March for Life 2012! (what the media won't tell you)

Yay march for life 2012! Jan. 23 Roe v Wade remembrance. estimated around 400,000+ peaceful protesters walk through the National mall, the courthouse etc.

Hipster cool pro-life "Rebellion" March for life 2012 watch...


March for life in D.C. part 1 starting from the National mall.
(this one has cool speeches and clips of different ethnicities--but some disturbing images at the end.)

A rousing San Francisco march as well (with random Hispanic musicians. cool.)

And another beautiful music with slide show of San Francisco march.
"Walk for life, Love wins"

Enjoy.

Predestination vs. free will

Predestination vs. "free will" vs. the TRINITY

(This is a separation I have made on the basis of their faults--most people who say they are one type probably are a little bit of both, as you shall soon see.)

summary
P. G-d has total control over everything and time and has free will to predestine
fw. We are in time and choose G-d and have free will to do anything.

T. G-d can only do what is right, what is true. G-d cannot lie or sin. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He defines truth, He obeys truth, He is the truth.

contradictions:
P."G-d can do anything he wants" doesn't match with keeping covenants(can G-d break a promise?) and crucifixion (Jesus didn't have to die). (Allah can do anything)

fw. "I can choose G-d before I die" means you can choose heaven and thus be in control of it--not G-d (I can do anything for Allah--choose my suicide and salvation).

bad actions...
P. fatalism,blaming G-d for evil, no prayer...

fw. "choosing when to repent...i.e. choosing to sin", cheap grace, "justifying G-d" or reasoning away suffering, ("you deserved it"--no, actually you don't have to--read Job or Jesus.)

emphasized person of the trinity:
P.God the father: (omnipotent,omnipresent,omniscient--"irrational" concepts), seen from eternity. The observer--> the way things "should be"

fw.God the Son: morality, choosing G-d, reasoning within human concept of time.
The observed--> the way things actually appear to us

T: The knowledge of G-d, the love of G-d, and the life of obedience to G-d all individually support each other. This includes the observation-->the way things may appear change depending on who is seeing it. (To the pure, you show yourself pure, but to the perverse you show yourself crooked. psalm 18:26)

So what should you pray?
--if you obey G-d but don't feel any love, ask the Holy Spirit to give you love.
--if you want to obey but can't, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. He will.
--If you don't know what love feels like or what obedience looks like, pray that G-d will reveal it to you. (and go to church, and read the Bible etc.)

Holy thoughts and dreams: psalm 139

You have searched out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways. --psalm 139 v3

--This applies to traveling in body as well as in mind. It is often in long travels that we think about many things, and before we go to sleep that we ponder deeply.

Unclean thoughts and fear
--Often we do not recognize that our thoughts are not ours, but belong to unclean (gross, nasty) spirits that tempt us by lust, fear, or loathing. We must recognize this and invite the Holy Spirit by asking Him to dwell in us, and correct us. When we are afraid, or tempted, say "Holy Spirit I trust in you" and dwell on His peace--this helped my sibling overcome panic attacks.

Bad dreams
--Our mind is always in danger even in dreams. The power of prayer is necessary and effective even in the subconscious. Often in horrible nightmares, I remembered to pray for help, and felt the presence of G-d take away my fear. It seems that the more I needed help, the easier it was for me to pray. Of course I have not had as many nightmares since I was a child, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Evil was more clear antagonistic but I felt God's presence and peace very strongly as well.

I awake and still am with you. (v 18b)
On waking up
--Practice prayer often, before you sleep and after you wake and recite scripture. My favorite is "Bless the Lord O my Soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." If you say this often enough, it becomes second nature. I generally hate waking up early because I feel like the world is ending, but when I say this it gives me strength. Also I say this after waking up from a particularly nasty or unclean dream.

On dream analysis
--I think it is important to analyze curious dreams, especially ones that seem to reveal something, usually a feeling or opinion, that we could not put in words when we were awake. "Sleeping on a problem" often clears the confusion of the day, and apparently a number of Mathematicians or Scientists made discoveries through their dreams. This happens often to me that symbols replace actual events, or people, and I usually chuckle when I see a feeling or idea materialize in my subconscious that I suppressed.

--Of course a caution comes with this as well: Often dreams feel more important than they really are, and any "feeling" that is particularly captivating or more interesting than holiness is false. Not every spirit is particularly evil, or even unclean, but if it is not from God, it is NEVER necessary or beneficial. I unfortunately have learned this the hard way, trying to chase "feelings" from my dreams or to keep on dreaming, only to discover that drug-like induced effects are NOT worth your time.
(Now understand that I do believe some of these feelings could be possibly good, but if they are God's, then we must let Him show us these things in His own time, never possessing us nor should these feelings be in our possession.)

