Christian: What it Means to be One

This week I'm studying Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire. He tried converting the entire Empire to Christianity by passing a law that said everyone had to follow the rules of the Church or the would be put to death. Not exactly a good way to get people to look kindly on Christianity.

Being a Christian is much more than just going to church and attending the services. It is more than tithing to the church, or even being baptized. It is thoroughly believing, with your whole being, that God sent his Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior of mankind and take away our sins. You have to believe that Christ's blood has cleansed your soul, and that God will accept you as his child if you repent of your sins and ask Him to lead you on the path of righteousness.

Obeying a law that decrees you to follow the rules the Christians follow is not the same as being an actual Christian. When you merely obey a law that requires you to do that, you are merely stepping through the motions, not actually doing them. I think that the Lord does not like enforced Christianity. When someone is forced to do something, they generally do it with a grudge. The Lord doesn't want you to serve him with a grudge. He wants you to serve Him with all your heart and soul and mind, and love him while you do it.

I don't think America would be the same if everyone were forced to be Christians. A majority of the people would be unhappy about having to worship against their will. Also, it would be against what America was founded for if a law like that were to be passed. America was founded so our forefathers could worship the way they wanted.

November 8, 2011

Well, time for an update on my life and what I've been doing. To make a long story short, DANCE DANCE DANCE!!! In the last 8 days, I've danced 8 days. And I have dance all week (including the weekend) this week and next, unless something comes up. A lot of it is because of Nutcracker. I am the Prince this year, and I have pas de deux rehearsals almost every day to make sure the choreography looks good. Also, I have Russian and Battle scene rehearsals on Sundays.

In Scouts, I just made Life Scout, so now I just have Eagle to go. Also, we just had elections, and I am the Patrol Leader of the new Venture Patrol. We are still working on a name. My friend Alex and I want to be called the Seagulls, but we're waiting on the other two in the patrol for ideas and input. So I have more responsibility as the PL, but I enjoy it so far (one meeting :P) and am working on getting the boys in the patrol motivated and working on some merit badges. So far, we are planning on doing the Communications badge (Eagle required), so I'm looking forward to it.

Then there's band. The three of us that were in band last year are all playing first on multiple pieces. We also have three more trumpets, so we have a wide range of technique and ability, making it a lot of fun. We are also doing more work with the Homeschool Strings this year. We are doing three orchestra pieces this year: Salute to the Cinemas, West Side Story Suite, and Procession of the Sardar.

So that's how life has been for me for the last month or so. A lot of people call it over-scheduled, but I call it doing what I love. :)

Now for more recent stuff. On Sunday, the Dance Driven Youth Ballroom team went to Tacoma to perform in the Instep Dance Showcase. As a group, we did a Lindy Hop to I Can't Stop It, a Cha Cha to Dynamite, an East Coast Swing to Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and a Waltz to Flying. A lot of people gave us congratulations and said they really enjoyed watching us. My friend Jonathan's mom said we completely stole the show, so I personally feel really good.

Still in progress, my friend Alexa and I are working on a Swing routine to take to performances and stuff. So far, it looks really good and I am having a blast. There are some fun lifts in there. During the first private, Ms. Christine (our teacher) had us try a lift called the Tower, where the girl does something like a handstand on the guys shoulders, but on her forearms instead of her hands. I'm really hoping we get to do that in our dance. If we can get it right, it will look really awesome.

And to round everything out, I'm turning 16 in less than two weeks! I'm really looking forward to it, even though I'm not doing anything fancy. I am hoping to do a Magic tournament at our house, followed by pizza and cake. I only have four friends that play Magic, though we are teaching another. So I'm not going to have many people coming over. However, I think it's going to be a blast.

My birthday list is not huge, but the things on it are somewhat expensive. Among them are Inheritance, the final book by Christopher Paolini; a decent pocket knife; Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke; Magic: the Gathering cards, be the boosters or decks, or just awesome single cards; an iHome with a radio; an iTunes gift card; and a Barnes and Noble gift card. Again, not a whole lot, just expensive.

