theorize illogically and think they have all the answers. That doesn't make me very comfortable.

But!!! I just don't even care. I like my box. In it, there's me, my friends and family, others whom I must interact with, and the life I live. I pay taxes when necessary, and I drive on roads, drink clean water, appreciate the comfort of the fire station up the street, etc. I don't care whether this is operated by the government or a private organization, as long as whoever it is stays out of my business. It's okay to be informed, but I really don't even want to care. I am here on this earth with a deeper purpose than government. I am here for God. And if that isn't relevant to something, I shouldn't spend too much time worrying about that something.

I have my Truth, and it may not be your Truth, but it's mine. I wish it could be everyone's Truth, but it can only be your truth if you want it to be.

~Jessica

On Optimism, Part One

I have wondered, this past week or so, why I always seem to automatically look at the bright side of things.  It wasn't as if a year or two or however long ago I said to myself, "In order to be happier and improve my outlook on life, from now on I will always look at the bright side of any given situation."  It just happens; I just do.  And I have begun to think that the reason is some combination of events in my life thus far.  Vague, huh?  Let me try and explain...

When I was very young I would often go to my Grammy and Papa's (and then, Aunt Sue-Sue's) house.  Okay, I still do that, but for some reason it seems like I did it more a long time ago.  Anyways....whatever the occasion, other relatives would often stop by.  They would talk, and I would listen (I wouldn't look like I was listening, but I was, indeed).  I picked up on a lot of stuff, but one thing remains most prominent.  It was some celebration in the summer, 4th of July or thereabouts, and I was probably five or six.  Some guy-cousin or uncle, I can't remember, was explaining some long story to my Grammy as I had come inside the kitchen to cool off for a bit.  I can't remember what the story was, exactly, but I remember it being interesting.  After he finished telling the story, what my Grammy said next, while I filled up a glass of water at the refrigerator, was what has stuck for the past 13 or 14 years: "Wow...isn't it amazing how God always has a plan to eventually work out even the bad stuff for good?"  I meditated on this as I trumped back outside.  What if God really did?  I might have to wait a long time to find out!

It was a year or two later that I found out that this was a Bible verse (Thanks to Hide Him in Your Heart!), and like I said, it stuck with me.  I began noticing little child-like/childish things after a while.  Nothing huge, of course.  But I was always of the opinion that it was the coolest thing ever! (besides Beanie Babies and Juicy Juice, of course).  

I appeared to abandon the idea, however, as I took the rough ride into teenager-hood.  From ages 11 1/2 to almost 16, hormones started off on a bad nerve with me.  And if life seemed full of despair and desperation for me, I am a thousand percent sure that I made life complete hell for my parents.  At about age 14, I distinctly remember taking great pride in my decisive pessimism.  I was a pessimist!  I got angry about everything!  I really did, I am sure of it.  After all, I had to walk and talk the talk of my half punk/half grunge-goth "identity."  I thought I liked who I was, but in all honesty I have no memories of ever being truly happy and joyful at that time.  Every journal entry was mad at somebody because I wasn't allowed to do something, and contained many schemes for rebelling and plans for all I would "accomplish" once I turned 18.  

All of that to say firstly that I was horribly discontent and pessimistic, and secondly to apologize to everyone who was close to me during that stage.  I am surprised you all stuck it through, and commend you for it!  

But I suppose that, by the time I entered my Junior year, I had worn out most all of any pessimism I had been programmed with, besides the little healthy dosage left to make sure my life became dramatic at some points here and there so it remained "interesting."  I was far from through being resurrected from the depths of despair, but it was at that time that I joined my current improv group, and made some really good friends on swim team (before that, everyone I knew on the team was just a casual friend).  These two amazing groups of Godly people, along with the people I was already friends with at that time (those who stuck it through or stayed anyways, despite my entire existence being flawed at the time), and my wonderful family, dug me out of the hole I was in - by hand - and held me up to towards the Light; towards my heavenly Father.  Slowly, but surely, I have been changing for the better, with the help of them.  MOST importantly my parents, who never gave up on me and NEVER let me stray off completely to sell my soul to the world.  

Now I can see, though, that even as I completely and utterly regret those cursed year, wishing they had never happened, I can see that there are so many things that would not have happened and so many mistakes made later, were my wish to come true.  The consequences might be something as horrible as death or causing great shame to my family.  I may have gone off to college and fallen too far, without the desire for the help of godly friends or parental influence.  I might have never had the amazing opportunity of joining the Unintentionals.  Had I not been SO depressed at one point that my mother insist I join the homeschool swim team and swim all my frustrations out, I would not have the greatest group of friends on the entire planet.  And so much more!  

In other words, where would I be???  The outcome is unimaginable, even for me.  

So that, my dear friends (old friends, swim team friends, improv friends, and new friends....I love you all!), is one grand reason I am so entirely optimist all the time.  Even though something looks hopeless, I can almost guarantee it is NOT.  I wasn't hopeless, was I?  I might as well have seemed very much so; the 13-year-old  kid who dresses as grungily as she can and looks as angry as possible for her first therapy session in order to attempt to scare the psychologist off?  Yup, that is bad.  But now I am pretty sure my happiness level is consistently at about 98.5%, nearly all the time.  If I am not a miracle (not to sound full of it or anything) then I don't know what is.  Thanks so much, everyone, for everything!