If I say surely the darkness shall cover me
and the light about me be night
even the darkness is not dark to you
the night is as bright as the day
for the darkness is as light with you. --(v 11-12)

On imagination and carnality
To be able to be free from impure thoughts can only be obtained through giving your heart and mind to Christ. Our choice to imagine or create stories or movies in our heads is very susceptible to our fleshly desires as well as the spiritual. In fact, they are totally connected. A few years ago I attended the stations of the cross on Good Friday at our local Catholic Church and I was struck by St. Alfonso Liguori's words: "I love you Jesus, my love, I love you more than myself... Give me enough strength to overcome all human respect and all my evil passions which have led me to despise your friendship...Never allow me to offend you again." If you ask Jesus for help, He will give you enough strength to overcome. I am amazed how much the Holy Trinity has helped me in the past 3 years through the way, the truth, and the life. Obedience, Love, and the Knowledge of God work together. Be open to God about your troubles and temptations.

to overcome sin
--I memorized Psalms--focus on something more sacred than yourself.
--I Bible-flip regularly--I found it best to think about something I felt uncomfortable about, needed help in, or a even picked a "topic" in my mind before flipping. The rule I keep is that I always write down the verse in my book, underline the verse in my Bible with pencil, and Stopped flipping(this is a difficult rule to keep). If the verse was hard to take, understand that truth is trinitarian--it need not always be what you need, sometimes you get a little history--but search the context or lack of context for some truth and meaning.
--keep a diary to write prayers, thoughts, temptations, and angst. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to overcome problems by acknowledging that they were there.

Remember: The Holy Spirit is our friend and helper, Jesus was a teenager and is very acquainted with our struggles and temptations, we and all creation belong to God the father who has thousands of beautiful thoughts waiting to be discovered...
As it is written:
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast the sum of them!
If I would count them, they would outnumber the sand. (v18)

Trinity teaches us Holy fear (beta version)

"O Lord you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit and when I rise
You discern my thoughts from afar."
--psalm 139

+The time in between sitting and rising is when we think much alone, speak much to others, when we eat, when we are transported in travel, use the toilet, study, read, play an instrument, or work at a desk job. This most of the modern person's life--especially the thought life. This is very important to G-d, and how we serve Him.

+G-d is eternal and already has known us--when we shall die and where we shall go. We may become afraid at this, fearing hell, but this is only from one view of the trinity, and we interact with all three persons of Faith, Hope, and Love.
(or you can say that we only interact with the Spirit, and are seeing the Father's wrath, but are saved by the Son.)

Whichever way you apply the trinity, be aware that at least you see a good&bad description from one viewpoint, because that is its relations to the other two. You do not want a duality (anger-bad, happy-good) because G-d is not like this. To illustrate my point of a good contradiction,
1.We should never be afraid G-d will hate us when we are lost because we don't know G-d; 2.only when we "know better" should we be afraid of "God's wrath", because we know His love so well that we know it is not something to lose.
But... 1. if we are lost we should be fearful 2. if we are found we need not be. hmm.
OK so should we be afraid of G-d or not?
+ and how can you fear G-d if you don't know Him or His power?
+ and how can you know G-d unless you fear Him?
From a devil's advocate perspective, God can only "hate" those He loves; the wicked are like chaff and shadow with no substance, so shouldn't we desire his wrath and jealousy, so that we know we exist? (many women test their husband's love by trying to arouse his jealousy) So anyway, as you can see, I am running into contradictions already--which is good, because contradictions are a problem in dualities NOT in trinities. (no, I do not embrace all contradictions as being true; first let me tell you about the three-legged stool analogy)

+ first of all, what is a trinity? Three-legged stool analogy
I learned in an Episcopal church catechism class about a "three-legged stool" being similar to applying the trinity in the Church--each leg is unique yet dependent to function. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is similar to Tradition (father), Reason (son), Emotion (spirit) used to hold up the Church by Liturgy (tradition), Scripture (reason), Songs&prayer (emotion). However they need not be in that order--relationship is KEY. (I'll explain more later--problem with trinities is that they INVOLVE the reader, so you have to kind of "jump in" rather than go step-by-step)

Holy Fear (past, present, and future)
+If G-d is eternal, than when we embrace Him, we embrace completion of heaven and rebirth without fear (when we are wrongly afraid) because it is wrong to fear G-d's judgment when it keeps us from Him and not repentance. The fear that leads to repentance is right, but sometimes we have false fear which keeps us from embracing and trusting G-d's full personhood (trinity).
+When we are fearful of G-d but not drawn to Him, then we must repent of this unholy fear, and false fear.
1. ask for grace (spirit)
2.choose to love (son)
3.believe in His Truth (father)[in this case the father and son seem interchangeable to me]
+Embrace the Holy Fear by completing your relationship to the Holy Trinity: Faith, Hope, and Love--these three abide.
1. If you know God than you will love Him. --ask for knowledge.
2. If you love God than you will obey Him. --ask for love.
3. In asking you have obeyed.
Now switch around any of those. Obey, Know, Love. You can obey first, know first, love first--they all lead to each other. Now you are involved in repentance. Now you are involved in knowing that you chose G-d, that G-d has chosen you, and that in being drawn to G-d, He is being drawn to you and vice versa.

