Road Rage

Everyone who drives knows the frustration that wells up within you when somebody pulls out in front of you.  And it is even more frustrating when they insist on going twenty-five under the speed limit.  Going down Dorr when you get to King this happens all the time.  People pull out in front of you and then immediately turn, but because the could not wait an extra thirty seconds you have to slam on your brakes.  That frustrates me--especially when there are no cars behind me.

However,  I am not writing this to rant about selfish people who think that their time is so important they must jeopardize both your lives rather than stop or thirty seconds or so.  No, I am thinking more about the driver who gets mad about people who pull out in front of them.

Today as I was driving to work I had this happen to me several times.  And as I was silently fuming to myself that somebody had the audacity to pull out in front of me, a contradiction suddenly confronted me.  I was listening to one of my favorite bands (News Boys) and I was playing one of their best albums (Adoration).  The song that was playing is call Amazing Love.  I was singing the chorus which goes like this:

Amazing love,
How can it be
That You, my King, should die for me?
Amazing love,
I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You,
In all I do, I honor You.

When somebody pulls in front of me, hits their brakes and then turns.  Immediately my anger is aroused.  After all, they caused damage to my brakes, gas millage, and slowed me down.  But then the words of this chorus rang in my head.  Is this attitude honoring to God?  And really was it that inconvenient?  Did I really lose any time? The answers to all these questions are obvious.   The more I started thinking about God's AMAZING Love the more I realized how foolish and selfish my anger was.  How many times have I pulled out in front of others and justified it?  Was it any less rude?  Yet I take it as a personal offense when somebody does it to me.  Jesus who was and is innocent of ALL sin died so that I could be forgiven.  While I want to have high words with a complete stranger because they made me hit my brakes.  I hope you all feel for me, cause I am really suffering.   

I think that there are at least two sins at the bottom of this.

1.)  Pride. That is, thinking more highly of ourselves then we ought.  They have no right to pullout in front of me, I am in a hurry, and obviously the world revolves around me.  Couldn't they tell?

2.)  Not remembering what Christ has done for us.  It is like the servant on being forgiven a huge debt then goes and throws another servant in jail for a small debt.    Having had such forgiveness, it is hubris and churlishness that we would let such small things makes us mad, and even worst that we would hold it against one another.

Short Story

Dunno where this came from but it is strange.  I would have made it longer but I am tired and need to go to sleep.

Mariah sat very still. She could hardly breathe. Were they still out there?   As her heart began to slow down she mused on how quickly her life had fallen apart.  Just a few hours ago she had been a normal seventeen year old girl, and now, now she was scared--deathly scared.  She was scared for a good reason, for
they had come. Not only had they come, but, they had come for her.  Just as they had for generations untold they had come to take the most beautiful girl in the village.  However, she had not waited for them to take her, instead she had run, she ran as if a demon from hell was after her.  And, in that supposition she was not far off.
As she sat there she heard a loud crack as a heavy nailed boot stepped on a branch.  Her heart started racing again. Ach NOOO! They had found her.  She shrank back against the tree, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the hideous face that glared down at her.  Alas once again a beautiful lass was taken by the Ukaleis.

Book Review #1: The Holy War

John Bunyan was a christian man born about four hundred years ago.  He was born in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England.  At first he repaired kitchen utensils, however, when the English civil war broke out he joined the parliamentary army.  He then married a woman (her name is lost in the sands of time) who persuaded him to go to church. Where he heard the Gospel, and after a long internal struggle he became a Christian.  Soon after J. Bunyan began to preach.  But, in those days if you wanted to preach you had to have a license, and John Bunyan didn't have a license, so he was thrown into jail for twelve years. Another reason that they imprisoned him was for his non-conformist beliefs.  During his imprisonment he wrote some of his most well known books, among them are Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and The Pilgrims Progress.  However, in 1682 he wrote a book called: The Holy War Made By King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, To Regain The Metropolis Of The World, or The Losing And Taking Again Of The Town Of Mansoul.

