Maytime

So I'm typing from the NRH Library right now, and a guy in the parking lot is a moron. He's about 5'10'' and in his fifties. He opened the door of his Ford Focus so hard that it hit the Jeep next to him and made it wobble. Then he stood there next to his car with the door open, not looking to see if he damaged the Jeep's door or anything like that. Just standing there with the door open, doing nothing. After about 30 seconds of that, he grabbed a cowboy hat and walked inside. I'm wondering if I should follow him and see what books he checks out. Hmm... I'm right next to the "guides" section... I wonder if there's a "Get Out of Paying for Damage You Caused to Someone Else's Car for Dummies" book. He should check that one out. That and maybe "Paying Attention for Dummies," or "How to Not be a Total MORON for Dummies."

So I've got a total myriad of thoughts at the moment.
School is insane. I think I'll be okay with grades and all. I'm expecting a couple of Bs, as well as a couple of I-have-no-ideas. eeeeesh.
Star Trek comes out tomorrow night. From what everyone's been saying, it should be amazing. I look forward to being able to actually be proud of being a Trek fan, rather than being an apologist for the franchise.
I need to finish a frakking ton of schoolwork before tomorrow night so that my mother will actually ALLOW me to leave the house and see the film tomorrow night. It should work; few things motivate me more than an opening night movie premiere with a good buddy or two; I'm not sure why.
Speaking of which, Andrew is officially the coolest guy in the known universe for grabbing me a ticket ahead of time.

Before I forget, my earlier use of the term "frakking" reminded me of something.
I've always had the distinction of being "the good boy" (AKA "every girl's mom's dream") among whatever group of friends I was a part of. I'm not entirely sure why, exactly.
As I've gotten older, I've gotten less "perfect," and have occasionally wondered if I was "slipping." However, usually after I ponder that query, I am answered with an uncomfortable truth: my friends are worse off than I am.

My old group of friends that I constantly hung out with have all gone their separate ways. One in particular has disappointed me greatly.
He was like a brother, but has taken a different path. His job isn't exactly a great influence; I know for a fact that his co-workers aren't exactly the most gentlemanly of people. Was that the primary problem? I don't know.
His manner has changed; though I think he holds back a bit around me, when he thinks I'm out of earshot (and sometimes when he knows I'm not) he throws around curses casually, as if he doesn't actually see the problem with them.
He frakked his girlfriend on top of a water tower. A WATER TOWER. -_-
I used to be able to stand with him against the forces of immorality; now I have to stand against him. That sucks.

A lot of my friends are "slipping." Whether that be because they're in a class of shallow, would-be-hooker ballerinas, or because they hang around the wrong type of college people, it's like everyone's got their own problem. I suppose mine is that I use swear words I hear in sci-fi shows. =D


On a TOTALLY different note...
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what it means to be a Christian. Technically I do that all the time, but whatever.
I've been noticing more and more people quoting the Bible and using it to add to their "list of principles to follow," or studying the Bible in a purely intellectual or scientific sense. While I think that it only makes sense for the more scientific minds among us to study in such a fashion, I think that in practice it can be a severely flawed philosophy.
We need to get to know God, not just his word. We can get to know him through his word, yes, but if you only look at the writing and nothing else, you can easily get the wrong idea. It's like having a best friend: if they say something, you know what they mean, not just what was literally said. Heck, even Jesus' disciples didn't immediately understand everything he said; he had to explain it. And of course, as they got to know him better, they understood more and more.
If one only studies the Bible in a strict sense, then the point has been lost. The New Testament says that the Old Law (from the Old Testament) is "like the old husband who has died," and that the New Covenant is here to replace it. That New Covenant is, essentially, love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (New International Version)
⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

If we could act out of love in every situation, we'd be essentially perfect. Obviously we're not, but that's not the point. The point is that it's about love, not laws. We need to act not out of any worldly principle or even Biblical rule, but out of pure, Godly love.
I've heard a few of my friends say "God never said not to do ____" or other variations of that. Those are stupid excuses. The absence of a law is not an excuse to act irresponsibly. We should weigh every decision by whether or not it's done in love.

I had a friend (whom we will name "John") who was going to start dating a girl ("Susan"), knowing full-well that his best friend ("Ryan") was practically in love with the girl. John knew that it wouldn't work out in the long term with Susan, and that he would be basically giving Ryan "the finger," possibly ending their friendship. His excuses were these: "If he's a real friend, he'll get over it" and "God never said to marry the first person you date."
EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES.
That particular action was NOT done in brotherly love. I'm not saying that it's wrong to date people; I'm saying that it's wrong to put your own desires above the genuine feelings of others.
If John had gone through with it, Ryan would have to choose between having heartache every time he saw John and Susan together or just avoiding them entirely. Telling him to "get over it" is something that modern American society says, NOT what God says. God says to love, not to date whomever you like regardless of the consequences of your actions. John's actions would have been emotionally cruel to his friend.
(Additionally, John was planning to eventually dump Susan and likely break her heart, so, when I got wind that he was going to hurt not only his buddy but also a nice girl, I gave him the "You're a jerk and if you hurt her I will smash your face into the concrete floor" speech. He backed off of his plan after that. :D [But that still doesn't change the principle!!!])

I am SICK of people making excuses for selfish behavior, then trying to find some shred of Biblical principle (or the lack thereof) to back it up. Maybe if people actually measured their actions by love instead of by what-they-want-to-do, things would be better.

(And maybe we should slaughter those hooker ballerinas)