[Insert pretentious name here]

http://www.evangelical.us/is-christianity-true.html

Found on the site above:

*Salvation does not depend on saying a prayer. God already knows what has happened.

That sounds funny to me...

I guess I'm not the only one who has questions about Christianity...I have had a couple hits lately from the following searches:

what makes christianity so good (Google)

what makes christianity the right religion? (MSN)

why is christianity so narrow minded? (Google)

why makes christianity the only true religion (MSN)

pretentious religions (Google)

It's good to know that I'm not the only one out there :D

I went to church this morning (Holy Redeemer :P) and I found the first minute of the Homily pretty interesting, though a bit contradictory to what was preached last week. Last week's homily was about how we should devote our lives to doing what God wants, to avoiding sin and fulfilling God's wishes. This week's was about the fact that God wants us to be happy. Now for some, fulfilling God's wishes may be the path to happiness, but I am going to make a bit of a generalization here, but most of us (myself included) don't find a sin-free life either happy, or easy.

But anyway...

I really do agree with today's homily...I think that if I live a happy life, then I will have accomplished everything I could ever ask for. All I really want in life is to be happy. For me, being happy isn't having good marks, being kind to everyone I meet, playing video games 24/7, having no responsibilities, no nagging parents ( ;) ), making lots of money, or any of that stuff. I simply see those as ways to temporarily being happy. Sooner or later, it just won't be enough. True happiness is something that comes from the inside. The "official" meaning of happiness (according to dictionary.com) is "Characterized by good luck; fortunate." I find that a meaning for being temporarily happy, and not truly happy. For me, being truly happy would to be content with yourself. To be able to sit back, look upon your life so far and to be able to say, "I'm doing all right. Sure I'm not perfect, and I sure can improve here, and here, but I'm doing OK." And I do think I'm doing OK. I'm definetly not perfect, and I am trying to improve, but at least I'm happy. Other people may say, "Well you aren't very good at this! How can you be happy, if you aren't good at this, or don't look like this?" And really, I don't know. But I am happy, and I guess that's really all that counts, isn't it?

Each year, when Christmas is approaching, I start to reflect on the disgusting consumerism of this most holy of holidays. Sure it's nice to give people extravagant presents, but deep down, what do most of us like more than giving? You guessed it...getting. Some of you more self-actualized people out there may like giving more, but speaking for the adolescent population, I think it is safe to say that the first thing that most teens think of when someone says "Christmas" is the mounds of presents just waiting for them under the tree. I admit it, as disgusting as it may be, I probably get just as excited as the next kid when I come down the stairs on Christmas day. I think this is going to be one of the best Christmas's for me. I mean, come on, how often do you get a 3 month trip to France for Christmas. :D

But even more tacky then the disgusting greed at Christmas time are the putrid decorations that people put up! I mean, come on people! Christmas lights are nice when used in good taste, but most people don't even use common sense when they put up decorations, let alone good taste. Especially those icicle lights. Come on, they don't even look anything like icicles! They look like a string of bulbs broken and hanging down at regular intervals.

But who doesn't like Christmas, be it for the real meaning or the greed?


-Binary...It's digitalicious!!
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...is not a nice feeling, and not one I am used to feeling. Normally I tend to avoid such destructive feelings of guilt, worry, and (occasionally) anger, but this time is was different. It has been almost 2 weeks since last I posted, and according to my calculations, that means I owe Rushan a total of 4 posts! That's a hefty amount! I have also been feeling a little guilty because I haven't really been keeping contact with some people that are very important to me, namely my dearest brother Nick. We are long over-due for a chat Nick, we should set up a time for either a good MSN chat or a phone call. It seems that whenever Mom and Dad call you I am away...Oh and BTW Nick...We are playing The Chicken, After Hours and God Bless The Child for the Christmas concert with the Sr. Jazz. Not bad, eh? ;)

As I mentioned earlier in the post, I deal with my emotions in a relativly effective way. The way I do it, is if I am feeling angry, sad, worried, guilty, or any kind of irregular or destructive emotion, I take 1 minute, and I sit down, close my eyes and kind of look at my thoughts without, or with as little emotion as possible. As soon as I do this, I see how small a deal whatever is causing these emotions is. Strangely enough, if you seperate your mind from your emotions for an extended period of time (5-10 minutes maybe?) it is a very relaxing and refreshing experience.

How do you deal with stressful emotions?



-Binary...It's digitalicious!!
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0101011100100110111001101001011011100110011100100000010011010110011100101110