Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Time

I wish I had time to just write and write....but I don't. I did have something half written out yesterday, but after reading it again today, I trashed the whole thing. So maybe I'll start writing in the middle of the night, like Anna. :)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Poem

Lord, I am hungry
I will fill My servant
Lord, I am ignorant
I will teach him My Word

Father, I am tired
I will lift you up, My child
Father, I am lonely
I will never leave you, My child

Why does the Lord hide His face?
That you would seek Me, My child
Why has He emptied me?
That I may fill you, My child

Monday, November 24, 2008

"The White Rose" leaflet

This is a leaflet which was circulated during World War I in Germany by an anti-socialist group called The White Rose. I have copied it out to post it here. It should be an inspiration to our young people today as our own government seeks to take away our freedoms.



Fellow Fighters in the Resistance!

Shaken and broken, our people behold the loss of the men of Stalingrad. Three hundred and thirty thousand German men have been senselessly and irresponsibly driven to death and destruction by the inspired strategy of our World War I Private First Class. Fuhrer, we thank you!

The German people are in ferment. Will we continue to entrust the fate of our armies to a dilettante? Do we want to sacrifice the rest of German youth to the base ambitions of a Party clique? No, never! The day of reckoning has come – the reckoning of German youth with the most abominable tyrant our people have ever been forced to endure. In the name of German youth we demand restitution by Adolf Hitler’s state of our personal freedom, the most precious treasure we have, out of which he has swindled us in the most miserable way.

We grew up in a state in which all free expression of opinion is unscrupulously suppressed. The Hitler Youth, the SA< the SS have tried to drug us, to revolutionize us, to regiment us in the most promising young years of our lives. “Philosophical training” is the name given to the despicable method by which our budding intellectual development is muffled in a fog of empty phrases. A system of selection of leaders at once unimaginably devilish and narrow-minded trains up its future party bigwigs in the “Castles of the Knightly Order” to become Godless, impudent, and conscienceless exploiters and executioners – blind, stupid hangers-on of the Fuhrer. We “Intellectual Workers” are the ones who should put obstacles in the path of this caste of overlords.

Soldiers at the front are regimented like schoolboys by student leaders and trainees for the post of Gauleiter, and the lewd jokes of the Gauleiters insult the honor of the women students. German women students at the university in Munich have given a dignified reply to the besmirching of their honor, and German students have defended the women in the universities and have stood firm…. That is the beginning of the struggle for our free self-determination – without which intellectual and spiritual values cannot be created. We thank the brave comrades, both men and women, who have set us brilliant examples.

For us there is but one slogan: fight against the party! Get out of the party organization, which are used to keep our mouths sealed and hold us in political bondage! Get out of the lecture rooms of the SS corporals and sergeants and the party bootlickers! We want genuine learning and real freedom of opinion. No threat can terrorize us, not even the shutting down of the institutions of higher learning. This is the struggle of each and every one of us for our future, our freedom, and our honor under a regime conscious of its moral responsibility.

Freedom and honor! For ten long years Hitler and his coadjutor have manhandled, squeezed, twisted, and debased these two splendid German words to the point of nausea, as only diletttantes can, casting the highest values of a nation before swine. They have sufficiently demonstrated in the ten years of destruction of all material and intellectual freedom, of all moral substance among the German people, what they understand by freedom and honor. The frightful bloodbath has opened they eyes of even the stupidest German – it is a slaughter which they arranged in the name of “freedom and honor of the German nation” throughout Europe, and which they daily start anew.

The name of Germany is dishonored for all time if German youth does not finally rise, take revenge, and atone, smash its tormentors, and set up a new Europe of the spirit. Students! The German people look to us. As in 1813 the people expected us to shake off the Napoleonic yoke, so in 1943 they look to us to break the National Socialist terror through the power of the spirit. Beresina and Stalingrad are burning in the East. The dead of Stalingrad implore us take action. “Up, up, my people, let smoke and flame be our sign!” Our people stand ready to rebel against the National Socialist enslavement of Europe in a fervent new breakthrough of freedom and honor.

The Form and Content of Poems

Right now, I am reading a book which my ancient literature teacher recommended called “Realms of Glory,” by Leland Ryken. The book is about how literature is to be understood in light of a Christian worldview. And while I do intend to write more on the Rushdoony book (which I still need to continue reading), I wanted to share my notes on the chapter on Poetry. The first section of the chapter is called “The Form and Content of Poems.”

