A Holiday of Experiences!

The end of the first week of my holiday is coming to an end now and wow I have had a lot of experiences! I have spent 2 days in Paris, a city I have never visited before and been up the Eiffel Tower, visited the art gallery seen in the Divinci Code and to a second art gallery to see famous original artworks by Monet, Reniro, Whistler and Van Gogh.

Not only that but I have also spent 2 whole days at Disney Land Paris (9am – 11:45pm)! My best ride at Disney was definitely Big Thunder Mountain which was surrounded in amazing life like scenery which made the ride even more stunning! I also went on the rides Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom Manor, Disney Land Railroad, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Lazer Blast and “it’s a small world”. Disney Land Studios was also open and there I watched a motor car stunt show which was great! I have done so much more than listed here but overall it was a great fun time! The only down side to Disney Land is the pipe music which constantly plays around the park which did slowly drive me mad!

Tomorrow I am off for the last week and half of my holiday. We are all staying in a villa somewhere up in the Alps which apparently has beautiful surroundings. Since we are close to the borders we may visit Switzerland on one day but that has yet to be decided.

London McDonalds Bomb Scare

(This message was typed before the blog entry date)

Today I have had a rather worryingly close encounter with terrorism. It all started at London McDonalds after somebody left a suspicious looking suitcase. Due to the terrorist attacks in London this suitcase was reported and was regarded as a possible bomb. At the time I was working in the Mindshare offices which are located several floors above McDonalds’ which meant that our offices were in possible high danger. However since this was a possible bomb threat the main instruction given to the police to us was to simply stay away from the windows (windows would shatter in the event of an explosion). I was fine with this instruction although admittedly worried since if a bomb did go off the building would be devastated. The police realising this possible danger said that evacuation on our level of Mindshare was optional. After having thought of the phrase “Better safe than sorry” I decided to leave the building and made my way outside where the road had been taped off all the way up to Leister Square.

Luckily the threat turned out to be false in the end and instead the whole drama managed to give me time off from working! It’s scary to think how much pain is caused in the name of religion.

Life Ramblings

I’m so bored! Today has been a rather good day since I have had the whole day to complete all my Cisco exams which means I now have no more work left for my holidays but sadly I don’t have much planned for this evening.

Helen has gone off to the Cinema to see Harry Potter with her friends this evening. I really wanted to go along but sadly it didn’t work out. The tickets were booked before it was confirmed I was going along so a bit annoyed about that but it’s not that bigger issue. Just feel a bit left out! Instead I’m going to help down at youth group this evening. Young kids aren’t really ‘my thing’ but hopefully this evening will go well and maybe get some good conversations going.

Tomorrow is my last shift at McDonalds since I’m on holiday for 2 weeks from the end of next week. I only have a 6 hour shift tomorrow which is nice and hopefully it will go quickly!
Work experience next week as well!

I’m working down at a big advertising agency (can’t remember the name) who are the 3rd biggest in the UK. Although it’s nice doing all the work experience I have a feeling next week will be a busy week and then I’m on holiday! So I’m not sure how much social time I’ll have before holiday but the experience will be great! Since the GMTV studio is close by where I’m working I maybe able to watch GMTV being filmed live in the morning! Sounds like good educational fun!
Oh yes, travelling in London with a critical terrorist risk will also be interesting. Although I’m not really that concerned about the prospect of religious extremists I guess my eye will always be kept open. It’s strange how religion seems to be the cause of all this violence. As a young child I always viewed religion as something which was calm and peaceful but I guess with any faith you’re going to get the odd extreme people.

I think this has been my first blog entry which mimics that of a diary. I have thought about keeping a diary but I never seem to get around to doing it. I find on a blog you always have to be careful with what you write since anybody could be reading. However with a diary you can fully speak your mind without upsetting anybody. Maybe this holiday I shall start a diary.

I have food now so I’d better post this blog entry now!

Exciting Bible

I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of theology. The prospect of a bible study at cell or church never really got my heart racing and I’m sure that a lot of people would think the same way. However recently I have honestly found the bible amazing! My youth leader has lent me a different version of the bible, ‘The Contemporary English Version’ and it’s so easy to understand. My second bible is the ‘English Standard Version’ and although this is the most accurate translation to date the sentence structures are poor compared to the CEV. Last night I had a read of Romans from the CEV bible and it was actually like reading a real letter! All the language flowed incredibly well and I actually enjoyed reading it, so much so I completed reading Romans in about 40 minutes. It’s amazing what a person can do when they put their mind to it.

My aim now is to really deepen my relationship with God by reading the bible. Previously I have heard people talking about how reading the bible strengthens your relationship with God and I honestly regarded them as foolish. Now I understand that it actually does strengthen the relationship.

I don’t know why I have suddenly found an excitement for the bible, it seems strange. Surely I should find the bible boring and lengthy? Now instead of looking at the bible as only an historic piece of evidence I am started to see ways in which God works and how I need to change my life.

Money and Holidays

Almost the end of sixth form for this year! School breaks up the end of this week and then I have a weeks work experience up at London. Shortly after I'm off to France for 2 weeks which should be great, apart from not seeing Helen. The outlook on my life looks great and my only aim at the moment is to make sure I don't spend all my money! My last working day at Macdonald's is this Saturday and for the next month I need to make sure my money outcome is low since I won't be earning!

For my Holiday I shall be purchasing 'Mere Christianity' by CS Lewis which is bound to be a good read.

