Held

Creed by Steve Turner

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in
horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same–
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds.
——

Satirical piece on the mind of postmodernist relativism, I hope the above's not your creed…

And, somewhat related, here's something interesting on an escape from nihilism. 

So strange, how music can be so delightful! I’ve been listening to Westlife! Haha. Yeah, that BOYBAND, it’s making me so happy you wouldn’t believe it, I can’t believe it myself! Just typing away happily and studying to the tune of sappy love songs about undying love and proclamations from young men about how they’ll 'swear it all over again'! Ahaha.

Anyway, it was all cheery until I heard a certain song and suddenly vividly recalled a memory:

Of this PE lesson back in secondary school, where I was sitting on the edge of the stage in our school hall, with peiyong, and wanyuan, and qihui, and I don’t know who else, there must have been others. And we were belting out sappy songs we or at least I didn’t know the lyrics to, but someone was supplying them, so we just kept sitting there with our legs dangling, singing and watching other 412ers play floorball, and cheering for them in between songs

And I think I remember it because I remember feeling a tinge of sadness and wanting to cry only it’d have been ultimately silly (you know, to cry watching floorball) The O-levels must have been drawing near, we were all stressed out and running on empty, and I was dreading having to leave these girls behind and move on to that intimidating mixed sex institution with awful boys (yes I seriously thought that way) called JC.

So that’s why all this leapt so clearly into my head when suddenly my itunes played… “I wonder how, I wonder why, I wonder where they are the days we had the songs we sang together..” (from Westlife’s ‘My Love’).

Yeah. The thing is I may well have mixed up memories in my head, and it mayn’t have been that song at all! I really wish I could ring one of them up and ask them now…

Anyhow, I wonder how they are, and really hope they’re all well. (:

–

ok the reason why the above is in funny font, (edit: which didn't appear after all! what a pity, it was pretty.) is because i disallowed myself to go online, so when i heard the song, i typed it right in the middle of my notes and i've been making notes in that font- makes making notes more interesting (:

Good Friday, good time of course to remember and reflect on The Cross. But I also recall a certain Literature class back in hwachong's LT5, where we read the words of a certain dead poet, and talked about his conceits, his endless punning and clever use of imagery. Reading it now though, what comes through still, is that undeniable (even when we were mugging it up for an A-level paper) depth of emotion within that he had to let out somehow… so:

GOOD-FRIDAY, 1613, RIDING WESTWARD.
by John Donne

LET man's soul be a sphere, and then, in this,
Th' intelligence that moves, devotion is ;
And as the other spheres, by being grown
Subject to foreign motion, lose their own,
And being by others hurried every day,
Scarce in a year their natural form obey ;
Pleasure or business, so, our souls admit
For their first mover, and are whirl'd by it.
Hence is't, that I am carried towards the west,
This day, when my soul's form bends to the East.
There I should see a Sun by rising set,
And by that setting endless day beget.
But that Christ on His cross did rise and fall,
Sin had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare I almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for me.
Who sees Gods face, that is self-life, must die ;
What a death were it then to see God die ?
It made His own lieutenant, Nature, shrink,
It made His footstool crack, and the sun wink.
Could I behold those hands, which span the poles
And tune all spheres at once, pierced with those holes ?
Could I behold that endless height, which is
Zenith to us and our antipodes,
Humbled below us ? or that blood, which is
The seat of all our soul's, if not of His,
Made dirt of dust, or that flesh which was worn
By God for His apparel, ragg'd and torn ?
If on these things I durst not look, durst I
On His distressed Mother cast mine eye,
Who was God's partner here, and furnish'd thus
Half of that sacrifice which ransom'd us ?
Though these things as I ride be from mine eye,
They're present yet unto my memory,
For that looks towards them ; and Thou look'st towards me,
O Saviour, as Thou hang'st upon the tree.
I turn my back to thee but to receive
Corrections till Thy mercies bid Thee leave.
O think me worth Thine anger, punish me,
Burn off my rust, and my deformity ;
Restore Thine image, so much, by Thy grace,
That Thou mayst know me, and I'll turn my face.

I like breakfast, it revs me up for the day ahead. So I always try to eat breakfast. Today, I'm munching on yummy kellogg's cornflakes and sainsbury's cocoa puffs (which is like nestle's coco pops) in a bowl of milk that's turning chocolatety, to the tune of Newsboys' The Breakfast Song. (one of the quirkiest, smartest ones yet!)

Hold the milk, put back the sugar
They are powerless to console
We’ve gathered here to sprinkle ashes
From our late friend’s cereal bowl.

