Pride and Prejudice

UPDATE 3/25/06-From left to right, Mr. Darcy-played by Michael B., Mary Bennett-played by Paige, Mr. Bingley-played by Justin C., Hill (the Bennett's maidservant)-played by Elizabeth, Grace Long-played by Grace and Jane Bennett-played by Caitlin. All four of the girls are "Arkanblogettes". Both shows went off without a "hitch", except some of the guys were a little soft on their words the first night but MUCH better this afternoon. I never realized how much work goes into these productions until today. I stand amazed. Caitlin (Jane Bennett) got a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a nice plaque for being "Assistant Student Director". Grandfather J. has better pictures and we'll post some of those when he gets them to us. Click on the photo to make it larger. More later...

No, this is not a post on the pitfalls of being pridefull and prejudiced. The Arkanblogger household has been a whirlwind of activity this week in preparation for the stage play of Pride and Prejudice, which opens tonight at 7:00 and concludes with a second production, tomorrow at 2:30. All of our daughters have parts in the play and Mrs. Arkanblogger will be playing the wedding march on the piano (in fact, I can hear her now, practicing it downstairs). We have grandparents in from Montana to see the show and we hope to see the local contingent of other grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends at the theatre this evening. I'll update this post with pictures and try giving a review of the play later on this evening.

See you at the show!

-The Arkanblogger

What Do We Believe...Pt. 2

Well, I think I have it. Something basic that I have recited many times in my life, especially in my youth and is something that should I get confounded for some reason, I can easily come back to.

I also believe that we as a people tend to ignore most of God's Laws, which were written to give us instruction on how to live our lives and experience the fullness of God's order and blessings here on earth. I also believe that the Laws and the Prophets give meaning to the Lordship of Christ, as He was with us from the beginning. So many want to jump into New Testamentism without giving credence to the foundation established in the Laws and Prophets. I believe that my children need to nurture their foundation while continuing to search for the truth. So, The Apostles' Creed is an excellent foundational summation of what I believe. A little more in my next post.


The Apostles' Creed vs. Gnosticism
By James Kiefer, L-Soft list server at ASUACAD
CREED generally emphasizes the beliefs opposing those errors that the compilers of the creed think most dangerous at the time. The Nicene Creed, drawn up in the fourth century, is emphatic in affirming the Deity of Christ, since it is directed against the Arians, who denied that Christ was fully God. The Apostles' Creed, drawn up in the first or second century, emphasizes the true Humanity, including the material body, of Jesus, since that is the point that the heretics of the time (Gnostics, Marcionites, and later Manicheans) denied. (See 1 John 4:1-3)

The Apostles' Creed is as follows:
* I believe in God the Father Almighty,* Maker of Heaven and Earth,
The Gnostics held that the physical universe is evil and that God did not make it.
* And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord,* Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,* Born of the Virgin Mary,
The Gnostics were agreed that the orthodox Christians were wrong in supposing that God had taken human nature or a human body. Some of them distinguished between Christ, whom they acknowledged to be in some sense divine, and the man Jesus, who was at most an instrument through whom the Christ spoke. They held that the man Jesus did not become the bearer or instrument of the Christ until the Spirit descended upon him at his baptism, and that the Spirit left him before the crucifixion, so that the Spirit had only a brief and tenuous association with matter and humanity. Others affirmed that there was never a man Jesus at all, but only the appearance of a man, through which appearance wise teachings were given to the first disciples. Against this the orthodox Christians affirmed that Jesus was conceived through the action of the Holy Spirit (thus denying the Gnostic position that the Spirit had nothing to do with Jesus until his Baptism), that he was born (which meant that he had a real physical body, and not just an appearance) of a virgin (which implied that he had been special from the first moment of his life, and not just from the baptism on.
* He Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
There were many stories then current about gods who died and were resurrected, but they were offered quite frankly as myths, as non-historical stories symbolic of the renewal of the vegetation every spring after the seeming death of winter. If you asked, "When did Adonis die, you would be told either, "Long ago and far away," or else, "His death is not an event in earthly time." Jesus, on the other hand, died at a particular time and place in history, under the jurisdiction of Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea from 26 to 36 CE, or during the last ten years of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius.
* was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into Hades.
Here the creed hammers home the point that he was really dead. He was not an illusion. He was nailed to a post. He died. He had a real body, a corpse, that was placed in a tomb. He was not merely unconscious — his spirit left his body and went to the realm of the dead. It is a common belief among Christians that on this occasion he took the souls of those who had died trusting in the promises made under the Old Covenant — Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and many others — and brought them out of the realm of the dead and into heavenly glory. But the creed is not concerned with this point. The reference to the descent into Hades (or Hell, or Sheol) is here to make it clear that the death of Jesus was not just a swoon or a coma, but death in every sense of the word.
* The third day he rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven,* and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.* From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
* I believe in the Holy Ghost,* the holy catholic church,
The Gnostics believed that the most important Christian doctrines were reserved for a select few. The orthodox belief was that the fullness of the Gospel was to be preached to the entire human race. Hence the term "catholic," or universal, which distinguished them from the Gnostics.
* the communion of saints,* the forgiveness of sins,
The Gnostics considered that what men needed was not forgiveness, but enlightenment. Ignorance, not sin, was the problem. Some of them, believing the body to be a snare and delusion, led lives of great asceticism. Others, believing the body to be quite separate from the soul, held that it did not matter what the body did, since it was completely foul anyway, and its actions had no effect on the soul. They accordingly led lives that were not ascetic at all. Either way, the notion of forgiveness was alien to them.
* the resurrection of the body,
The chief goal of the Gnostics was to become free forever from the taint of matter and the shackles of the body, and to return to the heavenly realm as Pure Spirit. They totally rejected any idea of the resurrection of the body.
* and the life everlasting.

