San Diego Portrait Session: Matt Woltjer

To hear some of Matt's music visit
www.facebook.com/pages/Matt-Woltjer/218452855649

Ministry Feature: HUM

(photos provided by Gabe Shippam)

About HUM-
Horizon Christian Fellowship Park Chapel is a 501 c (3) non-profit, Tax ID #
33-0847749. Horizon Urban Ministries is a D.B.A. of Horizon Park Chapel.
Horizon Urban Ministries exists to bring a horizon of hope to a hurting
world. Our primary focuses are: 1. The poor and homeless, 2. At-risk youth
and 3. The interdenominational Christian church. We do this through a
variety of outreaches and programs which include food and clothing
distribution, weekly meals for the homeless, outreach teams, assistance at
low-income hotels, referrals to shelters, drug recovery programs, mission
trips and many other outreaches into the broken community. Everything we do
is freely given with no prerequisites or requirements. We hold no biases in
our service and function solely for the well being of our community. HUM
changes people’s lives, gives a new chance and hope to a hurting world and
rebuilds the community.

What is the Bridge-
HUM hosts short-term mission trips for groups who desire to experience the
gospel lived out in an urban setting known as, The Bridge. Urban
communities are brimming with people who lack food, clothing, shelter, love,
acceptance, and a relationship with Jesus. In the city we see brokenness,
hopelessness and despair. We can lead others to the Lord by helping them
bridge the gap between need and fulfillment. Join us in the city, on a
trip that will challenge your group as we advance the kingdom and change the
city. This happens as we go outside the church walls and work together to
bring hope to a hurting world.

Vision-
HUM desires to reawaken the church to be the revolutionary power in our
communities. We desire to become a church WITH the poor and not just for the
poor. We Bridge the Gap between the rich and poor, the church and the lost,
and also between the many different Christian denominations.

For more information regarding HUM please contact Gabe Shippam at gabe@horizonparkchapel.org

Traveling Memoirs 2

Everyone needed a spontaneous getaway so when the weekend came we took it! Missoula was a great place to relax and spend some quality time together as a family.

Historical Sources About Jesus

I have it heard it said that there is no proof outside the Bible that Jesus Christ really existed. In addition to the two I have added below there are many other sources that confirm that Jesus was a true historical figure.

Cornelius Tacitus is a famous Roman historian and lived from 55-120 AD. He wrote the Annals and the Histories along with other works. From this passage we can see that he was not a Christian, Christ was a real person, was killed by Pontius Pilot, and that his death quieted Christianity for a moment before it exploded all over Judea and Rome. That is a powerful testimony for the resurrection. We continue to read about the persecution of Christians that did not end the Gospel being preached or lived out.

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.

Annals, Tacitus 15.44

Jesus is also mentioned in the Antiquities by Flavius Josephus around the year 90 AD. He was a Jewish Historian.

At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good and (he) was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Antiquities 18:3

North Korea

In the Washington Post on May 20th the article “S. Korea Jettisons Doubt About Sinking” it states that there is overwhelming evidence that North Korea sunk the South Korean warship Cheonan on March 26, 2010. It continues to say that North Korea denied the claims but stated that it would respond to even a minor retaliatory attack with a “Strong physical blow that knows no mercy.” The Washington post adds, “China, which is North Korea’s primary patron and largest trade partner, has been skeptical.” Both China and North Korea are Communist countries with Nuclear Weapons.

I recently heard an interview with Lisa and Laura Ling on the National Public Radio Broadcast “Fresh Air” on March 17th. Most of us remember Laura as the Journalist that was captured in North Korea for 5 months before being rescued by the United States when we agreed to send Bill Clinton. Perhaps fewer of us know of her sister Lisa who made a National Geographic documentary entitled “Inside North Korea” in 2006. The interview was in regards to their new book, “Somewhere Inside: One sister’s captivity in North Korea and the other sister’s fight to bring her home.”

