Mín Englisc Blog

James Potter: born 27 March 1960, died 31 October 1981.
Lily Potter: born 30 January 1960, died 31 October 1981.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Today is an appropriate time for a 26th deathday party for James and Lily Potter.

I've decided to read the Book of Mormon and associated LDS texts: not because I want to believe them, but because they (at least the Book of Mormon) are interesting (although somewhat repetitive) narratives, and because a proper understanding of the LDS Church is essential for defending our faith from its teachings.
So far, I've gotten through I Nephi, the first book, of 22 chapters, and noticed two rather interesting things:
• In chapter 5, Nephi and his brothers return to their parents from a dangerous expedition. Verse 9 reads:

And it came to pass that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel.

Compare this to Deuteronomy 12:13-14:

Take care not to sacrifice your burnt offerings in any place you like, but only in the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories.

In the narrative, Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon yet stand, and God never says anything to Lehi (the father, and the group's leader and prophet) to the effect that such biblical commands are disregarded.
• Throughout much of I Nephi, there are extensive visions with detailed descriptions of future events, centralizing on the life and works of Christ and his followers, including even the place Bethabara where John should baptise (apparently no possibility of accord with better New Testament texts, which call the place Bethany rather than Bethabara). The whole thing reminds me of the apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah, in which Isaiah sees a detailed description of the Messiah.
On the other hand, as I said, it's an interesting narrative (despite the unrealistic idea of Jews sailing to the Americas and becoming what we know as Indians or Native Americans), and it has some biblical truth: chapters 20 and 21 of I Nephi are copied from Isaiah 48 and 49.

My schedule is finished in draft form; I'm going to try to go for POL352, the really hard Christian-perspectives-on-politics course, but it's not likely that I'll be able to get it, so I'm prepared to take other courses.
I was planning to do some reading for enjoyment before bed, but I ended up spending the time talking randomly with friends down the hall. This is why I enjoy being at college: I can just sit (or stand) and talk with people without having to wait for a special time. And it's nice that I'm gradually getting to know my floor better.


Scene in the town of Rupert, in southwestern Vermont.

Last night went well, and I had a useful and enjoyable morning. Shortly before noon, I headed over to the missions conference; what I attended was interesting, and I'm sure that other parts are also highly useful.



Today with John and Abby has been great. It was funny when, shortly after we arrived, she was making us some snacks and apologised that the four or five different snacks weren't enough :-) The picture is from tonight, when we went to Kittanning, the Armstrong County seat.

We've had guests here: last night Isaac stayed with us (Dad was here for a meeting, and Mom and Isaac came along), and tonight we have guests for Matt Filbert's weekend-long RP Missions conference. We're hosting Aaron Dinkledine and Luke Hovee tonight, with Zachary Blackwood across the hall and Allen at Filberts' on the other side of campus; he'll be coming up here for tomorrow night.
EAHB2 will be moving up here tomorrow night because I'm not going to be here. Tomorrow afternoon, Josh Kail and I are leaving for Abby's house; we'll be staying there tomorrow night, and the three of us are to worship at Manchester RPC for the first time. I'm quite looking forward to it, and hope and pray that it will go well :-) Manchester is the last congregation in the area that I've never visited; the only other churches in Alleghenies Presbytery that I've never visited are Covenant (Meadville PA), Grace (State College PA), and Anchor (Waldorf MD).

Sorry for so little posting this week. I've not been the most diligent this week; it's been a little difficult to get back into the swing of things after fall break (beginning of last week) and everything with Grandma since then.
This week, I finished Milestones, a book by the Egyptian writer Sayyid Qutb, explaining his vision of a proper Islamic society. Qutb was the founder of the major Egyptian Islamist organisation of the twentieth century, so this is quite radical. I'm thankful that I can be here at Geneva, where we can study such theologically wrong books, even in situations such as this, when I'm reading it (borrowed from Tony Mastris) better to understand the views of its author. If places like Pensacola Bible College prohibit possession of Calvinist material, I'm sure that they're not greatly open to possession of Islamist material!