This is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.  In it Bunyan explores how man has fallen from a sinless estate into sin.  He takes a look at how mankind has turned its soul over to Satan(Diabolus) and his accompanying vices(the Diabalonians).  He then shows Gods(Shaddia) amazing love in sending his Son(the Prince) who redeemed Mansoul, and was then sent to recapture it.  The book also tells of the assaults on the Ear-Gate, Eye-Gate, Mouth-Gate, Nose-Gate, and Feel-Gate.  When The Prince comes and takes over the city it tells of the great trials, at which all the Diabalonians that could be caught were tried and executed.

As I read this book many things stuck out to me, however, I will only name a few.

I.  Gods love for a wretched human such as I.  When reading this book I kept thinking "there is no way any king would do that for a city that was that rebellious.  If you read history you will find that many cities were raised to the ground for crimes that were far less than those of Mansoul.  Yet again and again the Kings sends His men and finally the Prince to take the city and gently lead it back to its former glory.

II.  When the captains send a petition to the King it is intercepted by the Prince, who after reading it amends it and puts His own signature on it and then personally delivers it to the King.  What a wonderful picture of prayer.  We do not have to rely on our weak words because the Holy Spirit is interceding for us.

III.  The third thing that struck me was the trials.  As the Diabolonians were being tried many attempted to disguise themselves as native Mansoulians.  For example Mr. Covetous said his name was Mr. Thrifty and Mr. False Peace said his name was Mr. God's Peace.  As you read through these trials you begin to realize that these Diabolonians are your own sins.  The arguments that Mr. False Peace uses are the same that you use to justify yourself.  John Bunyan does and excellent job of exposing who the people really are, and of showing through their lies.

Well those are just a few of the reasons you should read The Holy War by John Bunyan.  I intend to do more post on books that I have read and why you should also read them.


In Christ,
Eric

The Church Camping Trip

"But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."   1 John 1:7

I have had the distinct pleasure of spending this weekend with my church family. On Thursday afternoon Parker, Melody, and I headed up to Summerset for our churches annual camping trip.  When I started thinking about what I would write in this post, I did not know where to start: from late night jaunts, to giant slip-in-slides, to volleyball, to discussions on the soul and mind functions, to singing Jonny's songs, to carpetball, to singing the Battle Cry of Freedom, to discussing heaven, etc. etc. etc.  Well I still do not know where to start.  But ,mayhap the best place to start is by praising God saving us from our sins.  The above verse applies to many a conversation that we had while camping.  On Thursday night a group of us walked out on a little peninsula and looked across the lake.  As we gazed across the waters I asked the group two questions:

1. What are you looking forward to in heaven?

2. Name the "top" three people you want to meet.

It was probably my favorite part of the trip.  It was interesting to hear who people were excited to meet.  And then to discuss the glory that heaven will be. We will have new and glorified bodies, ones that are free from sin, ones that will not perish.  It was glorious to sit and commune with other believers on such a wonderful topic.

However, everything did not partake of such a spiritual bent.  Earlier that night no body could have stayed asleep as Jason Wiltse, Matt Weaver, Jeff Thomas, Ben Zellers, Parker Cornwell, Myself, and various others belted out the old civil war tune "The Battle Cry of Freedom."   This link is the best I could find, however, ours was much more raucous and in addition sound very manly.   

If you have a dull moment on the camping trip it is not because there is a scarcity of things to do.  The fault must lie with whosoever is bored.  As I wondered around the camp I kept thinking that "If fellow-shipping with other believers (whether it is about God, the weather, music, or books,) in this sinful and fallen world is this enjoyable, how much greater will be when we are in a perfect heaven worshiping a perfect God with perfect bodies?

In Defense of the Christian Explanation of Liberty

This is in my humble opinion the best essay I wrote the past semester.  If it is not the best it was at least my favorite one.  It was also the most fun to write.  As you can see I wrote it for my philosophy class.  My instructions for the paper were:

What is J. S. Mill's account of the value of political liberty, in freedom of action and freedom of thought?

Explain his views and his attempt to convince people that even false views about religion, reality, or the value of different ways of living should be freely expressed and acted out.  For your thesis take one example of a view or way of living that some groups have found offensive or religiously incorrect, explore that controversy and support your thesis about whether on that question freedom to spread those ideas or those ways of living should be permitted  completely, or with restrictions.