The Documentary and interview were very insightful and give a priceless look into North Korea, which many people call the most secretive place on earth. The poverty and oppressive regime is hard to describe. Cell phones and the internet are outlawed. Generations of citizens know little to nothing about the outside world. Foreigners are not allowed into the country without guides into staged areas. Labor camps are large and common. The ruler is viewed as a son of God or God. It is a dangerous and dark country. North Koreans that attempt to flee are punished along with their families in the worst ways. For those that make it into China their fate is not much better.

We should all pray for wisdom and discernment for the world leaders that must punish North Korea for its act of war on America backed South Korea. We should also be praying for and watching China’s reaction. So far they are hesitant just like they were with declaring Sanctions on Iran.

Traveling Memoirs 1

Renee and I have always valued traveling. Our trips individually and together have taken us across the Untited States including Alaska and Hawaii. Internationally we have spent time in Europe and Mexico. We have taken many vacations with our children and are excited to take many more!

Paul + Katie (engagement preview)

I love this couple and I can't wait for the wedding this August!

The Bible

The title “The Bible” means the book and I will explain to you why. Unlike many other religious books that were written by one or two men during a lifetime The Bible is a combination of 66 books written by 40 authors over 1,600 years and the last book was written 2,000 years ago! The authors range from sheppards to kings and it was written in palaces and in jails. It is the number one printed book of all time and the foundation of the largest religion in the world. Everyone who considers themselves an intellectual or seeks knowledge regarding our world should read the Bible for its importance regardless of their beliefs.

For 1800 years people have been trying to prove the Bible wrong yet it still stands strong today in its claim to be the word of God and the one true meaning of life. Some of the biggest misconceptions about the Bible are that the fulfillments of the hundreds of prophecies were added later or that the hundreds of miracles were embellished over time or never happened at all. Anyone who suggests either of these has not done his or her research.

In 1947 The Dead Sea scrolls were found in a cave. They turned out to be the oldest biblical manuscripts found by almost 1,000 years written around the third century B.C. to 68 A.D. One of the manuscripts found was a complete copy of Isaiah dated at 125 BC.

When it was compared to our earliest copy before the Dead Sea Scrolls we were astonished to find out that in 1,000 years of making copies the two were 95% textually identical. The 5% was mainly misspelling of words and did not threaten the reliability of the text. Concerning the prophecies it is important to remember that the prophecies were spoken publicly, written down and studied by the Jewish people until their fulfillment. To change the Bible sometimes hundreds of years later to fulfill a prophecy you would have to get everyone who ever read it to participate.

We have a combined copy of nearly the entire New Testament in the Chester Beatty Papyri within 150-200 years of the originals and a fragment of John dating back to just 25 years after the original. The earliest copy of Plato (Tetralogies) we have is 1,200 after the original and we only have 7 copies in all. We have over 5,000 manuscripts and portions of manuscripts of the New Testament!

Concerning the miracles being embellished acts that actually took place or lies that never happened it is improbable. The Gospel of Matthew was written by one of the disciples of Jesus. He spent years with Jesus and wrote his Gospel only 35 years after he was crucified. He describes 20 miracles performed by Jesus including many that were done in crowds of thousands of people. There was no time for the acts to be embellished or for Matthew to lie. The same people who were hearing his Gospel had either seen the miracles themselves or could ask someone who was there what happened.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a leader in the vision most of us know simply as Communism. In his book entitled “The Communist Manifesto” he writes, “The communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. The have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!”(Location 488 Marx). Karl Marx saw what was happening to the working class during the Industrial Revolution and felt that they would rise up and overthrow Capitalism.

Cities were exploding as an increasing amount of people left the country or their own small business to work in a factory. After long hours, sometimes over 14 hours a day adults and many of their children would return home. The cities were growing too fast and entire neighborhoods of shacks that sometimes housed multiple families were falling apart in the horrible conditions. Many citizens from the country did not know how to live in the city. They would dump their trash and waste into the streets and raise pigs and chickens in the alleys. The air was full of burning coal and many of the wells and rivers were polluted. At the expense of this poverty the wealthy were obtaining large fortunes and living in blatant extravagance. The Industrial Revolution had begun and Communism was about to be born.