~Jessica          

This Morning

The clouds are still grey with a hint of blue in them.  The fresh dogwood blooms are dampened by the early morning rain, and are dripping and drooping towards the lush, wet grass.  Sparrows call and finches chirp, calling the sun out from the shadows where it sleeps.  The softest breeze kisses the pine branches enough to induce droplets to tumble down, and the maple branches dance as the horizon grows brighter and brighter with every call of the waxwing.  The colors of Springtime are now illuminated fully as the orange rays spill over the grass.  Yet the sun shrinks back.  A tossing wind stirs the branches now, and then stops again.  

I smell the wetness of the yard through my window as the sun attempts to show its face again.  But alas, it is for a mere second before it seems I only imagined the rays.  And then...light!  Beautiful sunshine!  Here to stay...but gone again.  

It is fascinating how every day seems to be the same, but then it is different also.  Each day something happens, and the next day I think differently of everything than I did the day before, after my dreams cultivate in my brain.  My opinions don't change much, for I am not some wet blanket or another.  But even one mild event in one day can change an entire outlook in the next.  A friend and I long for childhood again, dress up in long skirts, and go take a midnight walk, stopping only to lay in a hammok to gaze longingly at the stars.  We talk of the future, of hopes and desires, and we make promises to each other all over again.  Another friend writes and reminds me of the life ahead of me; how the key to it is to simply walk through the open door, no matter how daunting the doorway is.  A book I chanced upon finally makes it all clear, that my idleness and idolatry are in vain.  My family is proof that there really is no place like home.

The direction does not have to be 100% clear.  The end does not have to be visable.  Then how am I supposed to know what is right?  Instinct is as trustworthy as stranger's casual opinion.  But God is good, and he has blessed me thus far.  Just because I cannot see does not mean I am walking blindly.  It would be better to lose my sight altogether; it would make me more fully rely on my Father, and acknowledge that he is the only one who really has the true ability to see anything.  

Outside it has grown dark again, with only a hint of what brightness kept peeping out.  But perhaps today is a day for clouds, and tomorrow the sun with shine.  

~Jessica

Lead us not into temptation.

I was reading, just at this very moment practically, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.  Be quiet....yes, I am still reading it.  I happen to take my time and read millions of books all at the same time because I have ADD tendencies when it comes to books I want to read (besides being a slow reader which is INCREDIBLY annoying).  So no questions about not having finished it yet.  That said, I was reading it and he just casually mentioned this which I will now quote:  "Each has done something to himself which, unless he repents, will make it harder for him to keep out of the rage next time he is tempted, and will make the rage worse when he does fall into it."

Now isn't that interesting!  (You:  "What is interesting?  I don't see anything.")  He does not talk any more about it, but it stood out to me...........tempted into rage.  Yes, isn't that an interesting way to look at it?  Of course, it may be that I've had too much ice cream and too little sleep in the past few days and it's just me.  But I thought it was very interesting, as you can probably tell since I keep saying it is.  

The thing is that when I think of temptation, I think of things like lust and everything that goes along with it, if you understand what I mean.  I guess Christians see that as the biggest temptation and the biggest sin (though it is forgiven, since we all know the only non-forgiven sin is blasphemy), but anger is something that we, as humans, have a harder time with but don't even realize.  An angry person isn't scorned as perverted.  Sure, if that anger is taken to the level of murder, then that would be another story.  But what about just simple anger?  It comes out all the time, every day, usually to the people you care about most.  And as I look at it now, of course it is a temptation to be angered at someone.  It's not something uncontrollable that happens.  I believe to be angry is a conscious decision.  Say your sibling, parent, spouse, kid, or whoever, does something that really upsets you.  Maybe they borrowed something of yours and lost it or even broke it.  On top of that, it was very important to you that you have this whatever-thing on a particular day for a particular thing.  The temptation is to be angry at them and start a fight, consisting mainly of blaming and putting down this person.  It is the easiest thing to do.  It almost feels good to let it out on someone.  But you could choose not to be angry.  I think that being upset and/or disappointed is unavoidable, but anger is not the only way to deal with those feelings.  Surely the person is sorry and asked for your forgiveness.  If he or she didn't realize that they broke it, you can even choose whether to confront them, as confrontation really could only make them feel bad.  However, sometimes it is necessary as you need to kindly ask of them not to do it next time you let them borrow something.  (Of course, children should be lectured and often times punished, as it is part of their bringing-up.)

But thinking about anger as being a temptation is a very interesting idea (there I go again saying it is interesting).  It makes me want to give in to it less.  It seems like a better reason than all the other unwritten reasons that I can't remember that I had for trying to not be angry.  I can't quite describe why I think this is such a fascinating view on things, but I just do.  I guess it means everything bad is a temptation.  And it is, I just never thought about it before!  You can covet, or you can choose not to.  You can be tempted to not honor your father and mother, but you can choose not to.  Stealing is another one of those temptations that are more obvious-seeming in terms of thinking of them as actually being temptations, as is murder.  Even stuff not necessarily in the Bible like laziness.  It's tempting to be lazy, I just never thought of it that way.  I just thought of laziness as something which gets me nowhere but for some reason I am naturally talented at.  

Just a thought.

~Jessica  

What do I Believe?