Flee from evil! Refuse guilt--accept repentance!
+Often we have unholy fear when we sin, and keep much guilt because we do not turn to Him, but when we obey we are not so afraid because we embrace His loving arms around us.

Rouault's art

"In the old district of Long Suffering"

New Year

Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Here are a couple "trinities"
1. desire, action, will

Love of God, obedience to God, knowledge of God.
1. knowledge: The way (reason), the truth (knowledge), and the life(purpose)
2. obedience: the way (obedience), the truth (knowledge), the life (love)
3. love: the way (how), truth (why), life (is)

need to work on this more.

I was afraid

I was afraid, so I did not learn.
I did not learn, so I was afraid.
I might be wrong, so I did not wish to know.
What I loved might be gone, so I wished to hide.
What I believed might be false, so I cried.
Then I became false, became afraid, became alone.
And Then I heard a song within my heart echoed in the skies.

It was dark, so I did not know
whose figures, faces, feet walked beside
But I heard their voice--one song, arise.
And like the dawn it rose,
over the mountainside.

I cried and cried--because it was my own,
I had thought I was alone,
but was not, neither was it mine.
It echoed through the night,
and pierced my fright with peace,
and weak with might.
This air shook me--hair and bone,
because it carried something great--far greater
than I could ever have sung or known.

Now I walk above the lights far down beneath the path,
I can see where I can fall off,
yet do not.
Downwards I can see that warmth and fellowship of light
that comforts those who dwell inside with sight--
But I am not.
Stars are lights to me instead,
for though they give few light to go-
-it is enough, for now I know
path is here, and I must climb in spite of fear.
How the wind blows! How cold!
But my heart is warm, because my soul is free.

Guilt

One thing my research on Sarah Palin has been doing to me...making me feel guilty. The more I read and hear from others, about her and Todd's work ethic and drive (her 6am-midnight 7days a week shifts and Todd's fishing like 48-72hr shifts? ) I feel so spoiled and lazy...remembering my high-school past makes me feel even worse. Do other people feel the same way? Maybe that's why it's so hard to learn more about the Palins, because they make me feel bad. Well, I have to remember that they are not ordinary if they are champions of the Iron Dog & AGIA, yet they are...argh! I keep feeling embarrassed that I come from the sheltered lower-48, and East Coast, and the South, and everything possibly snobby and arrogant and mistaken...OK, so I need to deal with guilt.

1. Any guilt, self-loathing, self-hatred, or shame is SIN and a LIE. (OK, I know this doesn't look like help--but it will later)

2. Guilt is three-fold: emotion, reason, tradition (habit): guilt makes us feel bad, try to justify our actions, then continue the same bad habits.

3. Conquering guilt comes from God--peace (that passes understanding),truth (repentance), good habit (righteous living). (in any order)

To stop Guilt:

1. Invite the Peace that passes understanding (the Holy Spirit). Acknowledge that this creepy-cool, pseudo-catharsis of wanting to blame yourself, hate yourself, hurt yourself is wrong and a false relief. INSTEAD say "Jesus loves me" 10 times or 50x or whatever, inviting and trusting and focusing in the Truth and promise of these words, knowing that Jesus is present with you in this truth.(Jesus said he was the word.--this is independent from "context" of your life, religion or whatever.)

2. Pray for G-d's truth to illuminate your small errors--(not the big ones that stare at you in the face w painful consequence/aftermath). Focus on the small errors that surround bigger ones. These are usually assumptions we don't notice, "nice" and sympathizable desires or thoughts not the obvious (not like why did I drink so much, why didn't I study etc.) but often surrounding ones that deal with the pain and don't have directly immediate answers like "what were my thoughts right before when..." "why do I care so much of what others think of me?" "why am I afraid of failure?" "why do I feel bad for something that I don't think is wrong?"