The Industrial revolution has been compared to changing the human condition as great as agriculture did thousands of years before it. Manufacturing, communication, mining and transportation would all be radically improved in the 17th and 18th century. The world as a whole would benefit with longer life spans, technology, and they were more productive in producing goods than ever before. Unfortunately industrialization would separate wealth between individuals and countries. Looking at a map today you can see the wealthiest countries around the Globe are those that caught on to the Industrial Revolution early and continued it into the 19th century.

As for the individuals a distinctive difference would be made in large, over populated cities between the working class (proletarians) and the wealthy middle class (bourgeoisie). With replaceable, unskilled workers the Bourgeoisie was able to keep the large profits of the manufactured products without having to supply their labor force with benefits or wages. The skilled tradesman became a button pusher or simple monitor of a machine. The struggle and animosity between the classes led Karl Marx to write The Communist Manifesto in 1848.

In his manifesto Karl Marx describes his interpretation of a factories work force. “Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and on the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the over-looker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. The more openly this despotism proclaims gain to be its end and aim, the more petty, the more hateful and the more embittering it is” (Marx Location 112). Marx thought that a violent working class revolution was unavoidable and he applauded it.

His observations regarding the oppression of the working class did not end with their place of employment. “No sooner is the exploitation of the laborer by the manufacturer, so far at an end, that he receives his wages in cash, than he is set upon by the other portions of the bourgeoisie, the landlord, the shopkeeper, the pawnbroker, etc” (Marx Location 119). It was the class differences that really bothered Karl Marx. He dreamed of a world without class struggle and the disadvantaged not being taken advantaged of. In a hope to put his philosophy into practice Marx helped to start International Working Man’s Association in 1864. History shows us that it attracted more intellectuals than factory workers.

Many workers around the world did fight the Bourgeoisie for a better standing of living. While there have been a few leaders and countries that have tried to create Communist societies most have decided against it. Instead of open war and the destruction of their society they found power in forming labor unions and a voice with voting.

Cited Sources
Bulliet et el., The Earth & its Peoples. 4th Dolphin ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Public Domain Books, 2005. Kindle Book.

European colonization of the Americas

The impact of European colonization on the people of the Americas was the end of the world as they knew it. Although there was exposure to new religion, technology, agriculture, and trade, the negative aspects were catastrophic. Disease, alcohol, forced labor, and the loss of their land affected the native population everywhere. New weapons, the horse, and a market for animal skins would cause violent strife between the tribes. The old world colliding with the new world would change everything.

The Amerindians were far from perfect before the Europeans arrived but they lacked the technology and organization to carry out large conquering strategies like Europe. It is easy to see Europe as the tyrant coming into the New World taking over simplistic, nature loving natives but this is far from the case. In truth both Europe and the Amerindians had their share of heroes and villains. The native tribes were commonly at war with each other over disputes, while the Aztecs and Mayans even practiced human sacrifices. Although it was not common, there were tribes such as the Caribs and Tupinamba who practiced cannibalism for nutritional purposes.

The death rate from abuse, but mostly disease, of the Amerindians upon the arrival of European colonization is absolutely shocking. With unreliable estimates to the indigenous population when Europeans first entered the Americas we will never have perfect figures. But everyone agrees the figures were high, with one estimate being that Mexico went from 13 million Amerindians to 700,000 within a century. A chronicle from Cakchiquel of Guatemala wrote, “Great was the stench of the dead. After our fathers and grandfathers succumbed, half the people fled to the fields. The dogs and vultures devoured the bodies…So it was that we became orphans, oh my sons!..We were born to die!” In North America disease from the English and French had exterminated many of the different tribal groups. This is a horrible picture but something that was not new to Europeans. They had suffered the bubonic Plague in the fourteenth century that killed 30 million people, a third of their population!

