Faith

Last night, I watched a movie. In this movie, one of the characters was a Catholic priest (who actually mentioned God a total of zero times), and at one point he was talking about faith. He defined faith as a belief in a thing larger than yourself. I have also heard it defined as a belief in an unseen thing. This means that faith is a specific kind of belief--I believe in the sun, but I don't have faith in it because I can see it.

However, that isn't what faith is. Hebrews chapter 11 is all about faith, and the first verse says something important about it: "faith is the evidence of things unseen." If faith is the evidence in things unseen, it can't be merely a belief in it. Evidence is proof. A belief is not proof of anything.

If I tell you that I believe that I am the best writer in the world, would that convince you? I strongly doubt it. I would have to show you a sample of every single writer in the world, and then demonstrate my own writing. That would be evidence, either for or against me.

So if faith is evidence, then that means it has to be more than belief. However, faith is belief. Hebrews 11 describes faith later on as being belief. So was the writer of Hebrews completely wrong? I don't think so--I think that we are lacking something when we define faith as belief in the unseen.

Here is my definition: faith is a belief in the unseen inspired by the unseen thing. This means that faith is a belief in God that is created in us by God. So how about this one: if faith without works is dead, then do the works justify the faith, or does the faith create the works? But that's a question for tomorrow.

Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell

Language Reform

The idea of grammar is interesting to me. Who came up with it? And spelling. When did spelling become standardized? Did someone decide one day that our language needed to work like this, and not like that? If so, he didn't do it very well. I'll admit that grammar usually works well, but spelling does not.

Look at words like "eight" and "bomb." They don't sound like they look at all (and why do we have to have words for numbers? Why not just write it 8?) Standardized spelling is good, but why not make it a little more sensical. English, supposedly, is written phonetically. Wouldn't it be great if that were true? "Facade" should be written "fussad," and the letter K should be eliminated, since it's redundant to C. As for letters:

G should no longer share a sound with J.

C should cease to share with S.

X, Q and K should be removed from the alphabet.

The sounds Sh, Th and Ch should be replaced by, respectively, Q, K and X.

And those are my thoughts for the day.

Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell

Reply

The other day I wrote down a very brief thought concerning sacrifice and Jesus. Today, I will finish the thought.


The sacrifice by Jesus was not human sacrifice. I made an error in my logic. If I made anyone worry and fret and lose sleep (I probably didn't), then you can be at rest once again. The human sacrifice mentioned in the Old Testament is entirely different than the one performed by Jesus. The main thing is that the Old Testament human sacrifices were not voluntary.


One of the more popular false religions in the time of Moses and the Judges was the worship of Molech. One of the central parts of Molech worship concerned human sacrifice--more specifically, the sacrifice of infants. When the various Prophets decried Israel for "allowing your children to be passed through the fire," this is what they were talking about.


Jesus was very different. His sacrifice was entirely voluntary. What Jesus did was sort of like a soldier stepping in the way of a bullet to save a friend. This is sacrifice, in a technical sense, but who would say that it's a bad thing?

What Jesus did was a glorious and heroic thing; involuntary human sacrifice is a disgusting and pathetic thing. Rest easy: His sacrifice is still entirely valid, and there is nothing anyone can do to make it less so.

Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell

Sacrifice

It's been a few days since I've said anything, which is rare for me. However, even though it was my small and rather sad goal of having a post for every day of this month, I have so far come much closer to attaining the goal than I did in January. I imagine that the month that I actually attain the goal, someone in an office somewhere will shut it down and kick me off the internet.

I don't have much to say today. I have simply been reflecting upon this two-part thought:

1. God forbid human sacrifice in the Old Testament.

2. Jesus is the sacrifice for our sins (He also happened to be human).

What does this mean? If He was the sacrifice for our sins, He was a human sacrifice, which is sin in itself. I'm going to have to study this a little more, because I don't have an answer.

Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell

Unreality

As anyone who's heard me knows, I am an exceedingly good guitarist. I am, if I do say so myself, one of the best to ever live. Although there are many who would disagree, they're probably just jealous.

There is a game that is popular among many people called Guitar Hero. It's basically a simulation of playing guitar. The controller is a small plastic guitar with five buttons on the neck. On the body, where a real guitarist would strum, there is a small plastic piece on a hinge. This simulates the strum.

I can't play Guitar Hero. I am the worst Guitar Heroist ever. However, I am an awesome guitarist. Guitar Hero has a fraction of the complexity of guitar, so the ability to play guitar should make Guitar Hero exponentially easier.

There's actually more to it than that, but for now let's stick with what I've just laid out (I'd rather not bring up how bad I am at sight-reading). Reality is easier than the simulation, which, based on casual observance, is backwards.

Looking back, this isn't a very good way of getting my point across. So before I fall deeper into my mistake, I'll just state my purpose.

It's a lot easier to maintain the truth than to keep up a lie. There are two reasons for this, neither of which really have anything to do with guitars. The first is memory, the second is backup.

Lies are easier to forget than the truth. A lie is made up entirely of words, and words can be easily forgotten. The truth is made up of actual events.

Other people can also easily and inadvertently cause your lie yto be disproved. Sometimes a casual comment that doesn't match up with a false story can destroy the false story.

Don't worry, this worthlessness I just spent all this time writing will not recur with too much frequency. My inspiration is only slowly returning, but it's coming. Maybe I'll say something worth saying tomorrow.

Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell

Another Day

I still have inspiration deficiency. However, I also still want to have a post for every day in the month, and so I am writing.

That's all. I'll probably have something real to say tomorrow.

Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell

Help Wanted

I can think of nothing good to talk about. I wish that I did. So here's what I want you, the valiant reader, to do for me. You've been sitting there reading my hard work for all this time. It's time for you to do your part. Here are your instructions.

1. Click below where it says "comments."

2. Write something in the box contained therein. This something can be whatever you think could be relevant and helpful. This could be a Bible verse, a theological statement, a non-theological statement, or the beginnings of the trace of an idea of something.

3. Post the comment.

This really isn't just a ploy to show how many people are reading my blog. If that's what it was, I know that I would be horribly disappointed. I just have run low on inspiration.

I hope to hear from you shortly,
Mitchell