Big Talk

http://www.whitehouse.gov/president-obama-delivers-your-weekly-address/

I hope and pray that he can back it up.

Snow!!!! And Finals....

Finals week is this week. I have 60+ pages of papers due tomorrow at 5pm. Luckily I have them all done as drafts. Right now I'm just editing and doing footnotes (which no one ever taught me!) I had a mild freak out last night. Ok well, major freak out, but I just went for a walk in the beautiful snow, got some perspective, and remembered that God has something in store for me. Even if it means failing out of Princeton.

But still, I'll be glad when this week is over.

The Year of Living Biblically

So I just recently read a really great book by A.J. Jacobs called The Year of Living Biblically. A.J. is a writer and magazine editor from New York who is Jewish "like the Olive Garden is Italian," and he decides to live one year of his life following the bible as literally as possible. Down the the letter of the law and as fundamentalist as possible. Living with tassels on his clothes, avoiding his life at that time of the month, stoning adulterers, the whole bit.

And look at the beard. Keep the beard unshaven.



But anyway, the book was really good. It was interesting, humorous, and hard to put down. But most of all, it was inspiring. To read about this self proclaimed agnostic being able to follow the bible more capably than I can, I was really impressed. It inspired me, as a Christian, to continue making my faith stronger. And also reading about his struggle with his intellectual side and the side that wanted to believe in something bigger than himself was something I could relate to.

One of the most interesting things I gathered from the book was the spectrum from fundamentalists interpreters of the bible to the "cafeteria Christians." One of my favorite quotes from the book.

"This year showed me beyond a doubt that everyone practices cafeteria religion. It's not just the moderates. Fundamentalists do it too. They can't heap everything on their plate. Otherwise they'd kick women out of church for saying hello ("the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak..." - 1 Corinthians 14:34) and boot out men for talking about the Tennessee Titans("make no mention of the names of other gods..." - Exodus 23:13")"

This read just asserted the knowledge that I associate most with the Red-letter Christians (led by Tony Campolo, the pastor famous for saying shit in his sermons). I focus on the big themes of the bible; the things Jesus focused on. Poverty, social justice, kindness, love. Jesus didn't come on a political bent screaming about gay marraige, abortion, or the war in the middle east. The Jews expected and wanted him to do this, but he didn't. Jesus came humbly and lived under the authority of his time. As I feel I should today. Keep my religion out of the politics, but still have God use me as a tool to change the world.

(For more on this, read this article
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/us/30pastor.html?_r=1&ei=5087%0A&en=34ccb5db8fcf8eca&ex=1154491200&pagewanted=all


But anyway, go out and read this book, no matter your philosophical bent, it'll be a good read, I promise.

And to you A.J. Jacobs, since you talk about how you self-google and read blogs about yourself, my hats off to you! And I'll continue to pray that you move more from a "reverent agnostic" to a true believer.