The Form and Content of Poems
In the field of classical literature, poetry is often forgotten. However, it should be read and enjoyed just as much as stories. The greatest mistake in reading a poem is to read it like a story. Poems, however, are radically different from stories. The first obvious difference is that they are shorter. Poets have less time in which to describe the human experience, as all literature does to some extent. While a story gives more of a comprehensive picture of life, poetry gives more of an idea or a feeling. It can be meditative or assertive, reflective or emotive.
The basic pattern for poetry is “theme-and-variation.” The theme is the dominant idea or feeling that unifies the poem. The variation is where the poet develops the theme by different means. In Psalm 23, one of the most well-known poems ever, the poet’s theme is providence and God’s provision for his creatures. The variations are the “progression of images that picture a shepherd’s daily activities.” In the variations, it is shown “how” the shepherd provides. So the variations then are examples that support the theme.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Random Thought

God is the basis for all things because he created all things. Since God is the basis of rationality (because he created it), then without God, we have no justification for rationality. If we believe that God is God, then we live that way and become more like true humans; rational and moral. However, if we believe that man is God, then we can have no justification for rationality and become more like beasts; irrational and immoral.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

God's Glory

Why does the sun rise every morning? –For God’s glory

Why do the seasons change? –For God’s glory

Why are we on this earth in this time and place? –For God’s glory

Why did Christ come? –For God’s glory

Why do bad things happen? –Ultimately for God’s glory

Why did God create the world? –For God’s glory

Why are you alive? –For God’s glory

Why is America turning her back on God? –Ultimately for God’s glory


Even in dark times, we always need to remember that in the end, everything is to God's glory. God is in control at all times and he works everything out for His glory.

Rachel

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Clarification

Just wanted to clarify why I chose the current quote of the week. I chose it because it's not the truth.
The way that Victor Hugo is using it is to say that people who pray are proving that they believe that there is a God, which Hugo says is ignorance. No matter how majestic or august the prayer, it is still ignorance in Hugo's eyes.
The truth is, prayer is an humble avowal of insufficiency; our insufficiency to take care of ourselves all on our own. It is also at the same time an avowal of God's sufficiency and his omniscience.

I will continue once in a while to chose quotes that aren't true so that I can critique them. If I forget again to write something on one of them, just email me and remind me.

Rachel

Monday, October 20, 2008

Quotes

One sees qualities at a distance and defects at close range.
Victor Hugo

Qualities seen at a distance are more beautiful at close range.
Rachel Bacon


Housekeeping ain't no joke.
Louisa May Alcott

Housekeeping isn’t any joke.
Rachel Bacon


An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
Ernest Hemingway

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to pretend to be drunk so that the fools don’t kill him.
Rachel Bacon


All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
Ronald Reagan

All great change in America begins at the school desk.
Rachel Bacon


Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough, you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.
J.M. Barry

Dreams do come true, if we only work hard enough.
Rachel Bacon


A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.
George W. Bush

A dictatorship might seem easier at first, but in the long run, it’s much harder.
Rachel Bacon


Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.
Madeleine L’Engle

Inspiration usually comes after work, rather than before or during it.
Rachel Bacon


There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, "Truth is the daughter of Time."
Abraham Lincoln

There is an old book which says, “Truth is the Son of God.”
Rachel Bacon

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Sorry

Hey everybody,
sorry that I haven't posted anything lately. I will continue to post on the Rushdoony book I'm reading, but I haven't read the next chapter yet. However, when I do get it read, I'll write something.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Quote

I like this quote regarding evolution.

"There are so many "missing links" that the chain itself is missing"

This quote is from my World History syllabus written by Greg Uttinger.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Apostles' Creed

Lately, I’ve run out of things to talk about besides what I’ve been doing, which I’m sure can get just a bit boring. So I’ve decided to write a bit on what I’ve been reading for my Systematic Theology online class. I have just started reading “The Foundations of Social Order” by R.J. Rushdoony. The first chapter is called “The Apostles’ Creed and Creedalism”.
The word creed comes from the Latin “credo”—I believe. Therefore, a creed is any confession of faith by the members of a church. As there is no church that does not require some sort of assent as condition of membership, there is no church that does not have a creed. Even those people who say “No Creed but Christ” do not realize that this statement is actually a creed; a statement of belief.

The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary;
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
He descended into Hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The Holy Catholic Church
The communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins;
The resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting.

The Apostles’ Creed is different from other creeds of other religions in that it offers a synopsis of history. As Rushdoony said, “The whole creed therefore is a declaration concerning history.” The creed immediately establishes that God is the creator of all things. This means that God is the source of all ethics, morality, law, etc. If God is the true and only source of everything, then the Word of God must be applied to not only the church, but the school, state, family, etc. Here we must notice as Biblical creedalism has declined, so has the Biblical canon of law.
“Biblical creedalism…is passive because it affirms an act of redemption by the triune God of which man is simply the recipient by grace” Man, under God, lives his life in terms of true law. Thus, Christian creedalism is basic to Christian (and till of late Western) society.
I hope I have made sense to everyone. If you have any comments, questions, critique, please feel free.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Jon's deer

Most of you probably know already, but my brother, Jonathan, got two deer this year in the early doe season. I can't upload pictures of them onto my blog however, the computer's too slow. But I thought I'd let everyone know. If you must have pictures, email me or my mom and we can send them that way.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Quote of the Week

If you haven't noticed yet, there's a new quote of the week. I hope to get a new one up every Monday morning. Enjoy!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Assignment for everyone

ok, so I really love when people post comments. :) so, can everybody post comments, please? lol. thanks ahead of time!
all you need is a google account (go to google.com and sign up for a free account if you don't have one already) and then go to the bottom of my post and click where it says how many comments there are. After that it's really easy. But if you still can't figure it out, email me.

