I am not dead yet, I can dance and I can sing...

From Tasha, Scott, and Meghan: 1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the 4th sentence. 4. Post the text of the sentence to your journal along with these instructions 5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you. "F.J.A. Hart and A. Harnack, however, have shown that the two creeds [the Nicene Creed and the Creed of Constantinople] are in fact two entirely different documents." - The First Seven Ecumenical Councils, Leo Davis (Actually, the first book I had picked up was Shinran's Gospel of Pure Grace, but it was only 93 pages long). I'm getting pretty bad at updating this. Things are going well here, though I'm realizing just how little left of the semester I have. And I only have one paper idea out of three - ahh! I'm planning on writing about whether or not Christ could have sinned - my current position is that as God he could not, as human he could but wouldn't, and that divine middle knowledge can tie these seemingly contradictory views together (yeah Scott, I've turned over to the dark side of Arminianism and Libertarian free will. Though maybe after reading my systematic theology text by a strongly Calvinistic prof I will again see the light. Or maybe I'll just go with Plantinga's "broadly Reformed" stance and take the best of both worlds). I've also been reading a bit about this Buddhist guy named Shinran, from the 12-13th centuries in Japan. Interesting views - he believed that at least in this present age, human beings are too evil in themselves to attain enlightenment and so all they can do is be grateful to Amida Buddha for the free gift of a reincarnation in his Pure Land, where one can attain enlightenment. And Amida is the one who gives faith to the believer. I'm most likely going to write a paper on the metaphysics behind his views, and maybe another one comparing his ideas of subjectivity and history with Kierkegaard (though I may also analyze Kierkegaard according to Plantinga's views of warrant and the sensus divinatis - I haven't decided yet. I have 4 weeks or so left, right?) Two days ago was seven months to the wedding - yay! For Scott, and anyone else who may want my email address: zmander2_TAKE_THIS_PART_OUT_INCLUDING_UNDERSCORES_@tiu.edu PS. As a matter of confession, I will admit that I was wrong about the Monty Hall problem. It does in fact work. Kevin Cody was right.