Here is a Christian hermeneutics quiz that I found on a website. You should take it and see where you are on a scale between conservative to progressive.
If you could answer the 20 questions, I’d love to know what your score is and your sweet new title from the test. Put your results in the comments section.
You know, I don’t agree with all of John Lennon’s ideals but one thing I do love (besides his music) was how he was able to influence an entire generation (maybe not for the best) but he did it. So today while I was studying I turned on my John Lennon album and then that sparked me to do a little search to see what Christians thought about ole John. This was what I stumbled upon. Where do we draw the line to support something good, rather than being strongly against something bad?
Categories: The Beatles · questions · thoughts
Life happens quickly. One minute we are hitting the snooze on our alarm clock. Before we know it we are setting the alarm for the next morning. A day has passed with no events, no memories, and no thoughts to ponder. Our lives are valuable and yet wasted by mundane living. There is nothing new under the sun…except our perspectives.
Photographs throw monkey wrenches into our average perspectives. They take ordinary sights and make them extraordinary by changing the viewpoint or framing of an object. The subway car on our way to work made into art by focusing on a single seat, or the motion of the car.
A photograph is a silent memory. It is a captured image, stored in a box until time has past and those thoughts behind the image can be developed into memories. Light is captured by the camera at a fracture of a second and an image is made concrete. A photograph is not an entire new creation it is beauty out of the ordinary.
Ansel Adams, a photographer that captured landscape photos of the American west commented on the beauty that was before him saying, “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” God’s beauty is shown through photographs by illuminating his creation before the photographer’s eyes. The photographer is being used as an instrument to capture the beauty of the place in time and revive the mundane perspective.
A photograph tells a story. A portrait shot tells a story of a person without one word ever being spoken. We see the eyes of the world through the photographer’s eyes. When we view a picture of an African child smiling at his very first piece of chocolate, we are able to connect with this child. We can feel his emotions, see his thoughts, understand his excitement and for a moment know him, just by seeing his face.
A photograph is a prayer. When the shutter clicks it is a reminder to thank God for creation. Each photograph is a reminder of life and for the place and time that we are given to take a photograph. We are refreshed with the memories of the beauty of creation and the visual reminders we have with each photograph.
When we share our photographs with others we are sharing the beauty and the knowledge that we have been given by God. A photographer rejoices in a beautiful picture because of the ability to share what is before their eyes and their new perspective on life. A photograph brings the knowledge of these moments into our minds and gives us a new understanding of what can be seen.
I visited the Taj Mahal today. I also was in time square, and got soaked by Victoria Falls all through photographs that I have taken. When we change our perspectives and absorb the beauty of our life and look at it with open eyes, we will not only have brilliant photographs but we will make memories our days.
Categories: life · photographs · thoughts
