What Do You Think...

Here is another one of my school papers. I hope I'm not boring y'all. I have something more interesting that I could post very soon. :) Keep waiting.
~Christina

The book Born Again, written by Chuck Colson, is a very good book.  It contains a lot about politics, which interested me.  He also wrote about his own personal life, which was absorbing.  Chuck Colson was able to put his point across without making it too difficult to understand.  There were many questions that popped up along the way.  But the one that was chosen for the topic of this paper was: which is more important, the individual or the whole group?  And what does our culture say about it?  I am going to give you my personal opinion in this essay.

    In the book, Born Again, Chuck Colson touches on this topic briefly.  He quotes from C.S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity, “If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization,  which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual.  But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilization, compared with his, is only a moment.”  Colson was shocked at hearing that the lowliest individual is more important than the state or the whole nation.  He had previously believed that the state exists only to serve the individual, created and maintained only with the individual’s consent, but over time, politics had changed him.  What had happened to him was that when a person spends time in gdovernment, he or she becomes absolutely intent on preserving the institution of the state.  In my opinion, if you don’t believe in God then you are pushed to 1 of 2 extremes.   

    Many godless dictators and totalitarian regimes believe that the individual is more important than the whole group.  In the beginning of the quote, from C.S. Lewis’ book, it says,  “If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization,  which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual.”  The dictators care more about the country.  Why?  Well, they don’t believe that people have an afterlife, in heaven or hell, so they don’t care about the individual.

Recently, there have been several songs that American music artists have written  that seem to point to the other extreme.  In our culture, self is the only thing that matters -- almost like nobody else exists.  A lot of the songs that have come out also are telling  teens that they are more important than other people.  Everything is about you, you, you.  It is almost like some people can’t live without the reassurance of knowing that they are important.  But this view is selfish.

    I think that both the individual and the group are important.  I should live my life for others -- my family, my church, my country because that is what Christ did for us. John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” However, I am, as an individual, also infinitely important. The King of the Universe died for ME!  And He did it for you too!  I know I focus on the individual more because I have more of a chance of witnessing to a person one on one.

    In conclusion, I think that our country is focusing too much on the individual and many other countries focus too much on the group.  Christ brings balance. 

Please feel free to leave a comment (I want to hear other people's opinions also) and tell me what you think whether the individual or the whole group more important?

Think It Through

This is another school paper that I wanted to post. We were allowed to pick any topic that interested us. I had some other ideas (e.g. Mini-Coopers, Love them!! etc )

Post it on Facebook! Email me soon! Text me as soon as you know! Wonderful tweet done by…! Is this all our generation will hear? What ever happened to what is now known as “snail mail”? Technology has become too good. It distracts people from the real world. Some people do just fine with having an email, Facebook, Twitter, cell-phone without becoming obsessed. Some people can't do it. Here are four ways technology can be bad:

1)      You can find yourself addicted. How you know that your addicted is when you are sitting in front of your computer waiting for a new post on Facebook to come up because you have spent the past 30 minutes memorizing what people have posted from today and days previous. Or when you get a text message and you reply and find yourself checking your phone every 15 seconds to see if they responded. You get very frustrated when you see that they haven’t answered so you lose all hope.

2)      Discontentment. What!! I’m not discontent I just really like the house I built on a game. It’s just my dream house. Discontentment is when you find yourself looking at pictures on Facebook of your friend and her family and saying, “I wished I looked like her. How does she get her hair to stay so flat? I wish my family was as happy as hers.”

3)      Distracts from the real world. Your telling your best friend about how awful your day was and all of a sudden you hear her cell-phone beep saying that she had a text message. She whips out her phone, breaks eye contact, says she just has to answer this real quick. You excuse her this one time and when she is done she gives you her whole attention. You quickly end that conversation since you can’t stand not being listened to. You go over and talk to your other friend. You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket. You say you just have to answer it real quick. The real world has more to do than just you texting, facebooking, etc. The real world has people dying all over it, thousands of babies being killed each day, murders, suicides. All of that is happening while you are texting your friend about your day.