Good evening everyone. Remeber that little green button that I encouraged you to click? Well, take a look at it now. It is a link (or at least it's supposed to be) to the newly launched web magazine called "Regenerate Our Culture" I highly recommend looking at it. Once more I am trying to get you to click that button. Not only is it something good to support, it is also great reading material. It is so important to support things that can help change our Un-Godly culture to something more Biblical! The reason that our culture is the way it is in the areas that need improvement is because Christains decide to sit back and let someone else do it. Well, I don't want to go on a rant on that topic. (I'll save that for another post where I ask your oppinion on a few things) Once more, please click on the link. Please?

Thank you :)

-Paige

Regenerate Our Culture

Finally! After much frustration and messing with the template (I am not fond of HTML) we got the "Regenerate Our Culture" countdown button. We came upon this through the Rebelution blog of Alex and Brett Harris. I highly recommend it. Regenerate our culture is basically about exactly what it says it is. Agent Tim and Spunky jr. (two very good blogs) and two other awesome bloggers started it to "Regenerate Our Culture". We strongly encourage you to click on that little green button and read more about it (since I am at a loss for words at this moment). Really though, you the readers should get involved in this. It is a great opportunity to support something and make a difference. A good difference. So, click the button if you haven't already and get involved!

-Paige (moral support and some wording provided by Caitlin) :)

What Do We Believe?

As we have become introduced to the blogosphere, I have paid particular attention to blogs done by young men and women (and some parents) who find it meaningful to include their position statement of faith on their site. I think that is admirable. It's like hanging it on your doorpost, so to speak. The paternal side of my family has a crest, which hangs on my father's wall. I plan to get a copy of it and put it on mine. This caused me to ask myself why I don't assign the same status to our family position of faith. So, as a family exercise, we'll be developing that position statement to hang on our wall at home and on our blog.

We know that at this point, with a little exception, only some of our family and friends make purposeful visits to our site and most of them...or should I say...most of YOU ;-) don't even really know what we believe. Maybe you don't see it as an issue or it could be that you're hesitant to ask, because you fear that the answer is not in line with your own set of beliefs. I'll just say for now that OUR faith is central to all that we do in our family. We do get sidetracked sometimes. It's called sin. But praise God for grace through Christ. We can see our error according to His laws. We repent, and come back inside the fences of God's truth and love.

So, once we post our statement, if you have questions, then please let us know. Let's discuss them carefully and not fall into blindly moving on without sound Godly reason. Remember the young newlywed, who' s husband asked her why she cut the ends off of the ham (obviously not an Israelite...maybe a wayward one) before she put it in the oven? She said it was because her mother had always done it. When the mother was asked, she said she was following grandmother's example. The young girl finally asked her elderly grandmother, who admitted that she could never fit the whole ham in the oven. Habit/Tradition/Circumstances.

Let there be Godly foundation to our reasoning. Let us not hold on to the traditions of men but rather search out these matters in the spirit of truth and rightousness in our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.


