The Manhattan Declaration

If you have not yet heard about the the Manhattan Declaration I suggest you look in to it. This is a document calling "believers and non-believers alike" to support the following principals:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

  There are some disagreements of whether or not to sign the document. Personally I am more convinced by MacArthur's rational for not signing the document. Albert Mohler however chose to sign the document.
Here are the explanations for their decisions.
Albert Mohler
John MacArthur 
If there is any news on who else signed the document let me know :)

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Tecnology and our Illiterate society

Its no doubt that technology is changing the very way we live and exist. The last decades have experienced an exponential growth in technological expansion. From the way we wake up, to the way we communicate, almost every aspect of our life is in some way affected by technology.

Technology in an of itself is not sinful or bad, but  it is a mixed blessing. We should consider the effects of technology, just like we look at the symptoms and benefits of medication. While bringing imminence convenience to our world, technology is almost certainly making us(humans) dumber. Our society is becoming increasingly dependent on images rather than text.

A look at the progression of operating systems(OS) makes this point very clear. The newest operating systems feature a myriad of icons and images over the traditional text buttons. We are bombarded with commercials boasting of simpler and easier to use OS. This move to "easier more and convenient" looks like a great leap backward. In their studies scientist have found that monkeys can understand and respond to symbols. If the monkey presses the banana button he gets a banana. This is the case in most modern operating systems, "press the picture to get what you want." Another great example of this is ancient cave pictures and hieroglyphics. Before writing this was the main way to record information. Is technology leading us to a less literate society?

It sure looks like it is. This is easily seen by comparing the way we write to the past. Language is getting simpler as we know it. The lengthy eloquent conversations of the past have been replaced with short blurbs of abbreviations and half words. Just look at any one persons text messages, im, or twitter. Our society is encouraging, perhaps unintentionally, that we express ourselves with as little effort as possible.

This is a dangerous thing. As Christians we are called to examine ourselves 2 Corinthians 13:5, a practice that obviously requires a fair amount of thinking. Christians should strive to be more literate. After all the Bible is a book and not a set of images.

Relearning to read(and write) with you,
-Roman

My first poem

It's not great and it's kind of short (I like to think of it as to the point), but it was fun to write. Decided to write it just for the sake of trying who knows maybe I will continue to write (and maybe not). Either way hope it makes some sense. It comes from 1 Peter 3:13-16 (the text we studied at our small group this week).
I will sanctify Christ as Lord.
Though all around me seem so cold.
I will be gentle, calm, yet bold.
In proclamation of the faith,
To which I now, and will forever hold.

-Roman

My take on "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is one of the most famous poets in American history. He redefined poetry, and created a uniquely "American" voice. I believe that he changed the world of poetry not for better but for worse. Whitman ventured away from traditional rhyming and rhythmic poetry to a style that would eventually become what we know as free verse. He striped his poems of what I think truly makes a poem a poem. Answering Emerson's call, Whitman wrote explicitly on many controversial topics (e.g. sex, Communism, homosexuality, and war).

One of his longer poems "Song of Myself" (its 1345 lines) is one of the most selfish and immoral works I have ever read. Whitman was clearly a Godless man who had no problem celebrating immorality. Reading his poetry for literature class has not been an enjoyable experience, and I would not recommend him to anyone.

Postmodernism

Recently Albert Mohler wrote a great blog post on postmodernism (pun not intended). The subject has been on my mind over the past few weeks because of the upcoming Reality conference at our church. In this article Mohler reviews John R. Franke's new book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth. Here is an excerpt of the article.

The problem is this –  Franke’s argument that truth is plural means that the church should both embrace and celebrate different and even contradictory understandings of these doctrinal statements and core truths. While Franke is undoubtedly correct in warning that no theological system is free of cultural limitations, his proposal amounts to a total and unconditional surrender of doctrinal accountability. While he insists that not all doctrinal assertions are allowable, he undercuts the authority of Scripture to serve as the norm for establishing truth from error. (emphasis added)

Where did this idea come from, certainly Franke did not study scripture and derive this idea. As soon as one stops seeing scripture as the only, inherent, sufficient, and absolute definer of truth: they find themselves on a slope that will eventually lead to sin and heresy. We must diligently study the scriptures to find the truth contained in it. Sadly more and more people are reading their ideas in to scripture and therefore missing what God really says.

For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
-1 Peter 1:24-25

Math, Truth, and the Glory of God

This quarter in school I am talking a wide range of classes. It's nice to exercise various parts of my brain. Now more than ever I am realizing how wonderful math is. I and thankful that this is one class where almost everything is true. Unlike literature, or biology where un-biblical worldviews must be filtered with much care, math presents principals that are true and right. Finally, a class where I am not being taught against God. However it is important to note that math can be studied in a way that doesn't give glory to God. We must be careful to see the glory of God through math and not use math(or any other subject) to exalt ourselves.

"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
     -Colossians 3:17

May God give us the grace to glorify him in our education.

-Roman