Anyway this is a rather pointless blog entry as I currently have nothing better to do with my time. Hence why I'm considering doing pod casts on my blog. Maybe some feedback if you would like pod casts?


(Since starting up this blog I have been very fickle about which design and template I should use but now the searching is over! I have decided to keep using the current template which you now see before you.)

Richard Dawkins 'The God Delusion'

I love reading, it’s one of those past times which relaxes you but keeps the brain ticking. So when Richard Dawkins released his book “The God Delusion” I could not resist reading it. The reason I am writing about this today is because I have now finished the book and can give my valid opinion of it. I am also suffering from a horrible cold which has caused me unable to work at McDonalds today; can’t work around food when sneezing and coughing every 10 minutes unfortunately. Anyway, on with an overview and my opinion of the book. (Warning! This may turn out to be a fairly large blog entry!)

Richard Dawkins is an atheist, he has actually been dubbed ‘World famous atheist’ on much of the advertising concerning this current book title release. So his book “The God Delusion” is his attempt to disprove God and ultimately the purpose of the book is to cause the reader to become an atheist by the end (this was written within the book). I have now finished the book after having read page to page and can honestly say I’m not an atheist and I will attempt to explain why later.

The book is divided up into many different chapters with names such as ‘A deeply religious non-believer’, ‘Why there is almost certainly no God’, ‘The roots of religion’, ‘The ‘good’ book and the changing more Zeitgeist’, etc. All of these chapters and more attempt to cover from every angle why someone may have a belief in God. Although this sounds good this is one of the key areas in which this book fails. Richard Dawkins is like any other person which means he has his skill areas and failures. Due to this ‘The God Delusion’ in places puts forward very awkward arguments against the existence of God. For example Richard Dawkins at one stage announces that Jesus has may have been misunderstood in the bible. For people that have any knowledge of theology this claim seems outrageous and at first I actually misunderstood it for humour!

This is leads me onto part of the reason why no Christian should feel threatened by this book. Richard Dawkins has next to near no sound theological knowledge. This is very apparent throughout his book when at stages he regards theologians as ‘stupid’ and announces his disrespect of theology. This causes him on stages to say very foolish things and at one stage he actually misunderstands the basic principle of freewill.

Despite my rejection on some of the books points there are a lot of interesting facts and scientific evidence/theory in the book. This is the skill area Richard Dawkins most obviously has and using science theory and evidence he attempts to disprove God. However although in places he puts forward good arguments he always falls short since he has failed to tackle one the biggest questions of all which is ‘How was everything created at the beginning?’. This simple question with a somewhat more complicated answer is something he never can attempt to answer and in a radio interview last year Richard Dawkins was unfortunately slaughtered over this one question by a journalist.

Anyway, I believe I have written enough now. If anyone reading this blog wishes to ask any specific questions about the book then feel free to leave a comment. I have in no way covered all the points this book raises since there is just too much to write.

Catholic Mass

Had a Catholic Mass at school today and I can honestly say that it was the most boring, uninspiring waste of time I have ever experienced. To begin with everyone seems to speak in monotone during the whole mass which just gives an atmosphere similar to that found in a graveyard; dark, gloomy and dead. All the songs are just totally dry during the service and nobody seems to have a great desire to sing them.

Everyone just looked bored, even our school priest looked bored! His sermon was a full reflection of the boredom that seemed to grow throughout the service. I can’t speak for everyone in that service but I didn’t even understand his sermon. With his monotone voice added to the factor of confusing bible teachings this just caused a tiresome atmosphere. One of my friends actually fell asleep four times and I almost nodded off twice!

During the 1 Hour 30min service I also felt like an idiot. Mainly because I believe in all this Christianity ‘God lark’ and there I was standing in the most boring, ungodly service ever! The majority of people around me who don’t believe in God must have thought that any Christians are completely barmy for believing in God and enjoying bone dry services. I bet when Jesus was on earth him and his mates didn’t spend time procrastinating over religious dogma! They were too busy having water changing into wine and partying.

Tomorrow my philosophy teacher invited me to a meeting regarding the school Mass’ at Holy Cross school and to be honest it just sounds like a waste of time. All the teachers wonder why nothing happens during the mass when they don’t even invite Gods spirit into the service! Everyone is too busy reading a script for the service and keeping everyone under control.

These are the following things that need changing to get the best possible service for school...

1. Get rid of the fucking organ and replace it with real instruments (guitars, drums... spice it up for the kids)
2. Have a homily more evangelistically based; the majority of the people in the room do not know God.
3. Teachers, don’t make the kids feel like they are under constant watch
4. Monotone voices should be banned
5. Don’t follow the whole service to a strict script
6. Have a worship leader so that they can set the tone of singing
7. MOST IMPORTANTLY, Make the service about God. In his power... not yours.

This Feeling

I have found a feeling that is exciting, caring, offers security and comes about in times of need. Such a feeling is sometimes labeled as love but this seems somewhat of a limiting word when this feeling which I am experiencing seems to be towards me rather than within me. I cannot name this feeling which seems to suggest that it must be greater than myself. Not only that but this feeling seems to have been given freely to me as I seem to have paid nothing in return. Such a feeling should be experienced by all people and it can be, if only people were to ask.

Charlie the Unicorn

Here is a very funny video found by my friend Tom about a week ago!

Retarded... but funny!