My friend Chris posted this homework assignment from his World Religions class on his blog, and suggested that I answer the questions myself on my own blog.  So, I shall.  First, the questions:

1. What is reality? How can you prove that something is real? What is truth? How is a religious truth different from a scientific truth?
2. Do you believe there are "beings" or a "higher being" "greater" than humans? Briefly explain.
3. Where do you think the world comes from? Where do you believe humans come from?
4. Are humans inherently good or bad and why?
5. What do you think is eventually going to happen to the world?
6. What do you think happens to people after they die?
7. How should people behave and why? What should guide people's sense of how they "ought" to behave?
8. Describe your attitude towards those who believe differently than you do. If you consider yourself to belong to a particular religion, describe how that religion responds to individuals of other faiths. Do you have any friends or acquaintances of a different faith?

Now apparently for this assignment one could not cite any scripture as a basis for anything one believes.  Now that will be hard considering the Bible is what my faith basically revolves around.  Nonetheless I'll try.  

1.  I like to think of reality in the terms of the Matrix.  No, really, I do a lot of the times.  This is not all "real", in a sense.  This is temporary.  We are only on this earth a short time, and this earth is only shadow-pictures of what is to come in eternity.  The only real things are our souls as people, because that is all that really transfers over.  But I don't think you can prove something is real.  Anything can be seen as evidence for or against something being real.  What right have we to say that anything is or isn't real?  Everyone is their own person and has an opinion.  In the Matrix everything seems real, but it's just a computer.  How do you know we all aren't just living in a computer?  How do I know we are?  It's the same kind of thing if you say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  I mean, it is, but then it isn't, because how do you, as one "beholder", know that beauty is actually in the eye of the beholder?  You don't.  Essentially we have no right to assume that anything is real or isn't.  My view is just an opinion and we may never know.  As for truth, I remember there being some debate/argument/discussion about what absolute truth was on here probably back in May or something.  I have finally come to the conclusion that there IS absolute truth, but only God knows it.  We are imperfect humans who have opinions about right and wrong.  Like with reality, we have no right to assume we know absolute truth.  We may never know, or I may end up being right and we all die and go to heaven and are informed of absolute truth when we get there.  Until then the best we can do is make educated guesses.  Religious "truths", then, are what is considered "right" and "wrong" by a particular religion.  Catholics (I think) believe that they have to go to mass every Sunday or it is a sin (if you are a Catholic, please do not be offended and do correct me if I am wrong).  I think that most Christians will agree that if you don't go to Church every week then you will be fine.  Going or not going to church is not a measure of your faith and it's not the only way to get closer to God (as a matter of fact sometimes it doesn't bring you closer at all....but then I can get into all this Martin Luther stuff which can be saved for another rant).  I don't know much about what other major religions such as Buddhism or Islam think are right and wrong, but I am sure the "truths" of Buddhists and Muslims differ pretty significantly from that of Christianity, Judaism or Catholicism, because they have different books of life guidelines.  Scientific truth is what can be proved by science to be true.  Science has proven many things (macro evolution is not one of them), and when I see the proof, I believe it.  And proof is the key word there.  I need absolute proof.  Now, you may wonder why I don't need absolute proof for Christianity.  That is because there is no absolute proof to believe in anything.  Even Atheism doesn't have absolute proof (*gasp!*).  How can you prove there is not a God?  How can you prove that you alone can govern your life?  How can you fully trust in Science if Scientists don't know everything but consider many theories and hypotheses absolute truth?  You can't.  Atheists are as confident in their belief in non-belief as Christians are in their belief in God.  But we cannot be sure that one is right because no human knows.

Wow, this is going to be long.  Brace yourselves......or just get really comfy.

2.  If any of you have read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, you will now know what I would like to say on this question.  Where do we get our universal ideas of morality and right and wrong?  Those kinds of things don't just appear out of thin air.  The Pagans in, say, the time Beowulf was told, had no god that they feared and worshipped and no Bible that they read every day.  Yet they valued valor, honor, honesty, bravery, and loyalty, and detested wimpy-ness, betrayal, dishonor, stealing, lying, murder, et cetera.  Atheists usually are really are good people (a lot of the time better than many Christians).  But where did we get these values and standards that we always hold each other to but a lot of the time forget to hold ourselves to?  Perhaps from some perfect entity who is above us all.  Aside from that little thought, yes.  I believe there is a perfect God who is above us all and made us all in his image.  But that is my opinion.

3.  The world was created by God and so were humans.  There is no way we could have just happened because there was a big explosion in the sky, and it is impossible for us to have evolved from apes.  Especially since apes are still around......how do you explain that?  Oh, and I DON'T believe the world has been around for a billion years.  What proof is there?  Of course, I believe all of this mainly because I believe what the Bible tells me.  But I also believe that science disproves macro evolution.  Nobody wants to educate themselves and accept it, though.  It's like some guy's avatar on a forum I was on said:  "The Frog-prince: a fairytale for children.  Evolution: a fairytale for grown-ups."  

