Class started 20 minutes ago. My professor is telling us about himself... still.
I have learned several jewels of information already!
Teacher loves history.
Teacher loves the middle ages.
Teacher shared several reminiscences from his early childhood, and his mission in Germany.
Teacher's grandfather went on a mission to England (pretty sure this one is gonna be on the final).
Teacher lived in a village of 6 or 8 houses while writing his dissertation in 1970.
The toilet in said village was very cold when Teacher's little boys had to get up and tinkle.
Teacher's wife got sick of looking at cathedrals during their tour of Europe, but Teacher was appalled at her, because each one is unique.
Teacher likes to sit on hard wooden benches, as long as he is in a cathedral, and there are high-vaulted ceilings to wonder at.
Teacher likes architecture.
Teacher used to be associate Dean of the college in 1995-2001.
He's still talking. It's been half an hour now.
According to the news on msnbc.com, some hackers got into Obama's email and sent an infected Christmas card, using it to steal documents.
Honestly, I'd like to find out what I'm going to be graded on this semester. Are we going to have quizzes on the reading? What are the guidelines for the term paper mentioned (though not discussed) in the syllabus? What is the point of the massive handout we were given? Do we need to read it, or is it for those who haven't taken a 201 course yet?
Teacher and his colleagues spent a whole hour talking about ideas for a building he was in charge of building while he was dean of the college. He was trying to express "light and truth" in stone, steel, and glass. Way to bring religion into the lecture, Professor.
Back to the ever-educational msnbc.com, one of Bush's aides was found dead in a landfill, after apparently being chucked in a dumpster. Good job covering your tracks, killer person. They can't even find the crime scene now.
My favorite headline today? Some middle school teacher guy was listening to rap music and sat on his phone, butt-dialing his wife. His wife answered and heard the lyrics, thought he was being held hostage in his office, and called out SWAT. Ba ha ha ha!
Class has 13 minutes left. We're still listening to teacher tell us about himself. At least he's friendly. My last class... not sure what to think. Either Teacher is a jerk, or he just has a verrrrrry dry sense of humor. I'm hoping for the dry sense of humor, because if he wasn't serious, then he's actually pretty funny... I just wasn't sure if I could laugh or not.
Hey! He stopped telling us about himself! Now he's asking us if we have any questions, and saying he hopes he leaves enough of an impression on us that we remember his name the way he remembers his professors.
I asked some questions! He gave us the grade breakdown! Yay!
Class has 8 minutes left, and he's all done!
And that would be my class on the high middle ages.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Sing it with me now! "Oh it's the ennnnd of the worrrrld as we know it!"
News flash! 5,000 birds and 100,000 fish drop dead in Arkansas! Shocking! What could have caused such a disaster??? Aliens? Government conspiracy?
Of course not, people. Really. What kind of whackos are you?
Clearly, it's the apocalypse. Wormwood. That's the only rational possibility.
What, you don't believe it? Hell awaits you, non believing scum of the slime of the mud hole of the swamp of nothingness.
That's right, the apocalypse is on us now!
I just found out about this from a website claiming the end of the world is going to be on May 21, 2011. Google it. It's sweet.
This is becoming quite the movement. Their claim is based on some Biblical (and not so Biblical) dates. One of these is that because the flood of Noah took place in 4990 BC (this date came from... um... uuuuummmmmm.......), and God told Noah that it would be 7 days before the flood waters came, and 1 day is equal to 1,000 years, then 7,000 years later makes the date 2011. Clearly, this is the last year of mankind. How can you possibly doubt when those dates are laid out so transparently for all who would just believe? The logic that brought about that conclusion is, without a doubt, unquestionably sound.
But then, where did May 21st come from?
Well, I'll tell you.
May 21st 1988 was the end of the influence of the churches, or something like that. The pamphlet from which I was getting my information failed to mention exactly what that entailed or how we know that, but space was limited, so I understand. I'll just take it on faith. That end of the influence of the churches began a 23 year period in which God would torment the churches, which ends with the rapture... May 21st, 2011. Yep, that's right. The rapture is going to be approximately 4.7 months from today. If you're still here on May 22nd, then I'm very sorry. You will die.
BUT! Never fear, O non believers! You won't die on the 22nd! That's right, for a limited time only, you can be subjected to torments beyond your wildest imaginations! The dead shall rise from the grave, when the righteous shall be endowed with everlasting life, and the wicked will rise... but will remain dead, their corpses littering the earth! (Yes, this is more information from the End is Near website.) Death will be everywhere and mankind (or what remains of it) will endure suffering and agony for the next five months! Then, on October 21, 2011 the world will be quick fried with a crackly crunch. THEN you'll die.