The Spanish and Portuguese were ruthless in their tactics with the natives. They saw them as a people that needed to be conquered and converted. There were some Catholic priests from Spain, such as Bartolome de Las Casas who tried to defend the Amerindians, but even he had lived off the forced labor before his change of heart. The cities were plundered, enslaved and their native cultures were outlawed. The Indians of Huetjozinco wrote a letter to the Spanish King in 1560 stating their loyalty and situation, “Of the way in which our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers were rich and honored, there is no longer the slightest trace among us.” This was a tribe that was very cooperative with the Spanish Lords. Unlike the nations of Guatemala, Michoacan, Jalisco, Pánuco, Culiacan, Oaxaca and Tehuantepec who had to be conquered the Huetjozinco even accepted Christianity. Years later however the Spanish began to tax them heavily leaving them completely impoverished.

The English colonies were inhabited by more private investors and Protestants than the other colonies. This made them less concerned with missionary efforts and a lack of large military forces. Their economy needed less slave labor, and there were no large Amerindian cities to be plundered. They still brought diseases, war and slavery to the natives, but it was on a smaller scale of ruthlessness than the Spanish and Portuguese. They had times of war and times of peace with the natives, even situations where the natives helped the colonies in desperate times.

The French were concerned with missionary work and were big into the fur trade. They lacked a large army and had smaller colonies. Many French men married Indian women and worked with the Amerindians intimatly in trade. Soon, the land was becoming over hunted and the natives were growing dependant on the goods they received from France. Disease, war and a depletion of natural resources came to affect the natives in the area of French colonies. Many times they found themselves in the middle of a long time feud between France and England.

For the Amerindians there were positives with the Old and New World combining. Such as the introduction of the firearm and horse that greatly enhance their hunting ability. There was growth in their economies selling furs and agricultural products to Europeans. They were introduced to plants, such as sugar, as well as many other fruits and vegetables. Animals introduced by the Europeans such as cows, pigs, and many others provided them with meat and hides. Many of these goods the natives embraced, and even came to have a hard time living without.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes to the Amerindians came to the very core of their way of life. Large empires such as the Aztec and Inca would soon be conquered. Sedentary societies that formed cities and harvested agriculture would be over run. Semisedentary and nomadic societies that were always on the move, hunting and gathering, would loose their way of life. Through it would come the world as we know it today, hundreds of languages exchanged for primarily English and Spanish. The uncountable number of tribes and clans would be replaced with citizens of mapped countries. It would be a long process of oppression, slavery and exploitation. Theoretically, these indigenous people would be exposed to the opportunity of better technology and way of life supplied by Europeans ambition and religion. Unfortunately, in our current time many of them are still living in third world conditions, or poverty filled reservations.

In conclusion, when the Europeans came to the new world they had better technology, military and resources. The Amerindians were at the mercy of the more advanced empires and suffered in trade and negotiations. Exposure to the Old World brought many harsh conditions for the Amerindian people and changed their world forever. Although the separate European empires had their own way with dealing with the natives, all of them eventually overpowered and ruled over them.


Cited Sources
Richard Bulliet et el., The Earth & its Peoples 4th Dolphin ed., v. 2
Glenn J. Ames, The Globe Encompassed. The Age of Discovery, 1500-1700
John E. Kicza, Resilient Cultures. America’s Native Peoples Confront European Colonization 1500-1800
Letter from the Indians of Huetjozinco to the Spanish King, 1560

Church and Science

In 1616 Galileo was forbidden by the church to publishing anything additional on the subject of Copernican ideas. Simply put, he had stated and tried to prove that the sun was the center of the universe instead of the Earth. To the uneducated eye this looks like another fight between religion and science, faith vs. intellectualism. With research one can find that this could not be further from the truth. In truth, science and religion are a lot closer than most people know.

Both Copernicus and Galileo were professed Roman Catholics. When Galileo discovered mountains on the moon and moons around Jupiter it was not only celebrated but confirmed by Jesuits. The pope encouraged Galileo to study the Copernican theory but asked that he would not teach it as anything more than a theory until there were facts to call it truth. When Galileo published The Starry Messenger and stated the theory to be fact prematurely he was no longer allowed to publish the subject further.

The sun being the center of the universe instead of the earth caused some conflict with interpretation of scripture. Modern secularism likes to exaggerate the church desire to eliminate science that contradicts their interpretation of the bible but it simply is not true. Throughout history the church, as well as the pope of Galileo’s time have a record of allowing their human, imperfect, interpretations of scripture to change while still holding the Bible to be divine and perfect.