Ephesians 3:9-KJV

"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ"

-The Arkanblogger

Far From Home

As mentioned in my last post, I recently had the displeasure and enlightenment of being in the Las Vegas area for 3 days and 3 nights. I was filled with apprehension before the trip, which I attributed to my loathing of just about any experience that is to include flying in a jet. But that was not the case. The flight out was tolerable. I got to see the Grand Canyon again, albeit from 38,000 ft. From where I sat, it looked like God had reached down and scratched his fingernail through the dirt a few times...creating just what he does. Perfection. We landed a short time later.

This was not my 1st visit, as my industry holds a nationwide market and convention there annually, which I was forced to attend for a number of years, due to my job. So the city and it's character, or lack thereof, was nothing new to me. I've even willingly taken a nighttime walk down the infamous strip, alone a few times in the past, just to get some air and enjoy getting out of the hotel for a bit. But this time, something was different.

Upon my arrival, I was struck mentally by several things. I was in a city of approximately 2 million people (according to my cab driver) that is jokingly referred to by many people as "sin city" or "lost wages." The current promotional ad campaign for Las Vegas is..."what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", promoting lying, deceit and a myriad of other sin. Gambling is literally in your face from the time you walk off the plane at the airport until you get inside the elevator to go to the solitude of your room (and it does not stop there if you count the magazines and ads waiting for you just inside the door) which is for many visitors, perched atop a huge ground floor casino. Prostitution is legal....just down the road. There is much more to assault the senses and the soul, including a barrage of "shows" to see, many of which are of a sinful nature, in one form or another. As I rode in a cab or a shuttle from the hotel to our manufacturing facility or to the airport, I kept looking for a church there...anywhere. But I did not notice one. Maybe they are tucked in closer to the residential areas. I pray that they are.

I felt like I was in a warzone or an area that had been couquered and re-occupied by an enemy. Sadness, loneliness, grief, despair and anger were just a few of my emotions, after only 3 hours in the city. It would be easy to weep over it all. As the days passed, I became very aware of the desensitizing that takes place when one is exposed to all of this on a daily basis. Even so, I do not recall ever being so ready to leave a place as I was on Wednesday afternoon. As the airplane taxied down the runway, it dawned on me that I had been in a place where the many of the people seemed to have no fear of God. I wondered if they'd ever known Him. Had they and then turned away? I felt fear for the people and wondered if this was remotely like what Jonah experienced in Ninevah.

Tonight, as I sit in my chair, upstairs in the relative comfort of my bedroom, my precious family is only a staircase away. And I am so thankful for that. God brought me back home. I don't profess to know the sum of the parts, only some of the parts and I trust that He has a purpose for me here.

On the return flight, we had a bit of turbulence at about the halfway point. The sun was almost down to the west, just behind us and there was a large storm brewing just below the plane in New Mexico. I closed my eyes during the "air-bumps" and reminded myself that God is sovereign. Whether I'm in a metal tube at 35,000 ft., going 550 mph through a storm or in a hotel in a modern day Sodom and Gommorah or sitting in my bedroom in the Natural State...God is God. Las Vegas and the people in it belong to Him. They have their plans, but He has His. He is the One God. He is in authority. He is sovereign. And I will rest on that.

-The Arkanblogger

A Room With A View

I'm looking out my newly installed bedroom window at the darkness of the evening. When daylight comes, from my desk, I'll be able to see the small grave of our dog Buddy down in the corner of the back lawn. Several small rocks outline it's perimeter.

Paige posted a little poem on our blog in his honor a few days before he died. I think she knew the end was near. I thought it was a good one, from her heart. And I have been so inspired tonight as well.

I was traveling last week to Las Vegas for a training session, when I received the phone call from Mrs. Arkanblogger, telling me that Buddy had apparently suffered some strokes, causing similar conditions to the ones he experienced a year ago. He had recovered from those, with a few lingering after effects. When I got back home later in the week and took a look at the shape he was in, it was clear to me that our dog's time here was done.

Even so, he belonged to us all and we gathered together as a family in our den to weigh the matter out. There were consequences either way and I wanted the children to take something away from this. I wanted them to know that they can't always just use circumstances as an excuse to get rid of a perceived problem in their lives. So we discussed it and were all in agreement to have him put down based on our veterinarian's assessment.