So, when birds drop from the sky, and the moon turns to blood (lunar eclipse) at the same time that the sun is darkened (winter solstice) and the stars are falling from heaven (Ursids meteor shower... you better believe all that just happened this past solstice), and fish stinketh their river banks, know that May 21st is nigh.
Oooooh, it's the ennnnd of the worrrrrld as we know it!
*ahem* Yeah, done with the shameless mocking of other people's heartfelt religious convictions now.
In all seriousness (yes, I am capable of being serious in my blog), I will admit I enjoyed reading about the end of the world on May 21, 2011. It reminded me a LOT of my study of Millerism this past year, in which William Miller amassed a following of people who were positive the world was coming to an end on October 22, 1844 (that was after the 1843 prediction hadn't happened). One major difference that my roommate pointed out, however, was that according to Miller, the apocalyptic date marked Christ's second coming, and the beginning of His Millennial reign. While Miller was more doom and gloom than most of the exceptionally optimistic views of Christ circulating at the time (ie, mankind's righteousness will increase so much that it will create the Millennial Earth, which Christ will then find suitable for His reign), it was sunshine, bunnies and flowers compared to this new one. According to this new May 21st movement, nothing is said about Christ returning to the Earth at all... which is kind of the whole point of the apocalypse, is it not? This new movement is all about the rapture and the burning, essentially leaving nothing for Christ to reign over.
I'm extremely curious to watch what becomes of this movement. According to an article I read, one of the women preaching this message wanted to have children and start a family, but unfortunately the time is gone, and all she has left to do is preach the warning. To me, that's really sad. [soapbox] Apocalypse or not, life shouldn't cease because you might not get to finish your dreams. While it's good to live life as righteously as you would if you had to face God tomorrow and give an accounting of what you had done with your life, you also don't want to have to admit that you spent it waiting for Him to come end it... and the world. The truth is, we have NO CLUE when this is going to take place (honestly, every single generation since the FIRST coming has had a faction of people that have believed it will be in their lifetime), so make plans and reach for them, and just be willing to change them if God so desires. [/soapbox]
So, getting back to the movement, five months from now, I'd like to see what becomes of it. Will they continue to preach apocalypse on May 22nd, when all that's left to look forward to is the October 21st doomsday? I'm curious to find out.
Another point - all of this makes me EXTREMELY grateful for the Mormon perspective on Christ's second coming. We tend to focus on the "great" part of the "great and terrible day of the Lord." You say 2nd coming, and generally speaking, Mormons will start picturing the scene from 3rd Nephi where Christ comes, heals the sick, allows the people to touch his wounds, and teaches them incredible lessons about love and prayer. In the background of this picture, the primary song is singing: "I wonder when He comes again, will herald angels sing? Will Earth be white with drifted snow, or will the world know spring? ... I'm sure He'll call His little ones together round His knee, because He said in days gone by, 'Suffer them to come to Me.'" Sunshiney, no? The Mormon picture of the 2nd coming is a pretty far cry from "You non believers will all be BURNED!!!" There is the idea that the wicked will be brought to justice, but the focus tends to be on how wonderful it will be to live with Christ. More than that, the ideas of Judgment that exist are much more fair, throwing the concept of mercy for everyone, not just the believers, in with the justice, and they emphasize the perfection of God, how He is fair to everyone, not His wrath on mankind.
So, to sum it all up, I'm glad I get to watch this take place, but I'm also really glad I don't believe a lick of it. My beliefs about God, Christ, and the second coming are much better.
Of course not, people. Really. What kind of whackos are you?
Clearly, it's the apocalypse. Wormwood. That's the only rational possibility.
What, you don't believe it? Hell awaits you, non believing scum of the slime of the mud hole of the swamp of nothingness.
That's right, the apocalypse is on us now!
I just found out about this from a website claiming the end of the world is going to be on May 21, 2011. Google it. It's sweet.
This is becoming quite the movement. Their claim is based on some Biblical (and not so Biblical) dates. One of these is that because the flood of Noah took place in 4990 BC (this date came from... um... uuuuummmmmm.......), and God told Noah that it would be 7 days before the flood waters came, and 1 day is equal to 1,000 years, then 7,000 years later makes the date 2011. Clearly, this is the last year of mankind. How can you possibly doubt when those dates are laid out so transparently for all who would just believe? The logic that brought about that conclusion is, without a doubt, unquestionably sound.