Science and religion go hand in hand. Thirty-five craters on the moon are named for Jesuit scientists and mathematicians. J. L. Heilbron of the University of California-Berkeley is quoted saying:

The Roman Catholic Church gave more financial aid and support to the study of astronomy for over six centuries, from the recovery of ancient learning during the Middle Ages into the Enlightenment, than any other, and, probably, all other institutions.

Obviously the men involved in the church are not perfect, but neither are the men outside the church. Both have been wrong in their theories and actions, but one thing is for sure and that is that the church is not against science.

Works Cited

Bulliet et el., The Earth & its Peoples 4th Dolphin ed., v. 2, pp. 446-461, 584-596

Thomas Woods, Jr, “The Church and Science” in How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization ch. 5

Politics and Religion

I once believed that inside everyone was a common desire to be a good person and have peaceful relationships with everyone else. I now know that the world is more complicated than that. Different organizations, religions, countries and associations are fighting for influence in our world everyday. Many of them are in direct contradiction with one another. Everyone should strive to live in tolerance and peace because all men should be regarded as equal but not every world view is correct or equally valid. Everyone should be conscious regarding what they personally believe because their everyday actions are giving influence to world views everyday. The world view with the most influence is going to be the world we live in.

Whether someone recognizes it or not we are all apart of this process by how we spend our time and money. The smallest decisions have an affect on our community, country, and world. When our world view does not coincide with our actions we support convictions contrary to our own which can have devastating effects. In a world with conflicting views fighting for influence it is detrimental that our actions coincide with our beliefs.

There are many people that still hold on to the world view that I once had. Based on the belief that everyone has a common desire to be a good person, they strive for the world to be a peaceful place with little conflict. In an effort to combine all ideas in a liberal form they eliminate the pure or complete form of every idea including religions, political systems, and ideas that have existed for hundreds of years. In its effort to end the confrontation amongst conflicting world views their philosophy aggressively attacks them all. It is a totalitarian idea that says, “We can not tolerate the intolerable.” It eliminates all ideas that become too extreme or fundamental even though it itself is very extreme. It dulls the minds of the masses to feel safe behind words like open mindedness and tolerance. Those that believe in a specific religion or idea are viewed as close minded, intolerant and extreme. To have a liberal, open minded view does not avoid conflict by combining ideas. It is simply another conflicting world view.

While defending himself as a Christian in his book “The Audacity of Hope” Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States makes an effort to end the conflict between Christianity and other views. In the process he makes an aggressive attack on Fundamental Christianity to the extreme point of redefining what being a Christian has meant for the last 2000 years. “When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations-whether they come from a lesbian friend or a doctor opposed to abortion. This is not to say that I’m unanchored in my faith. There are some things that I’m absolutely sure about-the Golden Rule, the need to battle cruelty in all its forms, the value of love and charity, humility and grace” (Obama 224).

The Golden Rule, battle against cruelty, value of love, charity, humility and grace can all be found in the Bible but that is the foundation of Barak Obama’s world view not Christianity’s. Christianity stands or falls on the belief that Jesus Christ was god on earth. In the book of John in the Bible Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my father is. From now on you have known him and seen him!” (John 14:6-7)

It would make no sense for the Jews to kill Jesus because he said I come to preach the Golden rule, battle against cruelty, value of love, charity, humility and grace. They killed him because he said that he was the Messiah, equal with God, and therefore more powerful then them. Christians have always believed that Christ died for the salvation of people on the cross and rose from the dead as a fulfillment of ancient scripture. Christians believe human’s are inherently corrupt and can only live with the characteristic Obama describes through a spiritual transformation through Christ.

To do it without him only leaves ambition, pride and arrogance. In this world of mixing ideas the very definition of an organization or religion is many times in conflict. Martin Luther King Jr. a Christian Civil rights leader once said, “So I say to you, seek God and discover him and make him a power in your life. Without him all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights” (King 49).