We went to the vet's office and said our goodbyes. Many tears were shed as we each got one last lick on the nose from the old boy. It was overwith quickly. He was buried before sundown the next day. A proper funeral for an Israelite pet. Christopher and I dug the grave and wrapped him in a white sheet. We each said a prayer of thanksgiving and Christopher tossed the first spade of dirt into the grave. He kept asking me, "is this what men do?" and I told him, "yes, son, it certainly is."

The next day, our entire family took a trip that we had previously planned to the Ozarks and as we were leaving, it was the first time in 12 years that we didn't check Buddy's water and food before we walked out the door. There's no more food and water dish in the laundry room. They were donated to the local animal shelter. Just an empty spot on the floor, where they used to sit. I stood and looked at the little spot where he slept, before I locked up the house and left. I thought about him on the drive to North Arkansas that evening, recalling his gentle nature. He never snapped at our children...or any other children in our home. Not once. He looked like a true "McTavish" with his long beard and argyle sweater on in the wintertime. He allowed all of our children to go to sleep with their heads on him from time to time and was patient with them when, as small children, they pet him a little too rough or tugged his ears out of playfulness.

Looking back, he had his faults too. Mainly being a male dog that, despite being "trained", liked to mark his territory in his master's home from time to time. Unfortunately for Buddy, his master was in the flooring business and paid particular attention to the carpeting. But, despite it all, I will miss the little grey guy.

He kept me company on a few long car trips and when all the Arkanblogger family, excepting he and I, went visiting to Montana a time or two. He sat on my lap and went to sleep many a time, while I was working at my desk. I tried to respect his "doghood" and on occasion, when no one was looking, I'd shake a squirrel out of a tree for him to stretch his legs on. Once I even let him out of the house to go after the neighborhood cat, as it tempted him by slouching past our front door one too many times. He looked like a cougar running after that thing. I knew he could never catch it. The cat was too agile and smart. But it was simply beautiful to watch the chase. He was doing what God made him to do best. Recalling that, always makes me smile and it's a mental picture that I'll hold onto.

So here's to Buddy the Wonderdog. May your feet be swift and the squirrels be a plenty.

-The Arkanblogger

Answers to the Random Questions

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.
1) The Happy Feminist
2) Space Station Samara
3) Renewed Day by Day
4) Montana Maiden
5) The Arkanblogger Family
Select Five People to Tag
Uncle Mad
Jack the Builder
Joy
Anyone who feels compelled to do it :)

What were you doing ten years ago? I was living in Denver enjoying our big backyard that filled with snow (not ice). Christopher was not yet born so we were four sisters. I was also doing gymnastics. So much has changed since then.

What were you doing one year ago? I was meeting other home-educating families and making new friends. I was also finishing my first acting experience in Cheaper by the Dozen. I played an evil psychology teacher who strongly opposed home-education. I am glad that experience is over. Of course then I got to play a goose in Charlottes Web. Feathers and all. That part was more fun :)

Five snacks you enjoy
1) Any cookie as long as it has no raisins
2) Chocolate (not dark and no cherries)
3) Fresh fruit (no coconut)
4) French Vanilla Italian cream sodas and breve
5) Cheese (not spicy)

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics
1) Praise songs
2) A few David Crowder worship songs
3) Usually anything on the Christian radio station we listen to
4) Random movie songs
5) I really can't think of anything else

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1) Donate to causes that glorify God and tithe
2) Buy a big piece of land and/or build a house that I designed
3) Make sure that my future is financially secure
4) Get an airplane and my pilots license
5) Get a car (preferably a VW bug or a mini cooper)

Five Bad Habits
1) Talking too quietly
2) Playing with my hair
3) Starting sentences with "like" and "and" when I write
4) Forgetting to put lids back on things (not in the kitchen, thankfully)
5) I'm sure there's another one...

Five things you like doing
1) Writing (poetry, blogging, etc.)
2) Doing flips and teaching others to do them
3) Singing, playing piano, and guitar
4) Cooking [mainly desserts :)]
5) Painting of almost any sort

Five things you'll try not to wear again
1) too short pants
2) too small shoes
3) heavy earrings
4) too short shirts
5) A light softer green that makes me look seasick

Five Favorite Toys
1) Piano and Guitar
2) Roller ball pens that make ink drips when they touch the paper
3) laptop
4) 4-wheelers (the smaller ones)
5) journals

I thought I would do this since nobody else had yet, but other people might also do it later.

-Paige