4.  Humans are born selfish and self-centered.  And we probably wouldn't have half that idea of morality talked about in question 2 unless we were selfish to see how everyone else's actions affected our personal well-being.  And then we grow up and see that life is much more harmonious if we do to others what we would have them do to us, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Yes, that is in the Bible, but it is the best way of phrasing what every person really believes anyways.  You don't have to think about it when you see an old lady walking up to Wal-mart in front of you and you go and open the door for her.  You don't think, "when I am old and frail, I would like some young man or woman to open the doors at Wal-mart for me."  You just do it (hopefully not going home saying, "GOSH, I can't believe I opened that door for that stupid old lady today...what a waste of my time and energy!").  Still, humans are selfish and don't like to go out of their way.  A lot of the times they do have to think to be nice to people.  I know I do.  Sure, being nice to my friends isn't hard, but I have to be conscious of my actions at home.  I can blast my brothers a thousand times a day and not think twice about it.  Sorry guys....... :(

5.  How can I answer the question without the Bible?  Well, I believe this world will end and we will have a new one that is better and will last forever, and we all live together in peace for eternity.  There ya go.

6.  They go to heaven.  That sounds all goody-goody Christian-like, but as I am what you would call a "Christian", that is what I believe.  So get over it.  You are going to heaven and there is nothing you can do about it.  ;)

7.  Well, I kind of answered this question in 4 and 2.  But regardless of what any book says, I think that people should behave in a way that we can live as harmoniously as possible.  Considering that is not going to happen, I shall simply endeavor to improve upon myself and not worry about what other people do.  But if I were to pick something to guide people to good behavior, I would probably just reference the King George and the Ducky Veggie Tales video where Jimmy and Jerry are trying to pretend they are Bob and Larry hosting.  They play the film, "The English Man Who Went up a Hill and Came Down with All the Bananas."  After the film they go to the computer Qwerty to ask him if he has a verse for them.  Qwerty is turned off but they think he is broken, so one of them goes and gets a piece of cardboard and scrawls on it with a sharpie, "Don't be selfish!"  Jimmy remarks, "Wow, that is a good one."  I agree........but who keeps a computer on their kitchen counter anyways?       

8.  I don't really mind it when people behave or think differently from me.  Sometimes it is interesting and weird, because I have not ever thought or behaved that way, obviously.  Most of the time it isn't bad, so I don't let it bother me.  But sometimes it bothers me when people are doing wrong things because I know they are bringing harm upon themselves or others.  But just because someone is different doesn't mean I am going to criticize them (because it happens to me and I don't like it).  And even if I do feel like I need to talk to them about something, I would do it in love and not in a negative, critical kind of way.  Also the whole point of being a Christian is spreading the good news that Jesus loves us all so much that he went to hell for us and saved us from it so that when we die we all go to heaven and live with our father forever.  I can't imagine why somebody would reject such a wonderful thing.  But I'm a Libertarian.  You can believe what you want to, and I can believe what I want to.  I have some casual Catholic and Jewish friends, and a few agnostic/atheist friends, but most of my friends are some form of Christian or another.  Personally I think the other religions are kind of empty compared to Christianity.  Either you believe in nothing, or you believe in all these dos and don'ts and shoulds and shouldn'ts.  Christianity is just filled with love and peace and all that other good hippie stuff.  

So that is what I think, and I barely cited the Bible at all!  *is proud of herself*

~Jessica

Another Blog Response

A friend of a friend named Andrew posted a very interesting list on his blog a few days ago. I left a comment on his blog, but now I have decided that since that comment was so long I will just post it here. So here is Andrew's list:

"I believe the following:
1.  The existence of God cannot be proven or dis proven.
2.  If heaven does exist, it should allow the good in regardless of belief.
3.  Your life should be dedicated to being a good person, not praising God.
4.  Whether Jesus is or is not the son of God is not important, his teachings are universal.
5.  If God truly is almighty he would not need you to give him thanks. Remember that Jesus had skeptics but he didn't cast them as damned.
6.  IF heaven is disproved you should still dedicate your life to being a good person.
7.  Starting wars, genocide, and hurting innocent lives are evil deeds. God, if he/she is proven to exist should never give just cause to any of them.
8.  Religion has caused more deaths then it has saved (number 7), although anything could happen. Many murders may have been avoided because the potential murderer has religious beliefs against killing.
9.  Religion should not but can act as a moral compass.
10.  Religion should not be irrational or have rules.
11.  The history of a religion is not important. The only thing that matters is the lessons it teach to make you a better person."

And here is my response:

1. Perhaps the existence of God could be proven simply because of all the miracles that happen everyday that could not happen otherwise.

2. What if, in God's eyes, someone is not good because they refuse to believe in him? They may do good works, and may not be inherently "bad" in the way our culture defines the word, but by denying his existence a person commits a very big sin in God's eyes.

3 and 5. God may not need our thanks and praise, but don't you think we could at least give him that much? He has done so much for us, and the least we can do is thank him. That does not mean we thank him and then go murder someone, however... :)

4 and 6 are true, though the Bible does say that Jesus IS the son of God, so I believe it.

In number 8 you kind of contradict yourself, though you make two good points. God did not intend these things to happen, but humans are humans and they are selfish. Still, this world is only temporary.

9. Why should religion not have rules? Aren't rules what religion is essentially about? I think religion is about having convictions, personal and/or divine, of some degree or another. Atheism has rules--you can't believe in God. Otherwise you cannot be an Atheist because that would really be missing the whole point.

10. Being a better person is good, but you can do that without religion, and often people who call themselves religious are not very good people.