America is a superpower that symbolizes the western world and its beliefs. The United States’ technology, creativity and military force have changed the world. It has always maintained a separation between religion and government. Islam is a religion that requires complete submission to its God named Allah. The word “Islam” actually means submission to Allah. To maintain submission to their God the Muslim must follow the words of their holy book entitled “The Koran.”

Barack Obama said in Cairo in 2009, “America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings” (The Arab American News).

His words are hopeful and reach out to those who want the world to be a place for all ideas and beliefs to exist together. This view stands on the assumption that all beliefs share a common foundation and do not need to conflict with one another. There are many sects of Muslims that agree with Obama and desire relations with the Western World but there are others who do not.

For example Abu Bakar Bashir is an Indonesian Muslim Cleric and he said, “But the West is trying to weaken Islam from outside and inside. They attack our people and invade our countries from outside, and they weaken us from within with ideas like secularism, liberalism and democracy. This is all designed to contaminate our pure Islam” (Muslim Life Malaysia).

Most of the terrorist organizations listed under the “Background Information on Foreign Terrorist Organizations” on the U.S. Department of State website are Islamic organizations. In its purest form under its prophet Muhammad, Muslims gained power through preaching and force. In his book “Islam World Religions” Matthew S. Gordon describes Muhammad’s actions after conquering Mecca:

The year was 630, and Muhammad stayed for only a short time in Mecca-long enough to establish Muslim control over the town and to win support of the Meccan population. For the next two years, Muhammad expanded his influence throughout the Arabian Peninsula. He sent envoys to distant tribes, calling on them to convert to Islam. Many of the tribes did so with little protest, whereas others were convinced only with the use of force. Before long, Muhammad controlled most of the peninsula (Gordon 26).

Combined with their early conversion tactics it is a fact that the early Muslims provided for their community with violent raids on foreigners. With this history there will always be an element of Muslims that see no problem with including violence into their religion. On the contrary there is a large group of liberal or progressive Muslims that believe in changing with the times. They find a home and brotherhood with liberals of different faiths and beliefs but not without a price. They are commonly no longer considered a true uncompromised Muslim by others. The conflict of world views is always present it simply changes its target.

Most people fail to discover that the most extreme views have historically been birthed in times of great despair. Islam came from a time that many authors sum up into the word “Barbaric”. Christianity arose from the Jewish people while they were under sever oppression under the Roman Empire.

During the industrial Revolution cities were exploding as an increasing amount of people left the country or their own small business to work in a factory. After long hours, sometimes over 14 hours a day adults and many of their children would return home. The cities were growing too fast and entire neighborhoods of shacks that sometimes housed multiple families were falling apart in the horrible conditions. Many citizens from the country did not know how to live in the city. They would dump their trash and waste into the streets and raise pigs and chickens in the alleys. The air was full of burning coal and many of the wells and rivers were polluted. At the expense of this poverty the wealthy were obtaining large fortunes and living in blatant extravagance. It was during this time that Karl Marx wrote his famous “Communist Manifesto.” In it he describes his interpretation of a factories work force:

“Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and on the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the over-looker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. The more openly this despotism proclaims gain to be its end and aim, the more petty, the more hateful and the more embittering it is” (Marx Location 112).

It was through this extreme oppression that he sounded the trumpet for a Communist takeover:

“The communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. The have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!”(Location 488 Marx).

Currently, China and North Korea are communist countries with Nuclear weapons. China has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. On a CBS Report website Lara Logan informs America of its involvement with China regarding its National Debt, “The nation's debt is the largest in history: $12 trillion and counting. That's over $80,000 for every American worker. China is now the largest holder of U.S. debt. It's also the largest exporter and within the next five to seven years, it's expected to surpass the U.S. as the largest manufacturer in the world.”

As China grows in its influence in the world one must look at its world view. Amnesty International is a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization and on their website they state:

Amnesty International has documented widespread human rights violations in China. An estimated 500,000 people are currently enduring punitive detention without charge or trial, and millions are unable to access the legal system to seek redress for their grievances. Harassment, surveillance, house arrest, and imprisonment of human rights defenders are on the rise, and censorship of the Internet and other media has grown. Repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, and of Falun Gong practitioners and Christians who practice their religion outside state-sanctioned churches continues. While the recent reinstatement of Supreme People's Court review of death penalty cases may result in lower numbers of executions, China remains the leading executioner in the world.