4)      The more you are on your tech. the less time you are spending with God. You wake up in the morning and designate time when you can spend time with God. However you pull out your phone just to see if you got an email. You can get easily distracted that way.

However technology is a good thing. Used in the right way. You could use your email, Facebook, phone to minister to people in a way that you might not feel comfortable doing with talking. You can post verses on Facebook to encourage all your friends that day. I challenge you all to only use your email, Facebook, Twitter, cellphone for positive things this week. If you can’t do it you know your addicted. 

~Christina (I posted last time too)

Hello...

Can you believe it! I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth. 


Here is a story I wrote for school. Enjoy! :)

Charlotte’s Dead

“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” Fern asked her mother as she was washing dishes.

            “Out to the pig-pen,” Mrs. Arable answered. “Some pigs were born last night.”

            “But why does he need an ax, Mama?” Fern worriedly queried.

            “Well dear, um, one of the babies is not quite up to average.” Seeing the look in Fern’s eyes she decided to just tell her the truth. “He is going to have to kill it because it is too weak, small, and won’t amount…” Mrs. Arable said.

Fern made a small shout, grabbed a dish rag, dropping it on the way out of the screen door. The screen door shut with a loud crack. Mrs. Arable sighed and picked up the dishtowel.

Fern grabbed onto the back of her Papa’s shirt.

“No Papa!! Don’t kill the innocent pig! It’s done nothing to you.” Her father came to a stop. Slowly he turned around and looked into her eyes.

“Darling it’s the best for it.”

“Death isn’t the best for anything.”

“I’m doing what I know is right.”

“But Papa you...”

“Go inside now Fern.”

A few moments later Papa walked into the kitchen with a defeated look on his face. “Okay Fern, you win.” Fern squealed in excitement. “But we will be selling him to your Uncle Homer.” Fern’s face dropped.

“What’s the down face for? At least I let him live!”

            “Thank you Papa.”

Shortly after breakfast Papa called up Homer Zuckerman and asked him if he would like a pig for only six dollars. Homer agreed and came by to pick him up later that afternoon.

            “My! That shore is a tiny pig. Maybe I can fatten him up.” Zuckerman said. Fern’s face glowed at the thought of the pig being a normal size. What she didn’t hear was, “I doubt he’ll live long.”

            “Oh I almost forgot to tell you. His name is Wilbur,” Fern announced with a grin on her face. Homer knew that it was bad to name an animal, especially when it was a runt.

            “Um...okay. Are you sure you want to name it?” Zuckerman cautiously asked. Fern looked sternly at him. Homer turned around, picked up the pig and put it gently into a basket; all the while Fern was scrutinizing him with her stare.

            “Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” Homer called out of the window of his truck. When he got home he put Wilbur into a little corner of the barn, where there was fresh hay and a trough so Wilbur could eat. Wilbur was next to the goose pen.

Weeks went by in Wilbur’s pen without any company and he was not improving at all. He spent most days moping in the corner and was prone to coughing fits. Homer was considering just doing away with him. The decision was getting more urgent because the slop put into Wilbur’s trough would rot and stink and attract rats.  

Three weeks into owning Wilbur, Zuckerman decided to go on and get it over with. Stepping outside, the porch door creaked. Letting it slam shut, Homer breathed in the fresh air. He noticed that the barnyard was eerily quiet. With the sun rising, the rays of light made the lightly dewed grass sparkle. Any moment now a horse would start neighing, a cow would moo in almost perfect harmony, and Wilbur would be standing with his feet spread apart and start coughing. Whistling a tune, he strolled toward the barn. He fed all the other animals before he fed Wilbur. “Here piggy-iggy-iggy!” Homer shouted. Peering into the dark enclosure Homer had to blink a few times in order for his eyes to adjust. A cold pink lump lay in the far corner not moving or breathing. A rancid, half-eaten rutabaga lay near his left ear.

“Oh man. Fern is not going to be happy. Well, might as well and go get my shovel,” Homer muttered to himself. Walking out of the barn to get the shovel, he walked into a spider-web. A large gray spider fell to the ground and Homer promptly squished it with his boot.

Moral: Rotten rutabagas can alter your destiny.