Breakfast Clubbers, say the motto
That he taught us to repeat:
“You will lose it in your gym class, if you wait til noon to eat”.

Back when the Chess Club said our eggs were soft
Every Monday he’d say grace and hold our juice aloft
Oh, none of us knew his checkout time would come so soon
But before his brain stopped waving, he composed this tune:

Chorus:
WHEN THE TOAST IS BURNED
AND ALL THE MILK HAS TURNED
AND CAPTAIN CRUNCH IS WAVING FAREWELL,
WHEN THE BIG ONE FINDS YOU MAY THIS SONG REMIND YOU
THAT THEY DON’T SERVE BREAFAST IN HELL

Breakfast clubbers, drop the hankies
Though to some our friend was odd,
that day he bought those pine pyjamas
His check was good with God

Those here without the lord,
How do you cope?
For this morning we don’t mourn
Like those who have no hope

Oh rise up, Fruit Loop lovers-
Sing out sweet and low
With spoons held high
We bid our brother “Cheerio!"

Chorus again, then whistle whistle whistle the chorus, and repeat again till fade-out (:

Ancient words written by St Thomas Aquinas ages and ages ago, but still so beautiful and relevant enough for any desperately frantically mugging student (like me) to echo: 

Ineffable Creator . . .

You are proclaimed
the true font of light and wisdom,
and the primal origin
raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness
into the darkened places of my mind;
disperse from my soul
the twofold darkness
into which I was born:
sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants.
Refine my speech
and pour forth upon my lips
the goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to me
keenness of mind,
capacity to remember,
skill in learning,
subtlety to interpret,
and eloquence in speech.

May You
guide the beginning of my work,
direct its progress,
and bring it to completion.
You Who are true God and true Man,
Who live and reign, world without end.

Amen.

It's a really gorgeous morning! Loads of sunshine, blue blue skies. I'm glad I woke up in time to appreciate it. Really should appreciate it more by opening my books soon, but the amazing view of the sky from my windows reminded me that I HAVE to take just a moment – to introduce a fantastic BBC series called Planet Earth.

I've talked about it before, along with my love for otters, and camels (who really do chew the way they do on cartoons), and oh have I mentioned I wish I were a sand-dune because they're so breathtakingly elegant! (ah illogical randomness.)

But if you're a nature lover, or geography fanatic, or if you simply love being part of this beautiful creation that is Planet Earth, or if you love the even more amazing Creator behind it all, please go watch it!

Can't wait for the new season to start in autumn.  I think I might get the DVD too.

As all can see, my past few posts have been song lyrics. I've got a few songs stuck in my head all at once, playing repeat ad nauseum only I'm not sick of them yet, so I've been humming all day. I suppose it's a good thing- joyfulness.

Ok, so as my last post on my previous blog says, I've just got back from Word Alive! I don't think anyone really believes me (at least not to the great great extent that I mean it) when I say it was AWESOME. 7000 people from all over UK, gathered in a seaside resort for one sunny but chilly spring week simply to learn and grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord. Spring Harvest- One God. Truly amazing, truly humbling.

People ask, so what was so GOOD about it? And I can't reply coherently, because there's too much to say! An attempt at a list would look something like this:

• staying in the chalet/apartment/flat with my lovely housemate and the wackiest couple of guys I've ever known: I have not laughed so much in ages!
• sharing food and walks and worship and more with the other ocf-ers: some of them can really cook and others can really eat.
• bumping into people I know from long ago (and from photographs haha)
• being able to pick and choose from a fabulous spread of talks, seminars, celebrations
• just learning how to dwell in God's word all over again, and to really worship so freely and joyfully and uninhibitedly, worshipping Him simply for being who He is

And what I'll take away and really treasure in my heart I hope:

• deeper understanding of how to read the Bible, reading it with Jesus in the pinch of the hourglass: Was just astounded afresh by this amazingly divine book, the story of God's amazing blueprint that unfolds in it, and am once again certain of the fact that it is so worth reading and re-reading, over and over again.
• determination to love being a woman, and to desire to be a woman after my Maker's own heart: it's so straightforward yet so difficult, but I'm determined to: to follow Jesus' example and submit to the role God designed for me as a girl!
• that awe of looking again at the person of Jesus Christ- "image of the invisible God", "in whom the fullness of God dwells", how the salvation he brings is bigger than me and myself, how he is the one pot that is sufficient for me, truly sufficient.

Ok enough shining. Now back into the studying-swing of things.  

testing testing: can i paste photos here? 

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming:

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God.
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom:

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God

Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

- Jesse Reeves, Laura Story