Genevieve > Recent Status Updates

Do you ever learn something new and fly off into a rage? That’s where I am. I just learned that my obsession with flip flops and high heels is what has me in knee, hip, and back pain right now. It’s not just because I’m old! Hahahaha!
I’m livid. My knee pain started in high school after I started working at the outdoor pool and was in flip flops all summer long. Oops.

Blowing my mind. I started reading this during a time when I needed to trust God. It’s WAY too heavy for that. Now that my life is more secure, I am finding it eye opening.

Really inspiring me to drastically alter my day-to-day life with our girls. Also, totally jealous of the relationship this couple has built together.

I cannot read this fast enough. Totally obsessed. I dreamt about exploring a new planet the first night after I started reading. Book 2 and it’s just as good as the first.

I know, why would I be reading this book about a woman dying and leaving behind her 5 year old? I don’t know, but I am enjoying it so far.

I can definitely tell that I’ve found a book used in a seminary classroom. My brain hurts. Lots of well researched information. There’s a dedicated bibliography at the end of each chapter to cite what was used and suggestions for further reading.

Fascinating reading as I bounce between it, White Fragility, and How to be an Antiracist.
It’s not super heavy on the Christianity front. A few Bible verses scattered here, a short prayer at the end of each chapter.
It’s more pointing out the flaws in thinking of what the author likes to refer to as “radical secularists” or “humanists”.

I promised myself no more WWII books! But I am somewhat enjoying this.
It’s switched from following a boy in Nazi Germany to orphaned brothers in America. The only connection between them: a special harmonica.
I want to stop reading, but I have to see how on earth the author connects this to the prologue- which was a different boy. I’m intrigued.

Ah! That’s how you write a book about a guy stranded on Mars. You make it like Apollo 13- NASA working on the ground to bring him home. Duh. Have to read the rest of the back cover. :-)
Also, if I skim the detailed MacGyver moments, I can stomach this.

I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
“A MacGyver-trapped-on-Mars tale” ~ so says the back cover. And I just am not into reading about creating water out of fuel cells and calculating the calories needed to survive for 4 years. Tedious.
How is this book going to get anywhere with one guy alone on Mars? That’s the only reason I’m still reading…

“…admiring a working-model of the solar system…
“…ingenious…Who made it?”…
“Nobody made it. It just happened-it made itself.”
…realized he was being taught a lesson and became annoyed…
“You can’t believe that this little model made itself, and yet you believe that the real sun and moon and earth…and everything else in the vast universe just came into existence without any Maker!””

Luke 16:19-31
“Abraham is saying: if people want to know how to be saved, they can read the Law and the Prophets, and they’ll repent. But if they don’t, then not even a resurrection will persuade them. The Scriptures are enough.
In our world, there are countless people who agree with the rich man on this one… miracles done in front of other people, or in other generations, don’t count.”

“When you get into conversations about the Bible, you find that the biggest challenges for most people are not over issues where the Bible is unclear, but over issues where the Bible is very clear, and people don’t like it. Judgment. Miracles. Sex. Things like that.”

“You’ve heard this, but I’m saying you should do that. If you hear these words of mine and do them, you’re like a smart guy who built his house on rock - but if you don’t, then good luck with your sandcastle when the tsunami comes.”
Haha! Great paraphrase of Jesus’ words.

Ug. Election. The thing that just bugs me most. I need to research a bit to find out if C.S. Lewis tackles this subject. Maybe I missed it in Mere Christianity…? That’s where I found the best explanation for the trinity. Finally could settle into the mystery of that. Need to settle with election now. Found some good videos, but every time it comes up…I bristle.

“That this crucified Jew, Jesus Christ, could truly be a divine being sent on earth, God’s Son, the Lord of all and the coming judge of the world, must inevitably have been thought by any educated man to be utter ‘madness’ and presumptuous.”

“All this leads to the final conclusion…When Paul spoke in his mission preaching about the ‘crucified Christ’, every hearer in the Greek-speaking East between Jerusalem and Illyria knew that this ‘Christ’…had suffered a particularly cruel and shameful death, which as a rule was reserved for hardened criminals, rebellious slaves and rebels against the Roman state.”

All right! Jordan Peterson made the book! Love that guy!

“Dwayne A. Garrett writes that Ecclesiastes examines “the vain attempts to gain genuine personal worth through wealth and pleasure… accomplishments…power…knowledge”…
Garrett writes that “Ecclesiastes urges its readers to recognize that they are mortal. They must abandon all illusions of self importance, face death and life squarely, and accept with fear and trembling their dependence on God.””

This part of the book is depressing.
The author is in a doc’s waiting room and a man next to him says, “What does it matter if I’m going to die?”
Exactly.
“If you Google around, you’ll find atheists telling you that we make or create our own meaning. But how important is the creation of my own meaning if it’s nothing more than something I concocted on a Sunday afternoon?”

“…on average, people spent about 10 hours and 24 minutes interacting with media each day… I’m not suggesting we can’t watch a clean movie or a sporting event or interact on social media, but as Dallas Willard told us in class, those most useful for the kingdom of God are those who spend the least amount of time doing what doesn’t matter.”

Wonderful example of how scholars will quote from the Bible and twist it to make a point that is not biblically accurate.
Stephen Cave quotes Ecclesiastes ch 9 to support his philosophy that happiness is our goal. “Eat, drink, be merry!” “That’s what the Bible says! That’s the conclusion of the writer of E.”
Nope. Ch 12: fear God and keep his commandments, this is man’s duty. Judgement will come.

Finished the mortality mitigation project section.
Quite interesting that many atheists end up subscribing to Buddhist ideas. It’s especially intriguing to me, as that’s right where I went. A rejection of Christianity took me to atheism, then Buddhism, new age, and new thought. All right in line with the same idea - monism - all is one.

Mortality mitigation projects. This is the reason I bought this book- the author’s interview on this area was great.
The best part about atheism is believing in annihilation after death. That’s the mitigation project that comes right after reasoning out how boring immortality would be. We didn’t exist before birth, we won’t after. Much more comforting than eternal life in hell or heaven.

“Parisian philosopher Luk Ferry is one of those who have decided there probably is no God… Ferry writes, “The quest for a salvation without God is at the heart of every great philosophical system, and that is its essential and ultimate objective.”