On another note, I find that people, usually agnostics/atheists, tend to classify people who believe in a higher authority as "religious", and I see that they obviously are not fully aware of what they are talking about. The term "religion" is really referring to something you practice dutifully, etc. Buddhism and Islam are religions. Catholicism is a religion. Christianity is more of a belief. Judaism can be one or the other, depending on what kind of Jew you are. The kind of Christianity/Judaism that I think is best is the kind that people had in the Bible and what Martin Luther addressed in the 95 Theses, and that is man having a personal relationship with God. Sure, there are things God requires you to and to not do, but it is not so much something you do ritualistically as it is something you do because you love your creator and therefore wish to keep his commandments.

11.  The history of a religion is very important, because all history is important.  You know the phrase, "history repeats itself"?  It exists because people aren't bothering to learn from the past...

A Blog Response

This is in response to Chris's blog entry, "Why I am Agnostic."

So the good ones die young? Firstly, that is a generalization. Secondly, death is most certainly not an end-all. Death is a gift, really, because though man has screwed the world up, God has kept heaven beautiful. While life here may seem great, heaven is a wonderful place that just gets forgotten about because people are so concentrated on life here. As for letting "bad people" live longer, we are on earth to learn to love God. Ozzie learned to love God, so God took him to with Him in heaven. He may have died tragically, but that's only as we shortsighted people here on earth see it. We don't see the big picture. So perhaps God is giving the "bad or at least not-so-good guys" more time here on earth so that they may learn to love him as much as Ozzie did. Of course, time does run out eventually.

The man who murdered John Lennon had serious problems. Lots of Christians don't like certain lyrics...but I think most of us see it as "that's the way that person is" and we can either try and help them...or if they are formerly a member of the Beatles, then we can just not listen to their music and get over it. Of course, I still listen to John Lennon, but I just don't take the lyrics seriously. But killing someone is just...absurd. Anyways, it's breaking one of the ten commandments...so...yeah. That guy had problems.

Why prepare for your "journey into the afterlife" when you are in old age or getting terribly sick? You may walk outside your door tomorrow only to have a stampede of rhinoceroses trample you to your death (try not to think about it...but it could happen). In my opinion, you should always be preparing for your afterlife. Okay, so that sounds a little silly just saying it like that....it makes me think of how the Egyptians buried all their cherished worldly possessions with their dead bodies so they could have all those things in the afterlife. But God says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." Basically...while I suppose it's a good thing to be working on....um......surviving here on earth, we shouldn't place so much importance on things that aren't going to benefit us in the long run. While it's good to enjoy the moment, we shouldn't live solely for the now and not care about any consequences, whether those consequences are suffered here or elsewhere. All of that to say...you shouldn't try to save your soul when you know it will be too late very soon. I think that it's better - for me, anyways - to devote myself to God now. Anyways, I'm going to need Him a lot during my life.

Sin is at the bottom of everything, and man brought sin into the world. God never intended for the world to get as corrupted as it has become. But He already flooded the earth once and He promised He wouldn't do it again. In the old testament God was very judgmental...if that's the right word...well, justice was served quite a lot. Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, Cain was cursed and sent away, the earth was flooded...bad people died left and right, and the good people prevailed onward ho. But since Christ came and died for us, taking all our sins upon him, God hasn't just struck anyone down with lightning anymore. Christianity is all about loving and forgiveness and gratitude. People forget that, though. If anyone watched that video on Chris's blog...what a waste of a nice song. It was incredibly sad and I wish I could do something to help the guy understand...but I am almost afraid of him. I don't know if I would want to encounter him on the street or anything...

If anything has any comments on this, I encourage you to please do so on either my blog or Chris's blog...this isn't just some lighthearted issue here.

Mindlessness

There are certain things I love doing, that I just cannot bring myself to put on my “interests” or “hobbies” list. I’m not embarrassed. That’s ridiculous. But…there is some reason or another. Things like: clipping my nails, blow drying my hair, driving, dancing outside in the middle of the night, and being alone in complete quiet.

Ultimately I suppose it comes down to mindlessness. I really appreciate it. That sounds bad…shouldn’t I really like stretching my cognitive abilities? Well, I do. There’s no doubt about that. I enjoy feeling like the gears in my brain are really chugging away (if gears do that…you know what I mean…perhaps I am getting my imagery mixed up, but whatever). But I feel like my brain is like that all the time. It’s as if I’m running endlessly, never taking a break to just sit down and catch my breath, to let my muscles rest. Sure, if I sit down for a long enough time, I get antsy again, and get up and run. But rests are wonderful things.

Clipping my nails, filing my nails…it’s the epitome of mindlessness, in my opinion. I just do it. I’m doing something physical, working on something, and thinking about nothing. I wish I had more nails, or just more activities that were like clipping nails. Watching TV or playing video games just don’t do it for me. I get really wrapped up in television or movies, and when I play video games, I constantly am feeling like I should be doing something else. Clipping my nails is of such benefit to me and others…makes it easier to play guitar and piano, preventing myself from bending the nails back when they’re wet, makes them nicer-looking, and puts a stop to any lethal scratching I may inflict during water polo (you can thank me in the comments section).

