Inspiration

My thoughts keep returning to the same subject, and so I realize it's time to blog again. Last week I attended a bible study led by my father. The two scriptures we focused on were 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21. It's been on my mind on and off ever since.

I think I've been able to isolate the issue to this: what does inspiration mean? Is it something natural or is it something supernatural? But no, it is even more nuanced than that. The first sense given in Merriam-Webster for inspiration starts off describing it as a divine influence. So the inspiration itself is supernatural. But does that mean that which is produced under divine influence is also supernatural?

Protestants (and probably Catholics too) believe that it is, at least in this instance. What was written as a result of the inspiration was of God. This is not what is meant by inspiration today. Protestants must also believe that God supernaturally protected these words from being changed or lost. But I guess what I'm wondering right now is what did Paul mean when he wrote it? Did he mean what Protestants believe or did he mean more along the lines of what inspiration means today.

Of course, Paul didn't actually use the word inspiration. From this article on Lexham Press, I learned that the word Paul did use, the Greek word theopneustos, was not a common word. That doesn't make deciphering Paul's intent any easier.

Who can be racist?

I googled, "only white people can be racist"--don't ask me why--and the first hit was an opinion piece from The Harvard Crimson written by Michelle I. Gao entitled Who Can Be 'Racist'? I think it's a good article. I've been disturbed about the idea that reverse-racism doesn't exist, and that it seems to be okay to disparage white people solely for being white. I get the power argument, but there's definitely something lacking. I've lacked the motivation to work through exactly how I feel about it, but this article does a decent job.

Is the Trinity similar to an avatar

Stray thought: Is the Christian Trinity similar to avatars in Hinduism?

Unitarianism

I'm studying Trinitarianism right now, which has brought me into contact with Unitarianism. I had come across the term Socinian several times this semester, but I hadn't been motivated enough to follow up on it. But then I hit the term Latitudinarian and I knew it was time to stop being lazy. Now I know that Fausto Paolo Sozzini was a 16th century Italian theologian whose doctrines were largely responsible for the Unitarian movement in Europe.

What I already knew was that the Unitarian movement merged with the Universalist movement, and created a church that is about as Progressive as you can get. I won't elaborate more on that here. The thing I keep getting wrapped around the axle about is if you believe that the bible isn't infallible and that all religions have value, what is the motivation to devote yourself to a church? I don't have an answer to that yet, but I read two articles from Unitarian ministers that piqued my interest: Why You Should Not Be A Unitarian Universalist by Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen, and Why Agnostics Go to Church
by Rev. J. Mark Worth. That is all.

Regulative and normative principles of worship

I'm blogging this because I keep forgetting it so I need to record it somewhere. The regulative principle of worship basically says that whatever isn't in scripture isn't permitted in worship. The Churches of Christ practice this, as did Calvin, and hence the Reformed tradition. The Churches of Christ say, "where the scriptures are silent, so must we be."The converse is the normative principle of worship, that says if it isn't explicitly prohibited in scripture, it is permitted.

So hopefully if I forget again, I remember that I blogged it...

Fitness continued

So the yoga was easy because I just watched a video and tried to follow along. But then today I needed to come up with a bodyweight routine, and pushups/situps isn't cutting it anymore.

I wanted something analogous to the overhead press, so I did pike pushups. My plan is to work my way up to handstand pushups.  I followed that up with planks because I wanted to get in some core exercises.

As opposed to barbell rows, I want to do bodyweight rows, but you still need at least a bar for that. The doorframes in my house are different and I can't put up my pull-up bar. And those things have always made me nervous. But I found a post before with a guy using a sheet in the doorframe, and I want to try that.

I just looked at the bodyweight rows again. What I wanted to try was actually a variation of what he did, but I'd need to buy another sheet. And the whole point of that part of his video is using something you already have, so I'm going to try it. I don't like the way you have to grip the sheet, but that's better than not doing the exercise.

Anyway, I didn't have it today, so I decided to substitute dips instead, which I hadn't done in ages. I know it doesn't work the same muscles, but that's okay.

After the dips, I did squats. It felt weird to do them unweighted. On Tuesday I did lunges and I did sets of 20. Today I only did sets of 10 squats, but now I'm thinking I should have done 20 of these too. Next time.

I finished off with the supine bicycle.

The only thing from StrongLifts I don't have an exercise for is the deadlift.
...
So I just looked here and at my previous post, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't look at this stuff sooner. My back has been feeling neglected, and bridges would have been just the ticket. I may just try it out when I get home. I found this video from 12 Minute Athelete that was very helpful, because I hadn't done back bridges. I'd done glute bridges (Krista called them short bridges) but I hadn't made the connection, and I wasn't sure what the motions were for the full bridge.

Okay, so far this is what I have in my kitbag:

• Pushups
• Pike Pushups
• Squats (need to pursue one-legged pistol squats)
• Lunges
• Plank
• Bodyweight Rows
• Dips
• Supine Bicycle
• Bridges

What else?

So pull-ups is the one I'm really lacking. There's also calf raises and hyperextensions. I know burpees are good, but to me it's like a combination of multiple exercises. Shoulder shrugs, but those probably aren't useful if they aren't weighted. Also mountain climbers, leg raises, and flutter kicks, but I don't need anymore core exercises. Russian twist.

Back to fitness

So, how to break it down?
Yesterday I did pushups and lunges. Arms and legs.
Arms, legs, core?

Mark Lauren broke fitness down into eight categories: muscular strength, power, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, speed, coordination, balance, and flexibility. I could say that I'm going to focus on one of these areas. But I'm not sure how to focus on power versus strength. I'm not so interested in building coordination or balance. I guess right now the ones I'm concerned about are muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. But hey, since I haven't worked on flexibility in a while, that's something I can at least do this week. And next week. Alternate between strength and flexibility through the week, and then run on the weekends.

Okay, so today is Wednesday, and I'm going to do flexibility, then Thursday strength, then Friday flexibility again. Then run Saturday and Sunday.

Then next week I'll do strength Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and do flexibility Tuesday and Thursday. And run on the weekends.

So this Thursday I can do pushups and squats. And something else. Three exercises. But what about today? So I guess I'm doing yoga. But what? Let's find a YouTube Video...

Update: This is what I ended up doing: Full Body Stretch Yoga - 30 Minute Flexibility & Deep Stretch Workout from YOGATX.