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Kleine_Tex
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Name: Matthew
Country: United States
State: Texas
Birthday: 2/19/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: (Yes, this was a lot longer. I have simplified this column.) Music, especially of the intimate and/or romantic and/or acoustic variety, teaching (in whatever capacity - I seem to enjoy it), philosophy, poetry, romantic period art, exercise, mountains and the outdoors, and lots of other stuff... just ask.
Expertise: Guitar, First Aid/Lifeguarding,
umm... I'll get back to you on that one...
PROCRASTINATION. Oh, yeah... that.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Other
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  kleinetex
Member Since:
11/17/2004
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K. So apparently I'm not using this anymore.
It was great while it lasted.
But I'm done.
See ya on Myspace, Facebook, or Virb.
Just going where the people are, y'know?
peace, matthew
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i have come to give you life
and to show you how to live it
i have come to make things right
to heal their ears and show you how to forgive them
because i would rather die
i would rather die
i would rather die
than to take your life
how can i kill the ones i?m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it?s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me
peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it?s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution
because i would rather die
i would rather die
i would rather die
than to take your life
how can i kill the ones i?m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it?s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me
when justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
the ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor
how can i kill the ones i?m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it?s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me
-derek webb
p.s. i will be posting about this soon. don't jump to conclusions. yeah, i know... too late.
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| You put your money in a bank, and get paid interest.
The bank makes money by collecting interest from poor or foolish or desperate people who are not in control of their financial lives.
Presumably, the money paid by the bank to your saving account comes from revenue of this sort.
The most convincing argument I've heard against playing the lottery is that it exploits poor and foolish people who are relatively hopeless financially, and that it's unethical to benefit from someone else's (commonly desperation driven) loss.
Things that make you go, "Hmm."
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Mystery
Once upon a time, I thought you knew me
and I grew to know myself through what you saw
Your childhood fantasy became
my unrealized reality
And your prescription for perfection
became my pathway to a fall
And as we flew on borrowed wings
across a darkened sky
The sky poured forth its watershed
mourning our demise
But can you see
through the deepening mystery
to the diamond on the other side?
In a way
you bared my true identity
one I never saw until it died
If nothing else, I may have learned to see
how the Spirit moves through mystery
I'm starting to hear the things that can't be spoken
Truths that can't be learned in a host of words
But transcendent hide and seek
always ends in misery
As knowledge proves to be
a mean two-edged sword
There's a beauty in everything
that tragedy saturates
And while paradox rests well with me
I need to learn my place
And I can see
through the deepening mystery
to the diamond on the other side
In a way
you bared my true identity
one I never saw until it died
If nothing else, I may have learned to see
how the Spirit moves through mystery
So words are almost useless
Nothing goes as planned
I'm lonely and I'm broken
with empty, dirty hands
So excuse me please
I'm leaving
Someone's calling, and I feel that I
am about to understand
a piece of the way
the Spirit moves through mystery
m.b.
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Am I the only one who's strangely uncomfortable with referring to terrorists as "extremists" or "radicals"?
Precedent, my friends. Precedent.
*EDIT*
K, here's the deal. I'm uncomfortable with moderation being the only morality and code of ethics that we as a society strive for. Politics has for decades made, and is with increasing intensity making radical behavior the only wrong.
But we have moral leaders, you may say. Maybe... maybe not. My point, however, is that by endorsing a gang mentality as we refer to bad guys as extremists, we are making it okay to negatively generalize people who stand out. When I speak of precedent, I am inferring that one day we will not have a President who is "on our side", religiously speaking. Holding a faith as apparently exclusive as Christianity, the "extremist" name tag will be ready and waiting for us.
Let's just call the terrorists what they are: murderers.
Throughout history, some of the most significant moments in the advancement of the Gospel, innovation in art, positive social change, breakthroughs in architecture, and countless other achievements, have been the work of "radicals" and "extremists".
The fact is, the same passion that makes a terrorist a murderer makes a good person a hero. In our haste to distance ourselves from those who commit "inhuman" (because they couldn't possibly be made of the same stuff as us) acts of violence, we become, not their antithesis, but their perfect victim, their enablers.
I've been called an ultraconservative/ultraliberal. I believe in extreme goodness. I believe in compassion, subtlety, and servanthood. I believe in Jesus Christ.
The fight against terrorism will not be won with weapons, just as the fight against poverty will not but won by growing more food. Perhaps we need more "extremists", - people willing to take their faith to it's logical conclusion. If this scares you, then maybe you should re-examine your faith, what it would look like if it weren't lived in a half-assed fashion. You'll quickly realize that as an active believer in Christ, the first fear that pops into your head is the fear of being labeled a radical, an extremist. It's going to happen one day. Get used to it. Get used to loving people who hate you, and choosing peace over retribution - cause that's what makes us different from our terrorist counterparts.
- matthew
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