I also like things like showering and shaving my legs. Sorry if that’s TMI for some people, but you must understand that I just like that mindless time. Because doing stuff that takes no brain leaves my brain to be opened. I come up with my best ideas for songs, stories, businesses, et cetera, while lathering my hair, getting soap in my eyes, or making funny shapes with my shaving cream (I am really a pro at making many different sculptures as I squirt the shaving cream out…I entertain myself very well). The problem with coming up with such a huge wave of ideas is that you can’t really document any of them in the bathtub. I suppose I could take all my hair that falls out and twist them into a musical staff and music notes, and write down ideas with my shaving cream on the walls…but that would take a lot longer than it would if I just finished the shower, wouldn’t it? Yeah. *sigh* Plus not being able to really read music, as well as my hair having a tendency to just curl up after a while, present problems. Shaving cream likes to melt.

Whatever.

I like dancing, that’s a given. I don’t think I’ve met a girl who doesn’t. I really like it when guys like dancing, too. It was pretty awesome to see all the guys who showed up at the cotillion-style dance class at the homeschool conference. It was even more awesome to see the very few guys who were AMAZING. It let me hope for my generation. Perhaps I will marry a guy who will go dancing with me!

As for dancing outside in the middle of the night, I’d say it is the epitome of freedom…so I don’t know why I just told the whole world I do it. Might as well, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. But I do it because the night is stimulating; the air is clear, crisp, and electrifying. No human is watching. The moonlight shines down like a single spotlight…the stars are my audience, the cool grass is my stage, the crickets and the frogs are my music. I dance without a care in the world. I get warm and breathless, my muscles begin to feel strained, and the beads of sweat begin to surface on my brow. The soft breeze cools me, and I want nothing else but to stay out there forever…

Death is just the easy way to escape. The weather recently has reminded me about this story about a boy and a girl. Simple enough, I suppose. They grow older and fall in love. The boy is poor, the girl is rich. While she goes away to school for her later teen years, the boy, a couple years older, determines to spend the time when they are separated in hard labor, working to make enough to support her. Of course, he knows what she’s used to and is willing to do whatever he can to get as close to matching it as possible. When she comes back from school, three or four years later, he is proud of himself. They meet, and she seems preoccupied. He plans to come over to her house later and propose. He does, but he finds her in the parlor talking with another man—a rich one—who has his arm around the girl. The girl announces, slightly embarrassed and grimly, that she and the rich man are engaged. The boy falls into devastation, and that’s a very understate-ish understatement. He had worked all these years, FOR HER. And now what? She rejects him. Unintentionally, but he can never have her now. He never even tries again. He just crawls into a hole, gives up. However, he’s developed a habit of working hard. In ten years, he’s pretty well off. He’s been keeping track of the girl now. She married the other man and they moved to a house on the lake. One night, the husband leaves for a business meeting. The girl is at home alone. She goes out to enjoy the moonlit night, and comes back into her dark living room. Something in the shadows moves—it is the boy, now fully a man, dressed nicely. His eyebrows are turned down. In his hands is a pistol. The girl is shocked. Her voice trembles as they talk. His is calm and confident. He thinks he wants her love…but in that conversation, he realizes that all he wants is for her to know what he did for her, what he always wanted, and how she carelessly and heartlessly ripped his chest opened, pulled his heart out, and threw it out the window where it was driven to the bottom of the river. The husband comes back home. The man confronts the husband and shoots him soon after. The girl screams, asking what the man wants from her. Now the man comes to his senses…he’s only hurt her more. She hurt him, but he swore long ago he would never hurt her. He’s gone back on the promise. His life is turmoil, and the moment is happening so fast around him, he feels dizzy. With quaking hands he turns the gun on himself. It would make things better for the girl if he was gone as well. He shoots himself in the head. What he doesn’t know is that he’s hurt the girl even more than he could ever imagine. The girl is confused, bewildered…this was not what was supposed to happen this evening! All she can see, though, is what is right in front of her, and that’s any meaning in her life now has surely vanished, and vanished tragically. Impulsively, she grabs the pistol from the man, lets out one last sob…and shoots herself.

It’s not supposed to be that easy. That is not bliss; that is not escape. It’s just tragedy. Naivety, short-sightedness. People commit suicide every day, feeling surely that once their souls have escaped the world, everything will be okay…

I don't mean to leave you on such a negative note. No, I'm not feeling suicidal. Far from it! I was just illustrating something with my little story. Now I shall go and love my life some more!

Wonderful People!

Here are some more comments from that forum thread about homeschooling vs. private and public. These people just see it...the way I see it. Please, do not feel any pressure to be convinced. I only want to try and get my point across, and you know I am simply terrible at debating (I would never make a good politician...and I'm too honest for that profession, anyways):

