whoa.

i know i said i was gonna update this at least twice a week now that i'm off school but i think i'm enjoying a bit too much of the summer right now and i can't sit down, concentrate and get started writing.

(i think that was a run-on sentence...that's how bad it's been.)

actually, i've been left uninspired lately...there isn't really much to talk about in my life...at least not yet at this moment...except for one thing that i'd rather not talk about because i swore that i would never mention this person's name again in this blog...

*coughmyexisgettingmarriedcough*

well, something that happened yesterday sparked some kind of mental movement...and i kind of want to bounce off my thoughts here now...although they're not as fresh as they were last night...damn obsession to 24.

anyways.

so last night, in the bookstore, a couple of girls came by and checked out some books in the christianity section...adjacent to it is a table full of da vinci code related books...they suddenly got into the discussion about how christians should not watch the upcoming latter film because it puts her faith in a negative light...her friend, on the other hand, said that she would still watch the film, more of as a work of fiction and not some kind of religious commentary to be taken seriously...i then told them about a bunch of christian groups planning to boycott the release of the film.

then all hell broke lose.

some guy jumps into our conversation, and suddenly made a bombshell of a statement: the Bible is a fictional story, not a historical account of our faith.

now, mind you, a few of you readers would greatly agree with this gentleman, but i for one (and the two other girls) don't.

anyways, he then started on dissecting why he was right, and how we are so misled in our beliefs...that there are erroneous parts in the Bible, that historical manuscripts that mirror the Biblical passages prove that the writers of the scriptures "took" from these stories and made them "christian"...stuff like that.

i don't mind engaging in healthy debate...i can listen to your point of view, and respect you for that, and vice versa...in the end, a good debate will end with some kind of "we agree to disagree" compromise...i'm not any more wrong or right than you are.

but the problem with that man was the fact that he made us look like idiots for choosing to become christians...he would constantly babble on and on, often "quoting" parts of the Bible based on what he wanted it to be interpreted as...instead of letting the scriptures speak for themselves, he has molded and twisted them into his own ideals...he also constantly wanted to see proof--physical, philosophical, scriptural--of where we base our faith on, like we need to show him that we truly were christians...this went on for almost half an hour...i had to wrestle myself out of the conversation because there was no reasoning him (and because i had to clean up the store...haha.)

the sad part about this is, he USED to be a christian.

i found it highly hypocritical of him to stand there in his soapbox complaining about how wrong we are...when in fact he's almost as bad as those zealots who push you into converting into their faith.

what i also found aggravating is the fact that his basis for what "christianity" was is not what the faith is really all about...he used examples of george bush, abortion clinic bombers, and even a fat minister to show that this is what christianity is (about the fat minister, he said he wasn't being "Christian" because he couldn't control his carnal cravings of food...i would have kicked that raving man in the shins right there, but i digress).

i'm sorry to disappoint, but that is not how i define my faith.

that is exactly the problem these days...what is seen about our faith is not a positive reflection of Christ's true nature and love and compassion...instead we walk around making our own rules, making our faith a mere religion rather than a true experience...Christianity is now being seen as a one-sided, evil, discriminating, conservative belief system.

last sunday, i head a really good message about us being "imitators of Christ"...that what we follow is not a set of rules or dogmas, but what true Christianity is all about is basing your life to Christ Himself...and that's what matters the most.

it does trouble me that many Christians believe in the validity of the claims dan brown makes his hit book...i'm not done reading yet, and apart from the atrocious writing (as a former english major, the book is bad), the book is simply that--a book...a work of fiction...and as christians we should analyse it with an open mind...from it gain a better understanding of what we could do to truly show who Christ really is.

...

that made up for lost time, eh?

anyways, i have some plans today...i think...i get bored and when i'm just cooped up at home, doing nothing but watching TV and checking my myspace every five seconds.

plus, the sun is out.

see you all in two weeks a few days.

ha.

...peace out...