Rachel :)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

CAST LIST!!!!!!!

THE CAST LIST IS IN!!! I'M SOOO EXCITED!! I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT I GOT, I'LL SEND YOU TO THE HPA SITE. HERE'S THE DIRECT LINK TO THE LIST--http://www.hpami.org/index.php?pr=Lansing__Cast_List

Wow, I can't believe I actually got that part. I've heard from my theatre friends that it's a really big singing part. Now I can't wait till rehearsals start up. ----October 10. Wow again. :)

Rach

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Piano

Today is our third piano lesson. And I'm really not prepared. Some people may find it hard to believe, but I really have a hard time practicing for a long time. And when my piano teacher tells me that I should be practicing at least an hour a day, I start stressing out. I have enough music that if I practiced hard on each piece, I would be able to practice for probably longer than an hour. But as I said, I really don't like it. Don't lecture me either, I know it's wrong but I haven't found a way to fix my problem. However, if you have ideas on how to fix the problem, I would be grateful. :)

Rachel

Monday, September 15, 2008

Orchestra tonight

Tonight is the second night this year of orchestra through HSMA (home school music association). This year, I'm in the first violin section, which means that I'm sitting closer to the front and playing the melody as opposed to harmony most of the time. Which is very nice. But the music is still a little easy. At the first practice, I was reminded (again:)) how different playing in an orchestra is compared to playing solo and taking private lessons. Not only do you have to think about how you sound, but how you sound compared to everyone else. Even if you are hitting the note perfectly on tune, if everybody else is different from that than that means that you have to adjust your tuning, not them. Plus, you can't watch your music all the time or let your eyes wander or whatever, you have to watch both the conducter and the violinists in front of you. I really enjoy playing in an orchestra, however. After I graduate, I'm hoping on getting into a community orchestra or a symphonic orchestra. However, my last violin teacher was in the Battle Creek orchestra and she was near the back of the orchestra (meaning that there were quite a lot of people who are better than her in the orchestra). So my point is, I don't know how easy it will be to get into one. We'll see, however. Got to go, my brother is pestering me for the computer.

Rachel

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Results

hey everybody, sorry it took so long to get back about auditions, but I did try to post and my computer just sort of fizzled out on me. Can't write much now, but I wanted to at least say that they went pretty well. I'm not sure if I have a chance at Liesl, but hopefully I'll get at least a nun. The auditions were actually a lot of fun, but they took about three hours because it was sort of a group audition. Anyhow, suffice to say that we find out the cast list this next week. Probably not before Friday. I can't wait!

Rachel

Friday, September 12, 2008

HPA auditions today!

Unfortunately, I'm not very nervous. Whenever I'm not nervous, something usually goes terribly wrong. I hope it goes well.

By the way, if you want to leave a comment, click the button right below the post that says how many comments there are. I've been asked several times how to leave a comment so I thought I'd better just make it clear. :)

Now, on to weightier subjects... I said that I would tell you what I'm planning for post-high school, so I think I'll do that now. I am not planning on going to college next year. Instead, I'm going to study CLEP (college level examination program) tests. With CLEP tests, you study the subject (such as Government, Biology, Algebra) with the recommended reading material and then take a CLEP test at a testing center. If you pass (passing grade is only 50) then you get counted as taking that subject in college. Some colleges don't accept any CLEP tests, some take only some of them, and some take any of them. This summer, I've been studying for the Biology CLEP because last year I did biology. I'm hoping on taking the test sometime in the next couple weeks.

Anyway, I'll write more later. If you have any questions or comments, feel free.

Rachel

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

First Post!

Well, this is my very first post on my new blog. I'm hoping that as I go along, I'll find things to talk about because right now, my mind is blank.
Let's see, what am I doing today? Well, I ran up at the track this morning; I was told that I ran three miles, but it sure felt like less. That's a good thing, because the last 5K (3.1 miles) race I ran was pretty aweful until the very end. Anyways, I came home and taught a piano lesson to one of my three students. I just started giving piano lessons about a year ago now and I've found it....interesting. I like it.
What will I be doing the rest of the day? I need to finish the Latin lesson that I started yesterday, need to do at least one chapter in our economics book (we're taking an econ. class from my pastor, Bret McAtee), and need to practice my violin and piano. Plus probably watching a video for one of my three online courses. My piano teacher told me yesterday at my lesson that I should be practicing piano at least an hour a day. I think I've maybe been practicing about a half an hour a day recently. This year, everything has to be bumped up. I don't know when I'm going to have time for everything. Also, I'm auditioning for a play--The Sound of Music--through Homeschool Performing Arts in Lansing. I've been in two plays before: Little Women-the musical, and Wizard of Oz. But I only got chorus in both of those and I'm hoping on getting a bigger role in this one. I'm hoping for Liesl, but that's a pretty big order. We'll see, auditions are on Friday. I'll let you all know how it goes.
So anyways, I'm pretty busy. It is my senior year. But I'll talk about my post-highschool plans later. ;)