Make your thesis clear by putting it in bold and maybe even using a phrase such as "this paper will support the view that..."

With that intro here is my paper.

Eric Beerbower

Intro to Philosophy

Dr. Purviance

26 February 2013

In Defense of the Christian Explanation of Liberty

 John Stuart Mill was a nineteenth century philosopher.  He believed in utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the belief that you should do that which has the greatest benefit for the most number of people.  Benefit over harm--choose the lesser of two evils.  Two of the main freedoms that Mill espoused were Freedom of Thought and Freedom of Action.

J. S. Mills’ position on the Freedom of Thought is made up of several propositions.  One is that people have the right to express their views, thoughts, and opinions, without fear of repercussions. Even if they are false, they can be beneficial to society.  One of the ways a false view can benefit society is that it keeps truth real. Mill says that if humans do not have the liberty to discuss ideas without fear of reprisal, then they will be held as “mere dogma” and not “living truth.” (Political Philosophy, pg. 110).  Another danger is that by suppressing differing views or ones that you consider false, you may inadvertently suppress the truth.

J. S. Mills’ second freedom, the Freedom of  Action states individuals have freedom to do what they desire, as long as it does not harm anyone. This Law of Harm is key to all of J. S. Mills’ ideas. We have the freedom to do that which we want to do as long as it does not interfere or harm others. The key to understanding this Freedom is to know what constitutes harm.  Harm does not constitute things that society finds annoying or just does not like. Rather, Mill says that it is harmful if they are detrimental to the “interests” of another person. (Political Philosophy, pg.113).  The reason people should be worried about harming one another is that humans can progress and are progressing. However, if we are harming one another it is detrimental to society because it inhibits growth and progress.

Now let us turn from the hypothetical and look at a real-life example.  This essay will discuss certain aspects of Christianity.  It will look at orthodox Christianity to see if it agrees with Mills’ Freedoms and if Christianity should be allowed to exist.  This essay argues that the Freedom of Thought and Freedom of Action are not adequate, because without an ultimate source (God) you have no basis for any Freedoms. The goal of this essay is to prove that without God you cannot establish any rights or freedoms.

Mills’ does not believe in natural rights.  Not believing in natural rights is consistent with his worldview.  In fact, there is no basis for natural rights without God.  So Mills’ explanation as to why an individual or society should adhere to the freedoms he expressed was that  he thought they brought about the greatest happiness for mankind. 

There are two spheres in which humans operate, and according to Mill, those should be governed by different rules.  One is the public sphere and the second is the private.  Mills’ does not believe that the private sphere should be heavily regulated (if at all), as that brings greater happiness to more people. Whereas the public sphere will have many regulations so that there will be the greatest amount of happiness for people. 

There are many problems with Mill’s views. Where do we draw the line between public and private spheres?  How do we measure happiness?  Will liberty really promote the happiness and joy as he believes?

The biggest problem with Mills' philosophy may be that he has no basis for human happiness.  There is no way to measure human happiness, and even if there were, why should humans have the right to be happy?  Utilitarianism claims that we choose the lesser evil, benefit over harm.  But how do we know what the best benefit is?  How do we know what is most harmful?  By what standard do we judge these?  These are serious questions and must be answered.  A man that rapes a girls is getting pleasure out of it. Obviously the girl is being harmed.  It would be a rare person who would deny that; however, if you do not have a universal standard of right and wrong, how can it be said that what he is doing is wrong?  If the standard is happiness and benefit over harm, how can his happiness be compared to her unhappiness? Which is greater?

Now, this example may be offensive to people, but there is a point to it. Christians would say that it is wrong because God says it is wrong. God made them in His image and gave mankind certain rights. These rights have been implanted in mankind’s heart.  That is where we get the so-called natural rights—which Mill does not believe in.

For  a Christian, this problem is non-existent.  God determines right and wrong, and since He is God, those rules are universal.  The response to this might be that society determines what is best and moral for people, and that we get our freedoms from society.  But once again the Christian may ask: On what foundation does society  make its decision?  And is its decision binding?  What about Hitler’s society?  If there are no moral absolutes on what basis can we say that he was wrong?