-1-

I am homeschooled and have been homeschooled for seven years now. The majority of my friends are not homeschooled, but I have a large variety of friends who are. The reason most of my friends are not homeschooled are because I am not in an enviroment where I a subjected to other peers my age seven days a week.Therefore I have learned to be much more open minded to EVERYBODY. Adults, Children, the Elderly... hey are ALL m friends, and I visit them ALL often. Age is jsut a number, and I feel as though I would not have been able to gain that frame of mind if I had stayed in public school.This is my senior year of highschool, and mst of my friends are graduation homeschool style with me. I ahve never had social issues being homeschooled BUT I do feel the need to state that it all depends on the family.If you are going to homeschool your child and not allow them to be in co-ops, have tutors, go to football games, yoga classes, ect. Then you cannot expect them to be social butterflys and cope well in large groups. But if you socialize your child often, then they will probably end up better than average. I feel as though I am very open minded, th vas ajority of my friends are my age, but I love everybody not mattr how old or what race or religion, because I ahve learned that you really don't pick your friends like you are taught in public school, they choose you, and you jsut just have to love them to be happy, no matter who they are or what they do.I like public schools, but I do feel as homeschooling helps students to hold on to their indivuality more and to help them not to form to society and helps them cope with being different in life.The #1 problem I ahve had while being homeschooled was public schooled children. Because they do not know how to react to somebody different then they are, so they automatically jump to conclusions such as homeschooled kids are socially inept, too smart or not smart enough, and that they cannot face reality. They we are ALL "sheltered' and bake cornbread and wear matching jumpsuits and have 15 kids in evry family.Now there ARE some people like that.... but not all..... and homeschooling is NOT for everybody, but can be a wonderful wonderful thing if used correctly.


-2-

I went to a religious private school and hated it. I'm not sure I would have liked public school. I like the idea of homeschooling or unschooling and plan on trying that with my own (future) kids, but it probably would not have worked for me because I do not get along with my mother at all and being at home with her all day would have been torture. The best thing for me would have been to have either gone away for school or to have quit school altogether and gone straight to college or living abroad. I got my real education when I was in college, which I loved. High school was a huge waste of my time. For example, I spent twelve years in school studying a language and never learnt it. As an adult, I spent two years living abroad and learnt two languages. I always thought I was bad at languages, turns out, I'm good at languages, they were just bad at teaching it. The worst part for me is that now I have to watch my neice go to the same grade school that I went to and I have to watch them force knowledge and authority on her and her growing to hate it and there's nothing I can do (yeah, I guess I'm still angry).


-3-

Institutionalised learning, whether public or private, is almost invariably inefficient, grossly so. As a means of making sure people learn the basics, like literacy, when otherwise they wouldn't have - say with illiterate parents - it was fine, but as a means of learning as much as possible, as easily and quickly as possible, of the things that are most necessary, it's tantamount to a disaster. Teaching yourself is by FAR the more efficient method, with some mentor - whether a parent or teacher - helping out when you're stuck, giving practical opportunities to use the knowledge where it's useful, but that rarely happens until you get closer to college.
You can learn from a book in ten minutes the information that is put across in the average lesson by a teacher addressing the whole class. In addition, there is too much redundancy in what is taught, and assessed, and the pace rarely suits everyone. Any confusion a child may experience is rarely identified at the moment it occurs, thus causing more confusion further down the line. You could cover the same ground in a fraction of the time with much more independent study, and added up over the years...
As for the supposed benefits of socialisation, the people who are in most need are the ones most ill-served by such institutions. The people who socialise easily with those others tend to be on pretty much the same page; others who struggle do so because they're on a very different page, and exposure to the others doesn't automatically lead them to understand where others are coming from. You have to be in the ballpark to understand what would otherwise seem like irrational behaviours. If you're not in the ballpark, a confused misery is liable to result, rather than enlightenment.


-4-

If we call public school what it really is ... government school, then realizing the benefits of homeschooling might be a little more apparent.
"Government schools will teach children that government is wonderful." ~ Neal Boortz


-5-

Quote:Originally Posted by nextGENERATIONhippie Personally i think public school is better, children need to be taught social skills, and well as academics
Please explain to me which social skills, apparently learned only in an institution, you would like my children to be learning?
Let's see....
My kids socialize with each other, with me and my husband, with our landlady, neighbors, friends, and extended family.
My kids socialize at the many social gatherings we attend through homeschooling support groups.
My kids socialize at the supermarket, the post office, the vet's office, at cooperative learning sites, and the many other places we go.
My kids aren't limited to socializing with 20 other kids their own age. They have friends who are four and friends who are forty.
My kids aren't EVER told, "You're not here to socialize." I heard that a lot when I was in school.
My kids aren't ever made to eat their lunches in silence or be completely quiet while traveling places. The same can't be said for their publicly schooled friends. My 15yo's best friend is not allowed to talk on the school bus.
My kids aren't forced to get naked and shower with strangers. If they encounter a bully of any sort, they have the option of not interacting with that person anymore.
Yeah....I could go on and on. Basically, my kids are treated the way I'd like to be treated. They're treated as people.
I've seen the sort of "socializing" which goes on in public schools. I attended public schools, myself. I think it's sad that that is what's considered normal. I think we'll continue to live our abnormal, outside-the-box lifestyle. Funny how people always tell me how mature and pleasant my kids are.


-6-

Oh how it pains me to see the ignorance on this thread :/I am seventeen years old and I've adored home-schooling. I've attempted all sorts of schooling, a private academy, curriculum led home-schooling and public school. I think it depends mostly upon the child and their motivation-but I am a strong advocate for alternative schooling. I've always been incredibly self-motivated and public school left me stuck and frustrated. Everything moved too slowly for my liking and I hated the busy work. I agree that you must "learn how to play the game" by doing this busy work and being with less than enjoyable people, but it doesn't take long to learn. Public school is not the real world-I find that is the most common misconception among people who are against home-schooling. You are confined inside a building 7-8 hours a day doing busy work that may or may not help you learn anything at all. You do NOT learn social skills by being around a bunch of jello-eating sheep that are only your own age.I've had the opportunity to meet and befriend people of all ages and from all over the world-I'm certainly not anti-social or otherwise "weird".My education has been mostly self-led, my parents interfere only when I ask them to. I learn what I want, when I want, how I want-and that has worked well for me. I've studied the basics a bit, but the beauty of my schooling is that it allowed me to go in depth with things I really wanted to, such as my field of study now, Anthropology.I have a beautiful education and so many wonderful experiences I'm sure lots of kids in public school don't have time to experience while sitting in stuffy classrooms reading textbooks and copying definitions. That works well for some people, but I wouldn't trade my schooling for the world! There is also a high demand for home-schoolers in swell paying jobs because they have much more flexible schedules.I am also not hurting for college acceptances-I've been accepted to every school I've applied to and been offered many a scholarship.