Carolyn M. Wilson, 82, of 1248 Young Road died the morning of Oct. 17, 2007, in Passavant Retirement Center, Zelienople. Born Aug. 7, 1925 in Harlansburg, she was a daughter of the late Frank and Mabel Copper McElwain. She married John P. Wilson on July 30, 1948. He survives. Mrs. Wilson had been a music teacher in the New Castle and Laurel school districts. She was a 1943 graduate of the former Harlansburg High School and of Westminster College in 1947. She was a member of the Pennsylvania Retired Teachers Association. Mrs. Wilson was a member of Rose Point Reformed Presbyterian Church, where she was a precentor for more than 20 years. In additon to her husband, she is also survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Carol and John W. Fleeger of Baton Rouge, La., and Judith and Philip H. Pockras of Belle Center, Ohio; four sons and daughters-in-law, John K. and Sandy Wilson, Robert W. and Patricia Wilson, and Thomas D. and Linda Wilson, all of New Castle, and James L. and Mary Wilson of Volant; 15 grandchildren, Elizabeth Mulkey and her husband, Shawn, John K. Wilson Jr., Rebecca Wilson, Jared Wilson and his wife, Rebecca, Connie Sapienza, Angela Sapienza, Michael Sapienza and his wife, Heather, Meghan Cowart and her husband, Joseph, Brittany Wilson, Evan Wilson, Bradley Wilson and his wife, Katie, Allyson Garrett and her husband, Luke, Shane Wilson, Nathaniel Pockras and Isaac Pockras; and four great-grandchildren, Zoe Mulkey, Ian Mulkey, Isabella Sapienza and Lynden Cummins. She was preceded in death by a grandchild, Caleb Wilson; two sisters, Doris Bishop and Mildred McElwain; and a daughter-in-law, Sherrie Wilson. Calling hours are 5 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at the R. Cunningham Funeral Home, 2429 Wilmington Road. A service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday at Rose Point Reformed Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Ralph Joseph, pastor, and the Rev. Philip H. Pockras will officiate. Burial will be in Rose Point Reformed Presbyterian Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Reformed Presbyterian Home, 2344 Perrysville Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15214. Online condolences may be sent to cunningham@cunninghamfh.com.

Source

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear sister here departed, we therefore commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change the body of our low estate that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
Amen.

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

I am altogether tired of the wasps that we have flying around at the Brig; today, I reached to brush something off my right ear, and found a stinger. It's good that the Brig, being a place where fountain drinks are served, has plenty of ice around.
What insignificance is this little wasp in the grand scheme of things, especially now as we deal with Grandma's death. I'll not remember it long (other than this blog post, it will surely be forgotten by everyone pretty soon) and it will never affect anyone else. Yet God does not let a hair fall from my head without his knowledge and permission; surely a wasp sting is at least a little more impressive than that. God cares for us in lifeanddeath situations, governs the world, and yet is concerned with annoying little hymenopterans in small restaurants in small colleges in rundown steel towns in Western Pennsylvania.

Rev Ralph Joseph sent the following out on covienet yesterday:

Carolyn Wilson, the wife of retired elder John Wilson of the Rose Point congregation, went to be with the Lord early today (Wednesday). The memorial service will be at the Rose Point Church Saturday morning, Oct. 20, at 11 a.m. Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m., Friday in the Cunningham Funeral Home on Wilmington Road (N. Rt. 18), New Castle.

Carolyn Charlotte (McElwain) Wilson, 7 August 1925 — 17 October 2007

To me, "Grandma" since 14 September 1987.


Because this God will be our God
To all eternity;
Yes, even on through death itself
Our constant guide is He." Psalm 48

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

Sorry for no post in five days: over break I was just relaxing, and today most of the day was spent visiting Grandma at her nursing home. Classes resume tomorrow after fall break.

Unto the hills I lift my longing eyes. Whence comes my aid? My help is from the LORD, the One Who heav'n And earth has made. Your foot from stumbling He will ever keep; He Who preserves your life will never sleep.

He Who keeps Israel slumbers not nor sleeps By night or day. The LORD keeps you; a shade on your right hand The LORD will stay. Throughout the day the sun shall never smite; No moon shall harm you in the hours of night.

The LORD Himself will your protector be From every ill. From every evil He will keep your soul Securely still. Your daily going out and in your door The LORD will keep both now and evermore.

Today was rather quiet, with plenty of room-work and some online activity getting done, and a book being read and a short paper being written for school. I'm now less than 250 pages away from the end of my thousand-page November 1916, and I'm planning on reading more before bed.

Last year, the adjustment from Pearce to Memorial was difficult, especially because any of my friends had moved to the apartments. It took quite a while to fit into the new floor, but eventually I was comfortable with them — enough so that it was quite hard to adjust to their departure at the beginning of this year. I'm not yet sure who all is on my floor, and there are several people on this floor whom I don't yet know. Still, I'm thankful that I'm getting to know more people and know them better. I'm thankful to God that hard moments are again becoing fewer and farther between — my testimony to God's care, as seen in Psalm 107:40-41:

He pours contempt on great men
and makes them lose their way in trackless deserts;
but the needy He secures from suffering,
and increases their families like flocks.

I'm thankful that problems are largely of my own doing, although it's annoying that I cause such problems — for example, last year I greatly benefitted from meeting Tony for Saturday dinner every week; because of schedules, we decided to change to Tuesday dinner, but I've forgotten two straight weeks.
Incidentally, as I'll not be seeing my family over fall break (this weekend) as I have in past years, I had hoped to go to Indianapolis, as Jill Hanson had a free seat in her car. It didn't work out, however (someone else called it first), and now I'm glad that it didn't work out, because of course most of my friends aren't in Indianapolis, and anyway I don't know what I would have done all weekend.

How do you like this gold dust day gecko?