But then, where did May 21st come from?
Well, I'll tell you.
May 21st 1988 was the end of the influence of the churches, or something like that. The pamphlet from which I was getting my information failed to mention exactly what that entailed or how we know that, but space was limited, so I understand. I'll just take it on faith. That end of the influence of the churches began a 23 year period in which God would torment the churches, which ends with the rapture... May 21st, 2011. Yep, that's right. The rapture is going to be approximately 4.7 months from today. If you're still here on May 22nd, then I'm very sorry. You will die.
BUT! Never fear, O non believers! You won't die on the 22nd! That's right, for a limited time only, you can be subjected to torments beyond your wildest imaginations! The dead shall rise from the grave, when the righteous shall be endowed with everlasting life, and the wicked will rise... but will remain dead, their corpses littering the earth! (Yes, this is more information from the End is Near website.) Death will be everywhere and mankind (or what remains of it) will endure suffering and agony for the next five months! Then, on October 21, 2011 the world will be quick fried with a crackly crunch. THEN you'll die.
So, when birds drop from the sky, and the moon turns to blood (lunar eclipse) at the same time that the sun is darkened (winter solstice) and the stars are falling from heaven (Ursids meteor shower... you better believe all that just happened this past solstice), and fish stinketh their river banks, know that May 21st is nigh.
Oooooh, it's the ennnnd of the worrrrrld as we know it!
*ahem* Yeah, done with the shameless mocking of other people's heartfelt religious convictions now.
In all seriousness (yes, I am capable of being serious in my blog), I will admit I enjoyed reading about the end of the world on May 21, 2011. It reminded me a LOT of my study of Millerism this past year, in which William Miller amassed a following of people who were positive the world was coming to an end on October 22, 1844 (that was after the 1843 prediction hadn't happened). One major difference that my roommate pointed out, however, was that according to Miller, the apocalyptic date marked Christ's second coming, and the beginning of His Millennial reign. While Miller was more doom and gloom than most of the exceptionally optimistic views of Christ circulating at the time (ie, mankind's righteousness will increase so much that it will create the Millennial Earth, which Christ will then find suitable for His reign), it was sunshine, bunnies and flowers compared to this new one. According to this new May 21st movement, nothing is said about Christ returning to the Earth at all... which is kind of the whole point of the apocalypse, is it not? This new movement is all about the rapture and the burning, essentially leaving nothing for Christ to reign over.
I'm extremely curious to watch what becomes of this movement. According to an article I read, one of the women preaching this message wanted to have children and start a family, but unfortunately the time is gone, and all she has left to do is preach the warning. To me, that's really sad. [soapbox] Apocalypse or not, life shouldn't cease because you might not get to finish your dreams. While it's good to live life as righteously as you would if you had to face God tomorrow and give an accounting of what you had done with your life, you also don't want to have to admit that you spent it waiting for Him to come end it... and the world. The truth is, we have NO CLUE when this is going to take place (honestly, every single generation since the FIRST coming has had a faction of people that have believed it will be in their lifetime), so make plans and reach for them, and just be willing to change them if God so desires. [/soapbox]
So, getting back to the movement, five months from now, I'd like to see what becomes of it. Will they continue to preach apocalypse on May 22nd, when all that's left to look forward to is the October 21st doomsday? I'm curious to find out.
Another point - all of this makes me EXTREMELY grateful for the Mormon perspective on Christ's second coming. We tend to focus on the "great" part of the "great and terrible day of the Lord." You say 2nd coming, and generally speaking, Mormons will start picturing the scene from 3rd Nephi where Christ comes, heals the sick, allows the people to touch his wounds, and teaches them incredible lessons about love and prayer. In the background of this picture, the primary song is singing: "I wonder when He comes again, will herald angels sing? Will Earth be white with drifted snow, or will the world know spring? ... I'm sure He'll call His little ones together round His knee, because He said in days gone by, 'Suffer them to come to Me.'" Sunshiney, no? The Mormon picture of the 2nd coming is a pretty far cry from "You non believers will all be BURNED!!!" There is the idea that the wicked will be brought to justice, but the focus tends to be on how wonderful it will be to live with Christ. More than that, the ideas of Judgment that exist are much more fair, throwing the concept of mercy for everyone, not just the believers, in with the justice, and they emphasize the perfection of God, how He is fair to everyone, not His wrath on mankind.
So, to sum it all up, I'm glad I get to watch this take place, but I'm also really glad I don't believe a lick of it. My beliefs about God, Christ, and the second coming are much better.
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