Alright. I'm doing it. Writing a book.

I realized recently that I haven't been reading much. I feel like I'm not on top of my game. Therefore I decided that I'm finally going to write a book. Not kidding this time. I'll probably never even send it to a publishing company. That's not why I'm doing it. It's more for me and whoever also might be interested. So like 3 other people. Maybe. The point is, I need something to push me to read more. The idea is a documentation of my research on the bible and questions that have separated Christianity into countless denominations. There's probably been numerous books written on the subject, but this one is different. It's my take on things. So...in order to write this, I'm going to have to read. A lot. I'm going to read several books about this subject, hear what other people have to say, then read the bible myself and gather my own conclusions. For starters, I'm going to read all the way through "The Great Controversy" by Ellen G. White in which the first half explores the fight between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. I will most likely need a nudge every now and then to get this done. Below is a rough draft of a part of the preface to give you more of an idea of what I'm doing.




There are so many questions today about religion, especially Christianity. So much that I don’t even know what to believe anymore. This preacher says that, another one says this, while my friends and family say otherwise. All this piles on to an already epic struggle that is hard to fight without all of the chaos. I’ve read countless books and talked to an even larger amount of people in search of truth, but I still don’t feel like I’m always going in the right direction. There are questions that have separated this religion into an unknown amount of denominations such as “Can I eat pork?” “Is respecting the Sabbath on Sunday wrong?” “Should I still follow all of the Old Testament laws?” “If not, which ones are still supposed to be kept?” All of these denominations are based on scripture, which one is right? I do not know the bible well enough to answer these. I’ve always based a lot of what I believe from books, preachers, and what I hear, which all came from another person. The purpose of this book is to track my research of the scriptures and once and for all find an answer that puts peace in my heart. Not because someone else told me, but because I heard it from God myself. One thing that also plagues me is the fact that so many people out there claim to be close to God, yet seem to be doing the opposite of what the bible says. For example: an evangelist that goes to colleges and condemns anyone that comes near without even having the slightest hint of who that the person is. I’ve heard evangelists call women whores for showing their legs and even just being in college. I’ve always been taught that there is a loving God full of grace. Where is the grace in that? Aren’t we supposed to strive to be like Him? Getting back to the point, can someone that acts like this truly have a relationship with God?
The point of this is not to condemn anyone. I am starting to write with a completely open mind and open heart. I’ll start here by saying that no one in these examples or any example I use later is “wrong” because they are doing what they believe. I don’t think there really is a strict wrong or right, which is might be the key to all of this, but I think it’s more in depth than that. That’s why I will be researching and reading, seeking answers that I’m looking for straight from the bible and not from another party.
The irony, however, is that if anyone chooses to read this, they too will be getting answers from something other than the bible however my final points on everything will be coming straight from the bible and not another source. It will be what I've interpreted and therefore not necessarily truth. I hope that instead of taking what I’m writing as is, they look into the bible as well. I believe that having a personal relationship with God is about finding your beliefs on your own. When you meet someone, you don’t get to know them through one of their friends. The information you get won’t always be 100 percent accurate and might be biased depending on how the friend feels about the person you want to get to know. Why should being in a relationship with God be any different? The bible is the only thing we have to find out what God truly wants for our lives, and to find out who he is. While there will always be unanswered questions, I hope that some will be answered for me when I’m through.

The Latest and Greatest...

These guys are awesome. I'm angry that I didn't think of this first. This is the third installment. Also, catch the first two.

Sorry to all...well one at least

Sorry I forgot to post. I knew I would. I forgot this existed. Anyway, I totally forgot what that awesome and inspirational post was going to be. I can tell you this...it was inspired from the book entitled The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancy. So now I'm going to reread the book all over again just to make a small blog post. Because I think it's that important.

Moving on...remember livejournal? And also...Xanga? That was back in the day before social networking took over. And people actually wrote about their thoughts and feelings instead of politics and beliefs. While Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are still cool, I think it was best when you could get on and see what your friends were up to and feeling at the time. I stumbled upon mine the other day and realized I'm still almost the exact same person I am now. While some...who I won't call out...think that's a bad thing, I love it. I think it's proof that you can be who you are without worrying what other people think. So what if I don't change the way I am to become popular or make new friends? I still have my old friends. I also have new friends that I didn't lie to get. Instead of putting on a show in front of other people, I can just be myself no matter who I'm around. I've gone through 4 years of college without paying for friends or basing the way I act off of who is popular. The thing I love about it is that I'm happy. I love it. I have no regrets.

I've seen a lot of changes in the past 5 years since I updated my livejournal almost daily. I graduated high school, moved away, and am now a year away from graduating college. One thing I'm proud of is that my heart hasn't changed. I've never wanted to be different. I've never wanted to fit in. I just wanted to be the person that I am. In a nutshell, I believe that's the meaning of life. Being an individual. Not being different just for the thrill of it. But being different because we all are. I'm not necessarily bashing frats and things of that nature, or condemning anyone at all. All I'm saying is that I've seen to many people waste their lives away trying to fit in. They might have 382 people they know but no real friends. No one that really cares if they live or die. Only in it for the social experience. I have 5 or 6 good friends that I would happily die for and I believe they would do the same for me. I am perfectly happy with that. Because I know that 24 hours a day and 7 days a week I can call them for help.

That came out of nowhere. I was just going to talk about how cool livejournal was. What I was going to say before that came out is that I'm going to make this blog more of like livejournals were back in the day. Instead of trying to throw out inspiration and my beliefs all the time, I'm sometimes just going to simply state how I feel. What's on my mind. Maybe that can be an inspiration in itself. Or if there's something completely random I feel like sharing, it's going up (see post before this). Going back and reading what was going on in my life 5 years ago was an inspiration to me. It let me know that I don't have to change who I am. I can still be Matt Barnes and make it through life being happy. Maybe 10 years down the road I'll come back and read this and inspire myself again.

Remember time capsules? Let's make one. Who's in? I want to throw in a pair of my jeans so we can laugh at them when JNCOs come back in style. Or even better...if wearing suits and bowler hats came back in style. Bonus: if JNCO jeans along with bowler hats and suspenders came back into style.

Things to do when bored

Summer equals boredom for the most part. So when things get boring, I get on the computer. I got tired of FML and TFLN and found awkwardfamilyphotos.com thanks to Ben Skipworth. Enclosed is an awesome picture I stumbled upon.



I wish that was my family