Not much happened today; my morning classes went okay, and my afternoon classes were enjoyable. I'm leading my Harry Potter discussion class tomorrow, so I've been reading a bit of that book in preparation. There's a bit of reading due for my history class on Wednesday morning, and I have a philosophy paper due on Wednesday afternoon, so I'll be working on that tomorrow — no Solzhenitsyn for a little while yet.
On Saturday, Luke and I rearranged the room significantly; although the beds are somewhat in the same place, his bed is somewhat higher, as we stacked some things under it. Meanwhile, his desk is now under his bed, while my desk is where my dresser had been: although my bookshelves are split (schoolbooks on one side of the room, other books on the other side), no more do I have my ethernet cable always stretched across the room.

Today has been rather calm. With little homework to do, I've accordingly done little homework; the only significant stuff I've done is a couple of reports for my English class, one of which I wrote at the football game :-) Sadly, Geneva lost, but it was a highly ranked team.
Last night, when we tried to go to the G, we never got there. We lost the path, and although a friend and I tried to find it, we didn't get very far before the others decided to go back. Since we had lost the path, the only way we knew to go to go down was simply to go down — and that meant going down very steep hillsides and through thick patches of raspberry bushes, complete with lots of thorns. Tonight, meanwhile, I ran into other friends after the football game, and they were considering going to the G tonight; I prepared to go, but they ended up deciding to watch a movie rated R for violence. So much for that idea...

Thursday for me has just one class: an 8:00 chemistry course in which, despite the fact that it's a nonlab science course, we did a really simple thing in a lab this morning. I really enjoyed it: combining baking soda and hydrochloric acid to get table salt.
Because I had just the one class, I was able to relax, getting homework done while talking with friends somewhat; I just have one paper due next week (as far as I remember), plus needing to read somewhat of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, because I'm leading the discussion on that. Ah! such a horrid thing to read...



Some of my time today I've spent in reading November 1916 (a sequel to August 1914 that I mentioned some time ago), another Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book. Although the scenes of warfare are always horrid, and although I'm so glad that I'm not in Russia at that time, I love his characterisation, and also his scenery. Chapters 43 and 44, the images of Lenin in Zürich: it seems like a classic prosperous Swiss city, sitting peacefully among the chaos of the world. What's more, the image of Arseni Blagodarev in his home village of Kamenka: a perfect pastoral scene, the village virtually unchanged by warfare. Although there is some drunkenness (inevitably!) at the great festival, it's a wonderful mental picture of the village gathering to celebrate the great church holiday, the people worshipping in the church, the choir singing, and people rejoicing: the war may be far off, but their lives are as they were of old, and the young people yet dance in the grass before the fire station. Some people are aware of the coming darkness, but the Russia of old is still to be seen. It's no wonder the love that Russians bear for the rodina, the Motherland!

Today went quite well overall. At my chemistry class, I found that I didn't have to do all that work that I did last night, so the time could have been better spent; still, I know the material better, and when the professor announced some homework that really was due for next class, I showed him last night's work and he said that I didn't have to turn in the other homework. Meanwhile, my Harry Potter class was cancelled, so I spent more time on homework: I wrote a Bible paper and most of a history paper, leaving only that paper's remnants and a small English paper to finish for the week's work. There was only one really annoying thing: since early last schoolyear, I've met Tony weekly for dinner, a time to which I greatly look forward. Today, however, I forgot, and his phone wasn't working, so he couldn't remind me when he tried. I didn't even think of it until seeing him at Filberts' tonight. I'm so glad that we have this opportunity to sit and talk together, at least when I don't forget about it.
While chatting at Filberts' tonight, we drifted onto the topic of Jane Austen. Someone proposed an interesting idea: instead of seeking to marry Elizabeth, Mr Collins should have pursued Mary. They would have been a perfect match — both were really boring people, had a habit of offending people frequently, and definitely found romance to be far less important than many other things in life.
One small but annoying thing about my floor this year: our showers are really cold or weak. It seems that only a small amount of water is warm, and that if we have high pressure water, there's so little warm water that it all feels cold, while if we have little enough that it's warm, there's really little pressure. Is this because we're on third floor, three stories above the water heater? Tonight, however, there wasn't any way to get any warm water at all, so I had to go down to second floor — where the shower was enjoyable indeed!

I'm finally done with homework for tomorrow's chemistry class: although it wasn't hard, there was so much of it that it took three hours. I know how to balance these equations and to arrive at the proper answers, but I'm not entirely sure that the professor wanted me to do it as I did — I showed the instructions to a friend who has taken many chemistry classes, and we weren't sure what one line meant. Ah, well; the professor is easy to talk to, and I expect that he'll be happy to explain.
While taking a break from work, I decided to finish the latest issue of The American Philatelist, the journal of the stamp collectors' society of which I am a member. Two things stood out:
• A section exists that lists new members and various information about them (more or less is given, depending on whether the new member gave that information), and saw something interesting: among the new members is the head of the philatelic bureau (i.e. post office's office to deal with stamp collectors) of the British Channel Island of Guernsey.
• There was also a probationary note: a member "has been placed on probation...for failure to fully pay for philatelic materials which were misrepresented by the seller and which the seller denied the return thereof." Why does this guy get punished for this? It seems that the problem should be with the seller, not with the buyer.