What the barbarians brought to Europe

When the barbarians from Asia invaded the Roman Empire, everything ground to a halt, including trade, learning, and civilization. The barbarians essentially ground out everything Rome had been building for hundreds of years.

However, many good things were brought at the same time. Instead of one massive empire, the barbarians split into separate, independent civilizations. They allowed for Europe to become what it is today, with its diversity in countries and people.

Had the Romans continued to rule through today, Europe would be a massive pit of debt, just like the Roman empire was becoming towards the end of its time. Instead, many European cultures flourish, producing magnificent pieces of art and architecture to name a few things.

Monday, October 10

Just thought I'd put a bit about what's been going on lately.

We got our Nutcracker roles yesterday, and I managed to get Prince this year!! :D It's been my goal since we started at this school, and it's been that way because the Prince gets to do a lot of lifts. When I was Prince with Academy of Dance, I was a toothpick, and couldn't do a lift to save my life (not that I tried, due to the fact that they weren't choreographed, or even an option). But, I'm really excited. Should be a hectic two months trying to put the Nutcracker together.

Was enjoying the sight of the rain in the trees earlier. I love watching the leaves when they seem to spontaneously move around. It's almost like the tree is waving at you. Despite the fact that all we have is grey skies around here, and that it will remain like that for most of the next 3-5 months, I enjoy seeing little things like that. Kind of lifts my spirits.

Busy busy schedule now that dance and band are in full swing. I'm dancing 5 days a week, and at least an hour and fifteen minutes every day. The most hectic is band, when I have band all morning and dance from 3 until 7. It's definitely worth it though. I'm doing a swing duo with my friend Alexa, and we are having a blast with it.

Wednesdays I have a ballet private with my friend Samantha. She wanted to work only on ballet partnerwork, and Jonah, the only boy at Academy of Dance old enough to do partnerwork, isn't very good according to her. So we work on it for a half an hour every Wednesday.

Also, I am going to homecoming with Samantha. We are going to go hang out and just have a good time. She and her friends, according to Samantha's grandma, want me to teach them a bit of ballroom, so it should be pretty fun. :)

Well, that's about all I've got so far. Ballet and scouts tonight. Hoping my Scoutmaster can fit in enough time to work on my Citizenship in the World and get a Scoutmaster conference done tonight. Fingers crossed!

The Corvus

In ancient Rome, battles were not won on the open sea as often as on land. This was due to the military power of Rome's soldiers. During the First Punic War, Rome invented a device, called the corvus (crow in Latin), to board Carthaginian ships and use her disciplined soldiers to win the battle. The corvus was a bridge mounted on the prow of the ship. It was lowered onto the deck of another ship by a system of pulleys, which also allowed the bridge to be brought back up if needed. On the bottom of the bridge was a large spike, much like a crow's bill. This pierced the enemy's deck and allowed a good connection for the Roman soldiers to cross on.

The drawbacks to this device were 1) it weighed about a ton, which drastically decreased the ship's maneuverability, and 2) it was of no use in stormy weather, for it could seriously damage either the Roman or the enemy ship.

Test Summaries

While I studied the Greeks, I learned about their politics, mythology, and the way their leaders turned them into one of the most influential militaristic and economic forces of the ancient world.

During my study of the Hebrews, I learned about the time from when God helped Moses lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the time of Solomon and the building of the great temple.

Studying the Egyptians was interesting because I learned about the food they ate, the way they worshiped their gods, and the mythology that was ingrained in everything they did.

Roman Disease

This week I have been reading the book Ancient Rome: How it Affects You Today. It talks about how the Roman empire and it's ideas can poison modern day culture and affect us and our futures.

Fascism+Roman Model = Roman Disease = "Whatever is necessary" = to protect our interest.

Fascism is a government "philosophy" that is really nothing more than saying the government does whatever it wants if it thinks it is necessary. The Roman Model replaced common law (see my last post) and is a central government that controls every part of citizens lives. They adjust the taxes, pass laws on whatever they want, and the citizens have no choice but to obey. These two things added together create the Roman Disease, which caused the fall of many great empires including those of the Romans, Russians, and Nazis.