The non-Christian may respond: Everyone has the right to life, so it is wrong for Hitler to have murder the Jews.  Again the Christian will ask: On what basis do you call it wrong?  Without an absolute lawgiver there cannot be an absolute law.  If murder is wrong it has to have always been wrong and it has to be wrong for everyone. 

Back to the freedoms propounded by Mill and other utilitarians.  These freedoms can have no basis unless they are founded on God and the Bible.  However, a Christian can agree with these freedoms, although they could be improved upon.

Christians, for the most part, are willing to discuss their beliefs. They have no problem with an open forum to propound ideas—without fear of persecution.  They would agree that in a open discussion people can come to know the truth. After all the Bible tells them to have a defense for the hope that is within them (1 Peter 3:15). And again our God says “come let us reason together.”   (Isaiah 1:18)

The other freedom is Freedom of Action. Here the Christian and the utilitarian part ways.  In the Bible there are clear directions as to how people ought to live their lives. In the  Old Testament there are the ten commandments and in the New there is the Sermon on the Mount.  These are just a few of the many examples in Scriptures of how we ought to act. The difference between Mills’ Freedom of Action and the Biblical way is this:  Mill and the utilitarians believe that as long as you are not harming society or other people anything is allowable. The Christian says that nothing that contradicts God’s commandments is allowable.

One caveat should be made.  There are certain laws that the Christian would say everyone is obligated to obey, e.g., do not murder.  Whoever breaks them will be punished.  There are other laws of God that (although they are equally important and everyone should be obligated to obey them), will not be punished in the same way.  An example of that would be coveting and disrespecting parents.  These are not and cannot be punished in the same way.  However, these are still very serious sins against God and He will deal with them. (NOTE:  This is a critque made by Renton Rathbun. "I would only point out that in both the OT and the NT the penalty for disobeying one of the ten commandments was almost in all cases death. In Leviticus, a disobedient child was put to death just like a murderer was. The coveter would be put to death if it lead to adultery. In the NT Ananias and Sapphira were killed instantly for lying. And Paul says in Corinthians that if you take the Lord's supper while violating God's Law you might be killed. So, you are right that physical death was not always the result of disobedience to the Law, but in both testaments the death penalty was carried out for violations. I say that only to remind us that although the forgiveness of God is miraculous, the damage of sin is equally devastating both before Christ as it is now.")

Now, one might ask why these Christians say they have these ideals but do not live up to them.  If their God is really going to punish these sins, are not they just as guilty as the rest of mankind?  Yes indeed they are, until God does an amazing work in them.  Before believing and trusting in God a Christian is no different than the rest of the world. But when God calls them and they believe in Christ Jesus, they are transformed.  Jesus Christ was sent to earth and lived as  a man.  He was tempted like all mankind, but He was without sin.  When He died on the cross, He completed a legal transaction with His Father (God).  When we believe on Christ, His blood atones for our sin. Elsewhere in the Bible it says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.  The Christian is not without sin.  The Christian violates God’s laws just like everyone else. The difference is they are forgiven. 

In the utilitarian worldview there is no basis for the punishment of those who break its rules.  Because they cannot appeal to a higher standard.  Notice the claim IS NOT that the utilitarians are amoral, but that there is no foundation for their  morality, or for holding anyone accountable to their morality.

On the other hand, Christians have a basis for their morality (God), and because of that they have a consistency of which the utilitarian is unable to achieve. In addition, the Christian can consistently punish evildoers, because they have a universal law.  The law applies to all mankind without exception.  Therefore although Mills’ Freedoms have some truth to them he does not give adequate reasons as to why they should be obeyed.

Well, that was a longer post but I did have fun writing it.  And now as I reread it I see so many undeveloped parts that I may have to go through and add to it.  But that is a project for another time.

God Bless.