That is a drastic difference than the Constitution of the United States of America’s First Amendment which states:

Congress shall make no lay respecting an establishment or religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (Cato 43).

As our world enters one of the worst global economic times in history it is everyone’s responsibility to have a conscious world view. How we spend our time and money gives influence and changes the world. We need to ask ourselves: When we purchase a product what companies are we supporting? What country are those businesses in? What government officials are we voting for? In a world engulfed in economic crisis that is made up of opposing religions, politics, and countries our actions matter now more than ever. The world view with the most influence is going to be the world we live in.

Works Cited

“China Human Rights.” Amnesty International. 2010. 30 Apr. 2010
http://www.amnestyusa.org/china/page.do?id=1011134

“Background Information on Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” U.S. Department of State. 8 Oct. 1999. 2 Apr. 2010
.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2002. Print.

King JR, Martin Luther. The Measure of a Man. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. Print

Gordon, Matthew S. Islam World Religions. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1991. Print

Logan, Lara. “American Debt Threatens Status as World Power.” CBS Reports. USA Today. CBS Evening News, 8 Apr. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2010.

Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Public Domain Books, 2005. Kindle Book.

“Muslim Life Malaysia.” 3 Sept. 2006. 20 Apr. 2010
http://muslimlifemalaysia.blogspot.com/2006/09/abu-bakar-bashir-radical-yes-terrorist.html

Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006. Print
“The Arab American News” Obama's speech in Egypt aimed at healing rift with the Muslim world. 9 June. 2009. 20 Apr. 2010
http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=World&article=2251

Bibliography
Bulliet et el., The Earth & its Peoples. 4th Dolphin ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.
Carson, Clayborne. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2001. Print.
Moore, Michael. Dude, Where’s My Country New York: Warner Books, 2003. Print

Engagement Photography: Paul + Katie

more to come later!

With Renee (Chapter 1) by, Michael Blankartz

I am eighteen-years old and everyday during rush hour traffic I see what I am supposed to become returning home from work. The role models for my generation look angry and depressed. They are zombies caught up in a routine waiting for retirement. Do you know what it is like to wake up in the morning and not want to get out of bed because nothing that you will do that day is worth rising from the comfort of the warm sheets? I have read novels about people whose life had meaning, they got out of bed excited to start another day because they loved what they did. I don’t love what I do and I don’t know of anyone who does. Let me rephrase that, I don’t know anyone who is consistently excited about their life. My life is comfortable and that is all that I see people living. I wish I could have the focus and direction that the main characters of those novels had but I don’t. Unfortunately, I have no clue what I want to do with my life.

Presently I work at a recycling center. I was really excited last year when I got the job because in some small way I felt that I would be involved in helping the world while other kids my age were working in fast food. But now my only satisfaction comes from giving homeless guys more weight than the scale reads and $1.00 a pound instead of $.85. My job starts when the customer dumps their aluminum cans into a conveyer that caries them into a basket for me to weigh them. I spend my time removing everything that isn’t an aluminum can before it gets into the basket. This includes aluminum foil, rocks, trash and even old maggot infested food.

Truthfully the maggots have only happened twice but they stick out more powerful in my mind than the trash. I get to give people money for recycling which is rewarding but it isn’t enough. I try to appreciate the little things in life but my rationalized meaning only keeps me happy for so long. Let’s face it I sort through old beer and soda cans that have been sitting idly in peoples backyards. The smell of stale beer constantly stains my clothes and overwhelms my nostrils. Who in their right mind would read the novel of my life? Even I wouldn’t make it past the first page.