-7-

I'm homeschooling my 8 yr old now. We pulled her out of public school last October when we found out her teacher was getting violent in class (knocking over a desk in front of a kid, yelling at the kids, intimidating them, not letting them go to the bathroom, etc.). The principal tried to minimize it and justify it and basically cover for the teacher, who we discovered has had a temper problem for years and had been allowed to remain in the school anyway.So I quit my job and began homeschooling her. Then in April we moved to a new area and thought we'd try the school here, which by the way was rated pretty high on the scale of best schools in the U.S. (yeah right). However after a few weeks it became apparent that in the 6 months or so that my daughter had been homeschooled she surpassed her grade level to the point that she HATED being there because it was so boring. In fact, she was way ahead in every subject. I tried talking to her teacher about it and asked if she could give her more challenging work but was met with cold disregard and some lame excuse that she can't alter her curriculum. Also we found out the school won't let her skip grades either. So basically our choice was to conform to a completely inadequate system or homeschool. We chose the latter. At this point, I doubt we'll ever try public school again. But... I do like to look at every situation as being unique, so if we ever move to an area that has a truly good public school, I'd consider it.As far as private schools, I guess that depends on the school too. Also, they tend to be pretty expensive.


-8-

I pretty much said f*** public school at 9th grade. Since then I've read nearly everybook under the sun. Public schools focus too much on repetition and memorization instead of actually grasping and understanding what is being taught at the time.
One famous auto-didact, Albert Einstein , had his own thoughts about public schools:
" Education is what's left after you forget what you learned in school "
" Any fool can know. The point is to understand "
and Frank Zappa offers up this gem :
" I never let school interfere with my education "

What is Moral?

This is in answer to a question Chris asked on his blog which I, being such a global thinker, answered slightly incorrectly and then realized what I did only three or four paragraphs later...

So, I think the question is really what do I consider immoral? I mean, I think it's always easier to say what not to do than what you can do, in any situation because what you can do is endless, seemingly. So as long as you know what you can't do (and you don't do it), then you can go about your business doing everything else. There, I said it.

Immoral...means things like having sex before marriage, doing sex-like things before marriage (and where do you draw the line? Good question! Therefore, don't do anything...). Killing people is bad, we all know that. Cheating on your spouse is bad. Why develop a habit of doing it by cheating on your boyfriend/girlfriend now? Cheating in general is bad, really. Your genius is your own and if you don't got nothin' in that area I guess you'd better do something about it, or work with what you have. It's good to love the people around you. Or at least appreciate them. Don't hate everyone you run into. And being amiable is a good thing.

What is moral is a matter of opinion. Everyone can decide for himself or herself what is right and wrong. Some people choose to follow the Bible or some other book. But I believe that Common Law should at least be followed, because a lot of "immoral" things would be banned if we just went back to that. "1. Do all you have agreed to do. 2. Do not encroach on other people or their property." The government doesn't even exist with that law anymore, and won't because...well, they ARE the government, after all. Who can stop them?

Sex before marriage doesn't really fit as being something against Common Law. Unless it's rape, but that's a different sort of thing. I mean, I guess you could say that since a man and a woman aren't legally bound in marriage, the man and woman would be encroaching on each others' bodies. OR that, as in most cases, those who have sex before marriage do it noncommittal a lot of the times. That leads to broken hearts, which leads to the broken law #1 of Common Law. However, neither one of those is a very sound argument, so I'll leave Common Law out of this.

To me, it just seems like a silly idea. Every once and a while I come up with really good reasons which would apply to anybody and not just Christians, but then somehow I forget them because I don't need that sort of justification, I guess. They are REALLY good reasons, I assure you. I just can't remember them right now. Or maybe I just get too swept up in all the world's reasons why it's okay to sleep around, blah blah blah, and all I know to do is hold fast to Christianity and my purity. It's important! It's special! It's as far as you can go, so why do it with everyone, why not save it for the one you're going to be with forever?!?!?!?

Yeah, that's it. I remembered now.

Even not littering is a moral. I don't do it because...well, the only time I think of doing it is when I have a sticky apple core that I'm eating in the car. But I don't want to look silly throwing it out the window, even if it is biodegradable. And what if it misses the side of the road and flies back and hits the windshield of the person behind me? Yeah, I don't like making people angry, at least that way, anyway.

So, does that answer the question? "Somewhat," you're probably saying. And you'll probably ask more questions in the comments, which is okay.

And for the record, I don't think chivalry is dead. I think some people wrongly assume it is, but those people can just go along their merry ways, and I'll just go about mine.

~Jessica