--we can answer these questions analytically (family,religion, environment) and rationalize, but it doesn't go away because "wrong" has 3 relationships: when you think it's wrong, others think it's wrong, and it's wrong (or God thinks it's wrong). (Some people will be quick to think wrong is only when "God thinks it's wrong", but in my context "God thinks it's wrong" is applying to nature). Let me illustrate: Slapping my brother on his back can be a good or bad thing--yet this could be wrong for 3 reasons: if I meant it to be wrong, he took it to be wrong, or maybe it "was wrong" because his back got hurt. God, being a trinity, is connected to all 3--not just if "if it's naturally wrong" like my brother's back getting hurt. Wrong has all consequences just as guilt may be our intention, others intention, or nobody's intention.

3. Pray for healing and conviction and power.

--God is the Beginning and the End. He doesn't panic, cause fear, or despair. He can transform your past by entering into your life. Often we mistakenly think our past "is over" when it obviously affects and stays with us in the present--because we are also eternal beings. God can come into our past too, when we invite His presence, Truth, and peace.

--God can change us now. If you have niggling doubts or queasiness--it's because you don't have the conviction to change. None of us do. Pray for conviction of the Holy Spirit to enter your life--He will, and He alone has the power to change us. Remember what you can do on your own, God can't help you with. Only when it is IMPOSSIBLE for man, is it possible for God--this is God's power: that His grace is sufficient for you, for His power is made perfect in weakness. Amen.

Yom Kippur

2"Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,
"The LORD will surely separate me from his people";
and let not the eunuch say,
"Behold, I am a dry tree."


4 For thus says the LORD:
"To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast to my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

6 "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant--

7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."

8 The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
"I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."

amen. --Isaiah 56

Undefeated

For any of you brave souls who are curious enough to risk the fear of disappointment...watch this movie. I think you'll be surprised how dry and candid it is, as well as intriguing? It's oddly cathartic, if you just want to get the poison of the media out of your system.

It's power is in its simplicity. It's not a pity party or dramatic hagiography.

Instead, it gets pretty nerdy focusing half the movie on why Alaska is important, how Palin got to the governorship and what she did, how she started out as a mayor, when she resigned her six-figure-salary as an ethics commissioner because of her ethics, how she surprised people with actual results and then America by showing up in 2008.

The power of the documentary is that while extrinsically focused around Palin--is intrinsically not about Sarah Palin. The film doesn't even seem to focus on her personal achievements enough and get the audience more drawn in when it could, but focuses on her beliefs in God and America, and the role of the government--shared similarly by many in the tea-party movement--and her actions in carrying that out.

If it was supposed to make you vote, it didn't really hype on possible terrorist threats, wars, or abortion--things I think Obama is weak on and Palin is strong in--and very emotionally topics that could rouse voters. I was surprised how little they talked about Obama (like less than 2 minutes? of actual speeches) which seem to convince me that others could do a much better job than him. What the film did was focus on a cause that is greater than Palin, the Tea-Party movement or America. It's about Faith. Palin's very persecution from the mobs of media and hollywood from just about every vocal or artistic profession--she shows us how, we too, can and will be treated if we take a stand for just a little bit of truth, righteousness, and faith in God.(scary) Yet this small person's courage shows us a greater power when we fight for a greater cause. Now that's why liberals are scared of her. Obama and Palin have shown us that we can become self-proclaimed messiahs, or modern-day-martyrs. Persecution in this world, and in this time, shows us that we are on the right path. Let us choose to lose our lives, that we may gain it--for only then are we the "undefeated."

Sh'ma Yisrael! God bless America.

I feel the fell of dark, not day

I WAKE and feel the fell of dark, not day.
What hours, O what black hoürs we have spent
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light’s delay.
With witness I speak this. But where I say 5
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! away.

I am gall, I am heartburn. God’s most deep decree
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me; 10
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.
Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see
The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.
--Gerard Manley Hopkins 1918

FB post: Bible contradicts itself?

In response to a Facebook chain in reference to St. Paul saying "I, not God, say this" So, inspired or uninspired?
kind of like when St. Paul said that the Cretan who said "all Cretans are liars" was true.
My response:
Often the Bible has apparent "contradictions" like this one, especially between OT and NT, but that is because God is a trinity not a duality, and where two may appear to "collide" a third dimension solves these readily, (like when Jesus was forced an either/or in the example of paying taxes to Caesar and showed a third way.) kind of like the way God gave us 2 eyes to see 3D...
So in short yes, Every word from St. Paul was inspired by God...including the ones that said he wasn't.

--(about the actual passage 1 Cor. 7:12-14 The "Christian alternative" to divorcing&remarrying is what St. Paul is clarifying from Separation: that not having to live with spouse is different from divorcing and that even if you were divorced against your will, you should still remain unmarried. Hence no one can "force" you to break your oath to God.) It seems impossible to be celibate or chaste these days, but Jesus promised us that "what is impossible for man is possible for God" Amen.