Today's TLA is MTW

My Theological Worldview

I got this from DC's page. The survey tells me I am Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. This is weird, because I have no clue who John Wesley is/was or what he did. Perhaps I should google* him. What is interesting is that I am only 68% Roman Catholic. Anyways, with regards to Christianity, for Christian believers, we should have the idea of being "One in Christ." Then if we have this idea in the back of our minds, then all of these churches/sects should not focus on differences, but rather on the commonality of being "One in Christ."

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Emergent/Postmodern 79% Charismatic/Pentecostal 68% Roman Catholic 68% Neo orthodox 68% Reformed Evangelical 50% Modern Liberal 43% Classical Liberal 32% Fundamentalist 14% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

* <When you spell check 'google' within Blogger it tells you that it is a spelling mistake and suggests googol for the proper spelling that's just whack like crack>

Enjoy,
Jonathan

Today's TLA is NBT

New Blogger Template

Well I haven't played with the Blogger templates in a long time. So I figured I should change it. I added lots of snazzy Java Script aditions to the old template and getting things to look just right for this new template is tedious. For the love of the game. Oh by the way, check out this site called Google-X. It's pretty neat. I am trying to make it such that I can have the OS-X javascript appear within this template with my own gifs and links. That would be a pretty interesting side project. This is a boring, nerdy, and technical blog.

http://hostingproject.info/Zilos/googlex/


Enjoy,
Jonathan

Today's TLA is GPB

God's Politics Book <Part 1>

I have been reading God's Politics by Jim Wallis. It is a revolutionary book in my opinion. I am only in the early chapters, but I really enjoy his tone in the book. He criticizes both secular/liberal left and the fundamentalist/conservative right with regards to God's Politics. He argues that both left and right political spectrums do not have a vision of/for Christian issues within America. The left doesn't know how to talk the language of religion in politics, while the right has a narrow conservative vision. Wallis puts it well with his quotation "Without a vision, the people will perish." But good and clear visions are not enough for Wallis. For example, Wallis writes an interesting chapter on protest.

He claims that protests should not just be against something, but rather protesters should also have an alternative solution to the problem. I would agree with his claim. I remember in college, the minority students were very angry that the administration neglected students of color by relegating their clubs and ethnic organizations to a dormitory basement. My question was always, how can an accredited university claim diversity, while hiding that very diversity which they market in a dorm basement? Well, as college students we could have complained and protested for years and those ethnic clubs would still be in that dormitory basement if we did not offer an alternative solution.

I remember we had an alternative solution. Minorities wanted to be visible to the general (white) community of that school. So we camped outside a building which was near the central hub of the campus community. It was located near the cafeteria. We camped out for several days and we finally met with the administration and offered them our alternative solution to have our ethnic organizations and clubs have a central location to exemplify diversity rather than hide it under a dormitory basement. And to this day, the ethnic clubs and organizations are still there. So I agree with Wallis, protest is not enough. You have to offer an alternative solution. It doesn't matter how much you know the other side is wrong, if you don't offer an alternative then there will never be a common ground to make peace. Anyways, I really like this book. But you don't have to take my word for it. < From the PBS show: Reading Rainbow >


Enjoy,
Jonathan

Today's TLA is ILF

I Like Flickr

I have been using Ofoto/Kodak gallery for like 2 years now. But recently I have been playing with Flickr and its a pretty neat application. I created a Flickr Badge. Check it out.


http://www.geocities.com/jmoisesreyes/flickrbadge.html




Also let me know what you think. Should I remove my photoblox from laszlo or should I just use the Flickr tools?

Enjoy,
Jonathan

Today's TLA is MFS

My First Show

Last Sunday I invited friends and family over to my apartment and to my teacher's studio to view my art pieces at my teacher's art show/gallery. I displayed the Cesar Chavez and Malcom X portraits in the show. I am so happy that everyone enjoyed themselves. I had positive responses from everyone. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came.

As for the pieces in the show, everyone liked the blue Cesar Chavez painting. I titled it "C. Chavez Kind of Blue" . And for the Malcom X portrait, I titled it "X-stacy" . Anyways, back to the Chavez portrait. I have to say it was one of the fastest paintings I have ever painted. The picture I was working with had a sense of concern in his eyes and I just wanted to capture his moment of concern. The painting conveys the most emotion from people. I don't know if I have said this before or not, but the worst thing an artist can do is create a boring/apathetic piece. You gotta make people either hate it or just love it, you can't make them feel apathetic about a piece.

I did not really know God gave me the artistic talent to create paintings which can convey such emotion in people. But I want to thank God for giving me an opportunity to find this studio. I found this studio out of the blue. I made a wrong turn onto a street and to my left I saw the words "Art School." I was shocked that there could be such a cool studio in the city of Sunnyvale. I went in and told Sagi (my teacher), if I can try out a couple of her classes. I told her I don't really draw or paint that well, but I would love to take a couple of classes to ignite my learning to make art. I told her the last time I painted anything was in my art class in high school (10 years ago).

I was second guessing myself when I started these art classes. Basically, I didn't know if my work was any good. But my teacher was very encouraging and she told me in my first few classes that I already had my own style. And I should not compare myself with the really talented young artists in her class. I am finding out that I love learning how to paint and how to capture someone's essence. My teacher Sagi has been great. She knows when to encourage, when to critique, when to correct, when to not think and just paint, when to be creative, and when to motivate. I think that's a sign of a good teacher is to know when to do those things.

Anyways, thanks to my sister, Jed, Ted, Brittany, Howard, Liz, Gilbert, Cindy, Young, Jeremy, Joanelle and Jobe for coming and enjoying the food, the wine, the Popeyes, the Italian cheeses, the Prosecco, the Orangina, confruti (dessert dish from my sis) and the grapes for dessert. I had a blast and I am glad all of you had a blast. I will definitely invite more people for the next show. I already have a couple of ideas with regards to my next pieces I will be working on. If anyone want to see the online pics from my first show, email me and I will gladly forward you my ofoto/kodak gallery link to them.

Enjoy,
Jonathan

Today's TLA is IMC

It's Mere Christianity

I really dig this book by C.S. Lewis. I can see why people who may not have believed in God convert to Christianity because of this book. Lewis was an atheist before, and you can really tell with his writing that he thought a lot about his ideas and why he actually believes in Christianity. I really enjoyed his flow. His flow is very technical, logical, and almost mathematical. His writing reminds me of old complex proofs from college. But similar to very good thinkers, teachers, mathematicians, and problem solvers, Lewis gives awesome practical examples and metaphors for the complex and abstract ideas he is trying to either prove or disprove.

I really enjoy his chapter on pride. For Lewis, pride is when a person looks down on another person because that person thinks he/she is better, cleverer, financially more stable, or has more stuff than the next person. But for Lewis, he eludes to the fact that when a person looks down on another person, that person rarely realizes that there is a bigger person looking down at you, namely God who is looking down at you!

I remember C.S. Lewis from his Chronicles of Narnia books. But his Christianity books are really interesting and make you think. Anyways, I definitely suggest the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Here are some books I have read/still reading this year.

Mere Christianity
Memoirs of a Geisha
God's Politics
World According to Garp
The Windblown World: The Journals Of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954
When the Enemy Strikes : The Keys to Winning Your Spiritual Battles
Naked Lunch


Enjoy,
Jonathan