Katiejoyful

I am honestly sick and tired of Christians freaking out over the evolution issue. Many start to have high blood pressure just at the mention of natural selection or apes. This is ridiculous. Christians will say things like “Schools are brain washing our children” or “It’s a conspiracy” but I mean… listen to yourselves! Are the schools brain washing us with how to do algebra as well?

Science is the study of NATURE. God created NATURE. As well as us and our intelligence. He has given us the wonderful gift of our minds. He gave us the gift of discovery. Scientists study nature. If nature is pointing towards something, then who are we to say NO NO NO. Just because it doesn’t fit into the little box that we have created for God to work within. This is GOD we are talking about. He can do whatever He wants and honestly, if He wanted to create things to evolve or to have nature at least point there, I’m pretty sure He could do that.

There are full skeletal structures of dinosaurs and neanderthals. We have seen within our own lifetimes species adapting to new conditions, yet Christians cover their ears like little stubborn children and scream “NONO NO NONO!”. How intelligent is that?

I’m not expecting this to change anyone’s mind. This is something that is hard to figure out. The time-line. The creation story in the Bible… It is all very confusing. I took a class on this last year and loved it. We went into different theories and it was all fascinating. I am not sure exactly what I believe right now and that is OK. God didn’t create the universe so that we could understand it. We don’t need to.

The book God and Evolution by David Wilcox is a wonderful book to read on this subject and the man that wrote it taught the class that I mentioned above. He is a strong Christian man who has dedicated his life to trying to stop the fight between Christianity and science. Science is the study of God’s creation.

I ask that all of you who are Christians (or even those who are not) think about the things you believe to be incorrect or wrong and research them. Look up recent information. Look at the facts. If we really want to reach the world for God we need to be able to speak intelligently and relevantly or we will not be listened to. Why do you think the world looks at us as uneducated? Because most of us are so close minded and unwilling to accept changes and new developments in common knowledge. This goes for the fights with abortion, same-sex marriage, and politics. If you feel strongly about something, research it. Pray about it. Try to understand it better in order to speak intelligently. And think about how Jesus would handle a discussion about it (notice how I didn’t say “argument”) I highly doubt He would condone name calling and harsh words with those who believe something differently. Although people who believe differently from you may call you names or say something harsh, retaliation is childish. Instead, respond intelligently. And try to understand why they think/feel the way they do. God also gave us the wonderful gift of empathy. Let’s try to use it a bit more instead of fighting and then blaming it on our fallen world, when we ourselves fuel the fire, but its ok for us to do that- because we are doing it in the name of God or the name of religion.

Wake up. Smell the roses. We are guilty too. If not more guilty.

Read a book every now and then. And how about some secular non-fiction?

That is all.

Because of the storm that was headed to Philly, Kelsey and I decided to leave after my night class last night to come home. We left at about 9:30 after quickly packing the car and grabbing some snacks. I dropped her off in Mass around 3:30am and finally got home myself around 5:55am.

As you can imagine, I’m a bit tired today. My friends at school got the day off of classes because of the storm. And it is now snowing here too.

I’m hoping that this vacation will be a good time to rest up, spend time with family and friends, but mostly get work done. Kelsey is coming to visit on Wednesday until the rest of break, so I would like to get my work done before she gets here.

I have to:

Write a choral piece

Write a research paper on the importance of Music in schools

Write an analysis paper on the Showbread Albums Anorexia and Nervosa

Pretend to practice cello

Practice new voice music

Write out Senior recital songs/ideas

Make decorations for the swing dance in a few weeks

Come up with  mini lesson

Practice for choral conducting midterm

…I think that’s it. I could be forgetting something. I figure I’ll wait til tomorrow to start on all of the work. I’m really just too brain dead today.

Luckily Stephen, Danny, and Johnny are home this week too! So I’ll get some quality time with my boys and Chelsi!

Chelsi was supposed to come and visit me this weekend, but because of some car and money trouble, she wasn’t able to come. So I’m spending Valentine’s weekend alone pretty much.

I went out dancing last night and it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t awesome either though. The band was very good. We are hoping to get them to come to Eastern for our semester swing dance. If only we could come up with the money easier.

So basically this weekend has been a big disappointment. Pretty much the whole semester has been. I’m waiting for something good to come out of no where, but it hasn’t happened quite yet.

My recital went alright, but I got mixed feedback. Some of my professors were impressed and really happy while others kind of said “you’re starting to get somewhere”. And then gave all the solos in choir to freshmen who are clearly better. I digress…

I am trying to trust God that all of this is happening for some strange reason, but for now I’m just kind of annoyed and looking for something good to come my way.

I’ll probably spend the rest of the weekend working on my analytical paper because I usually lose track of time when I’m working on it and I really am enjoying it. So while couples all over campus and the world are celebrating their love, Ill be celebrating my strange love for writing papers about music.

I’m weird.

So I tend to forget that I have a blog. Especially when I get to school…

ANYWAYS. I figured I should probably update this and maybe get ontop of updating it now and then. Basically I’ve just been very busy with school and projects. Today was a snow day and classes are also cancelled for tomorrow… And my Friday class was cancelled so it looks like this is my weekend!

I’ve been in the library most of today watching the snow out of the huge windows. I’ve been working on my big Theme and Variation  project. I used a theme from Lady Gaga’s song “Bad Romance”. It’s pretty funny thus far and I think the kids in my Connections class will appreciate it.

I’ve also been working on a paper for the same class. It analyzes the psychological response to the sotry and music in Showbread’s albums Anorexia and Nervosa. It’s kind of a big project and I already have 3 pages of just introductory information. It will probably end up being a huge paper, but I am really interested in it, so I’m ok with it. Now if my professor is ok with it being really long, that is another issue. It’s times like this that I realize that maybe I wouldn’t mind staying in school and going for my Doctorate. If I chose something I really really was interested in for my dissertation, I probably wouldn’t mind it at all.

In other news, I really hope the snow slows down so Chelsi can get here Friday morning and then we can go dancing in Pottstown that night. Otherwise, we don’t have any big weekend plans. We will probably go into the city Saturday for awhile which should be fun. Especially with all of the snow everywhere.

Otherwise everything is pretty calm. Lots of practicing piano and voice. My roommate is now engaged. I’ll be home in a few weeks for “spring” break.