Lately I have started to drink beer at work with two of my co-workers. When I get to work at noon Kevin (he is a forty year old ex-meth addict) goes and buys a twelve pack of beer and a bag of ice from the liquor store down the street. Upon his return Ed (he is an alcoholic in his late forties) fills a five gallon paint bucket with a little water, the ice and the beer. Once the “cocktails” as Ed calls them are on ice we work together to serve all of the customers as fast as we can. We sit on three lawn chairs that we found in the dumpster under the shade of a torn tarp. It takes a lot of effort for me to drink as fast as them while making it look natural. I have been drinking steadily since I was fifteen but usually it is warm beer out of a backpack. This beer is ice cold and the thought of drinking at work makes it even more enjoyable. I usually only drink two or three of my beers because I don’t want to get too buzzed at work. Besides I gladly give my fourth beer to Kevin or Ed because they want it more than I do.

I don’t want to work at a recycling center all of my life but it might not be for the reasons that one would think. It isn’t because my co workers are alcoholics or because I come home covered in filth. It isn’t because I only make $8.00 an hour or even the maggots. It is simply because I am not happy there now and don’t believe that I ever will be. I think that happiness grows from situations that supply your life with meaning. So if I can’t find meaning at the recycling center now then I will never be anything more than comfortable there. I don’t want to work at the same meaningless job for the rest of my life. I don’t want to live another twenty years and still not be living a life of meaning. I am terrified that when I’m an old man and dying I will know in my heart that my life was meaningless.

My father gave me an appreciation of philosophy and adventure through the books that he would recommend to me. Stories of fallen soldiers missing their loved ones, eastern monks traveling the world in solitude devoted to the one task of finding meaning and young adventures living outside the conformity of society. I loved the books and found role models in the pages. My father and I would talk about the characters in the highest regard and I found a teacher and friend in my dad. That was until I graduated high school two months ago and I told him my decision not to go to college. Instead I was going to work on the fishing boats in Alaska with a co-worker from the Recycling center. He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t go to college and it was then that I realized something about my father. He believed in talking about living a lifestyle “outside the box” but he never dared to put his ideas into action. My father was a living contradiction and I didn’t know what he truly believed. Did he want to live a life of adventure and risk or the calm and quiet lifestyle of an eastern monk? Was he too afraid to live without routine and security? Did he lack the wisdom to live the life of an eastern Guru? In the end I asked myself one final question would I be happy living the life of my father when I was forty?

I remembered his occasional comments about quitting his job as a teacher to work somewhere with less responsibility. I had heard him say on at least ten separate occasions that he wanted to be a floor attendant at Home Depot. I thought more in depth about the time he had to write a paper about the meaning of his life for an administration course he was taking to be a principal. He brought it to me in the family room and read me the title “News Junkie” before briefly summarizing it to me. He said that his life basically consisted of coming home from work as a special education teacher and reading Time magazine before watching the news on T.V. He finished his summary with “Pretty pathetic isn’t it.” I remembered how I laughed and told my father not to be so hard on himself. I told him that he had raised a wonderful family and had a humanitarian job that touched people lives. I assured him that there was nothing more productive than that and told him that his monitoring of current events was something that I admired about him after being a great father. He forced a smile and told me, “Your right, I hadn’t thought about that” and walked into the kitchen. As long as my father wished that he was doing something else he would never realize what he had. He spent more time talking about his dreams than reaching for them. And I guess a small part of me always resented him for that.

All summer I have been waiting for Jim (another coworker from Recycling center) to sell his motorcycle so that we could buy a truck and drive up to Alaska. Every week my father tries to get me to register for college and I tell him that I don’t want to prepare for the future only to find out in doing all the preparation I have wasted most of my life. For two months I have done nothing but tell all of my friends that I am leaving yet I don’t leave. It has been frustrating waiting for my life to start but thankfully I have run out of time. College starts next week and my father gave me an ultimatum to go to college, work full time, travel or move out. I told Jim I was leaving in a week and he said that he couldn’t sell his bike by then. I saw the fear in his eyes and realized that he never would have gone.

Yesterday I sold my Volkswagen bug for $2,000 and bought a train ticket that departs in two days. I read on the internet that there was a ferry that ported out of Bellingham Washington and traveled up the inside passage of Alaska. I don’t know what will happen to me when I get there or when I’m coming home. All that I know is that I want to see life as a gift instead of a burden. In two days I was going to start living the novel that I would love to read.