My name is Tobias Harder. I’m in my second and also my last semester at this College. I have the chance to study here because my Dad is on a sabbatical year at swbts. Me and my family (7 kids + 2 parents) came to the States last summer. It is my last semester because I decided to finish my degree at the College in Bonn in Germany(some of you might have heard of it).

There are a lot of weird conceptions some people have about Germany and German people. I would like to correct some of these views a little bit right here:
1. We don’t drink as much beer as one drinks water. (although some drink quite a lot..)
2. Not a lot of people wear these clothes you can see on the picture. It is a traditional dressing from Bavaria.
3. Yes, it’s true. German cars are very good (i don’t wanna say they are best, but..)
4. Yes, we don’t like the French, though we got along pretty well in the past 30 years..
5. Interesting: The majority of Germans doesn’t like Americans a lot. George Bush and the recent wars are probably reasons for that.
I like you though..

For those of you interested in doing any research on Church history, might I recommend this site.

http://http//www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html

You name the Church Father, He’s there. Check it out.

This message has been brought to you by “Splur-X” the you don’t know WHAT you’re eating candy!

All legal complaints of injury, paralysis, psychosis, narcolepsy, insomnia, blindness, dillusions, Illusions, depression, or nervous leg syndrome due to the consumption of Splur-X should be directed to our We Don’t Care Hotline 555-NO CARES.@

I know this isn’t in any way related to Early Western civilization, but…Dr Stilley its hysterical and expresses something I’ve felt since I arrived in The States! he he he!!! Written by a very wise British comedian, John Cleese, it’s just too funny .

Britain is Repossessing the U.S.A.
A Message from John Cleese
To: The citizens of the United States of America:
In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary.
1. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
2. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise.
Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up ‘vocabulary’).
3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.
4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent.
Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.
6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.
Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.
10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.
South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer.
They are also part of British Commonwealth – see what it did for them.
12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters.
Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.
13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don’t try Rugby – the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.
14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.
16. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.
God save the Queen.
Only He can.
John Cleese

“All religions have periods in their history which are looked back to with retrospective fear and trembling as eras of persecution, and each religion has its own book of martyrs. “

Richard Le Gallienne

I ran across this qoute online, Richard was an English “love story” writer that lived from 1866 – 1947. After reading about the persecutions during the Thrid Century and reading this qoute it really created an awareness that other religions view their dead patriarchs as martyrs. A term that I associated with only Christians before, I now see that the word can be used on both ends of the sword. (imgage of Valerian, Emperor who persecuted Christians during the 3rd Century)

Here is a really great video clip that describes the current & past view of Gnosticism, of which much of our past church history encoutered during their minsitry after the death of Christ.

Josh Mensinger

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUGicknVrkA&rel=1]

My name is Dallas.

I could take the approach of seeming well articulated as well as intelligent, however, in true blog type format I will spell and act like a 12 year old new to Xanga.

Soooo wut it dew? I’mma tell yew bout how I izz….

In all honesty, I love life. I consider myself fairly laid back and drama free (minus those plays I was in during high school). I am 20 years old, I work at Cantina Laredo (a gourmet Mexican restaurant) in downtown Fort Worth, I spend lots of time working, sleeping, and maybe doing something productive like sowing. My family is the most incredibly supportive and loving group of people I know. I have 3 brothers, one is in the Army and currently in Iraq, the other is a GM for Quality Chevrolet in ATX, and the other is a kindergarten teacher. I am in my 4th semester at The College and have every intention of graduating before my 10 year high school reunion. I am currently concentrating on Christian Ed. because God has given me a heavy conviction over not only what we teach, but how we teach within the church.

Though there are many experiences and stories I could fill pages of this blog with, I will be subtle and punctual. My testimony is basically this: At 16 I chose to leave my parents house. In looking for somewhere to stay my friend Eric offered up his house, little did I know that his dad was a pastor. A series of events led to me attending church with them by my own free will, as they just loved on me to death. In hearing the Truth preached Sunday after Sunday I came to a faith in Jesus Christ. I don’t know when the sun came up, but I know it’s shining. God revealed to me many things and eventually called me to the ministry putting me here at Southwestern.

God has shown and given me more than I could ever have desired.

The only experience I wish to share is when the most influential man in my life gave me this: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:3-11.

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” Phil. 1:20

This verse defines my life.

P.S – I ran this through spell checker 1000… if there are any errors, it’s the program’s fault.

in accordance with the “Resource Recommendation,” I am recommending to you a book that I’ve read many times for many different reasons and I believe you should too. The book is “Everybody Wants to go to Heaven, but Nobody Wants to Die, or(the eschatology of bluegrass)” This book is 1/3 history of the “Soul,” 1/3 history of bluegrass music, and 1/3 a glimpse into the authors life as a human being. The author(s) being two men, David Crowder and Mike Hogan. I dare you to read it and not enjoy it.