 Eric Beerbower

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."  Romans 1:16

Spring Was Last Wednesday??? Part One of Comp One Free Writes

In my Comp one class Prof. Terry Kindig gave us about fifteen minutes at the beginning of class to write about a prompt that she had written on the white board.  We had the freedom to interpret these writings which ever way we wanted to.  The prompt on March 25, 2013, was "Spring Started Last Wednesday."
This is my response (with a few of the major errors fixed, but on the whole in its original form, remember, I wrote this in fifteen minutes or less):

I heard a rumor that Spring started last Wednesday.  Well, that maybe however, whoever decides when spring starts forgot to inform the weather.  Spring according to my definition is:

A.) The weather starts getting warmer.

B.) Tulips and irises start poking their heads up through the soil not the snow...

C.) Nice breezes are a plus but not mandatory.

That is a summary of how I view spring.  It's not complete, but it is a start.  However, whoever decides on the seasons definitely did not consult me on the definition of spring.  In fact I am quite sure that his or her (or maybe it's a Committee?) definition goes more like this:

A.) If you have a day that reaches  degrees or so then the week after can be called spring--provided it stays relatively warm.

B.) If you have- inches of snow the week after that is great.  It adds to the fun.

C.) It is also nice cause it confuses the flowers.

My opinion is that it isn't nice of them to get our hopes up and the dash them to the ground.

Well. in typing this out it has been very hard not to add the the original.  There are so many improvable points. Well maybe some other time I will take time to improve it. However, even with all its flaws this is probably my favorite freewrite that I wrote.  And my teacher liked it to as she gave me 7.5/5.

God Bless.

Eric Beerbower

 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16

Blog Titles, Accidents, and Luck

  When reading the title of a blog I often wonder why it is called by that title.  Some titles are obvious like Jeannette's A Photo a Day, a title like that is simple and to the point.  A title such as Melody's blog Poems, Prose, and Poppycock is sheer genius. Then you have blogs entitled Mere Orthodoxy, and that name is awesome because it combines two of my favorite books--Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton and Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.

However, that is enough about blog titles, because the point behind all that was this questions (which I am sure you all were asking),  Why did I choose the name Accidents Can Happen for my blog?  I chose the title because making this blog was an accident.  I was intending to log into my email, however, one of my sisters left the blog login open and as it looks similar to my email I tried to login to my email.  Well instead of logging into my email it opened a making a blog page, so I made a blog.  And as it was an accident I came up with the title.  All this happened about a year ago.  Even though I made a blog I had no intention on posting anything.  I have an aversion to writing and in  addition to that I had no confidence in my writing. Now, after completing my first semester of college I have more confidence and I actually enjoy writing.  However, his does not mean that I have good punctuation or spelling.  I am sorely lacking in both, but mayhap this blog will help.

Now, for those of you who are curious about my beliefs on accidents.  I know some of you are like: Huh? what on earth is he talking about? Where on earth is he getting these questions?  Well, welcome to mt blog.  This is how my mind works.  I thought of the title and my first thoughts were "Where do accidents fit in a faith that believes in a sovereign God?"  If God is sovereign (and He most definitely is), can there be such a thing as an accident? Ahhhh, that is asking allot.  The short answer is no. God is sovereign and therefore there can be no accidents.  But by broaching the subject you get into the whole freewill debate--which is much to long to do in a single blog post (and at this point I am not even close to being qualified to weigh in on that debate).  However,  no I do not believe that there are any true accidents.  That is there are no accidents from God's point of view. But from our human perspective we look on things as accidents.  To often we don not see God's hand controlling everything.

 Along these same lines I have banned the word "luck" from my vocabulary.  It is a pointless word.  There is no room for luck with a sovereign God.  Any good thing is not some ethereal "luck" it is God's blessings, grace, and mercy being poured out on us.  Some say well that is what I mean, well then say that.  And one more thing--instead of saying bless you to somebody who sneezes try say "God Bless You."  At first it is kinda awkward, but there is no random blessing from nowhere that comes and blesses a person who sneezes.  It is God who will bless (or not bless) the person.  Getting rid of the word "luck"  and saying God bless you will set you apart from the majority of peoples.  And I must do a shout out to Jonny Zellers for starting to say God bless you to people.  At first I thought it was odd, but now I love it.

Well that is all for tonight folks.  I will be posting some of essays and various other writings soon

In Christ,

Eric Beerbower

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  ~~Matthew 5:16