28 September 2005

Well. This site is finally turning out to be something like I originally intended it to be. It looks a lot better now, in my opinion, and it has a more content than ever before. I changed the name. I felt that a name in Latin kind of alienates the general populace, and it makes me seem weird. Animae Lupinae is now Song 14.3, and its main focus is on the songs, rather than the articles. The articles are still very important to me, and I don't think I'll ever stop writing them, but I love music so much that I feel I need to do this. So tell me how you like it. God bless, and remember to pray. Chao.

6 August 2005

I just received a Qur'an in the mail a day or two ago. I got it from freekoran.com, where they mail them free to anybody who asks. Let me state now that I am not converting to Islam. I ordered the Qur'an to see what it says and to evaluate it for myself. Like many Christians, I had scarcely touched a Qur'an, much less read one before now. Well, I read enough of the Qur'an to know that it is without doubt not God's Word. It contradicts the Bible in a great many places, denying the Trinity and Jesus' death. I have written an article called What's Wrong With the Qur'an (Koran)? that is now on the Bible Questions page. Check it out. I learned a lot of stuff about Islam that I never knew, and you might learn a thing or two, too. And if you are a Muslim, I invite you to test your religion—see if it's really from God. Perhaps my article can help. Chao.

3 August 2005

I just had surgery on my nose, so I'm lying around all day recuperating, so I have nothing to do but read and work on my site, so that's what I'm doing. I figured it was time for a minor layout change. I've been wondering what to do with my menu for a while now, so now I finally decided to move it to a different page and put a smaller menu in its place. So now, the main attractions of Ani-Lup are the Bible Questions and the Christian Song Directory. That's why those are in a bigger font size. The rest is still there, but different. I have added to "About Ani-Lup" to make it more complete and stuff, and "Other Stuff" has been changed to "Site Map," as you can get to about anywhere on my site from that page. I also fixed a few bugs in the "History" section of "About Ani-Lup." Previously, if you went to look at one of my past page designs, they would have a link to my article about the NIV, which I have taken off the site. Now, the link is still there for historical purposes, but it takes you back to here, the homepage. Also, I updated my "What's Wrong With Total Depravity/Original Sin?" page. It needed some serious work. In the previous version, I had referred to the NIV as a "piece of squirrel poop" or something like that. Let me say that I now think nothing of the sort. The NIV is a reliable, good version, though it is flawed, like every other version out there. Finally, I added a page called "Is Jesus God?" Recently, I have done studies with Jehovah's Witnesses, who think that Jesus is not God, but rather Michael the Archangel. This new article proves with massive amounts of scripture that Jesus is without doubt God. Hopefully, as I continue to heal from my wounds, I will update more. I have another article planned, but you'll just have to wait and see what it is. It will be another "What is . . . ?" article. Thank you for stopping by. Chao.

26 July 2005

I have two things to talk about today. First of all, I have many updates planned. I am working on a large directory of Christian songs—hymns, contemporary songs, everything to do with God. Also, there are a few articles I have in mind that just need to be typed up.

Secondly, I just wanted to give everybody an update about my summer. I have included below some cell phone camera photos from the church camp I went to (Camp Lu-Jo) and from my family's vacation in St. Augustine, Florida.



This is our morning flagpole devotional for Saturday at Camp Lu-Jo's Jump Week.

I'm pretty busy, so I'll add more photos later.

25 April 2005

I have recently been reading a blog in which the blogger and the commenters held a fierce debate concerning the advent of a new version of the Bible called the Today's New International Version (TNIV). The comments of both sides intrigued me, and I was compelled to review the reasons why I didn't agree with the NIV. As you may know, for some time I have had an article on Ani-Lup condemning the NIV, calling it the New International Perversion and whatnot. After reviewing my reasons one by one, I determined that the NIV is not nearly as bad as I thought it was, and I found I'm actually okay with some of its translations. I think it is not as accurate as, say, the New King James Version or the American Standard 1901, but it is easy to read and accessible to the masses. I am not changing the version I use, for I think the NKJV is just as clear as the NIV, but I do not have an aversion to using it. I still disagree with some stuff, but those things can be easily explained by looking at the Hebrew or Greek from which it was translated. As for the verses the NIV omitted, it turns out those verses are actually in dispuit as to whether they should really be there or not, so I suppose it's okay to reduce them to footnotes. The majority of them don't affect the major doctrinal tenets of Christianity anyhow. I do believe that Acts 8 seems incomplete without verse 37, and that does affect doctrine, so that one is kind of iffy about leaving it out. But all in all, the NIV is not a bad version—it is not the best, and there is no perfect translation. I use the NKJV and for the time being will continue to use it, but I look forward to the checking out the TNIV, and I hope it will open up a whole new window for people to find God's word. Chao.

9 February 2005

Well, here is the updated version of Animae Lupinae, now shortened to Ani-Lup. It is still not completely finished. There are some broken links here and there and some unfinished pages, but the most important stuff is done. I hope you enjoy.

On a more somber note, my grandma died Friday night. It was so sad—she had been scheduled to be released last Thursday, but when my mom went to check on her Friday morning, she was hooked up to an IV, and was soon moved to ICU. Her liver and kidneys were failing, probably because of the medications she was on. She hadn't really taken medicine all her life until she started getting sicker around age 75, and I guess by 77 her liver and kidneys couldn't filter out any more. The doctor was up front with my mother immediately, and she was able to call her brother who lives four hours away. All four of my grandma's children were gathered around her as she died.

I didn't cry at first. Mom called me at school and told me not to stay late because things didn't look good for Grandma, so as soon as possible I went to the hospital with my sister and my dad. I told myself that death is only another part of life, and that kept me from crying at first. When I got to the hospital, after a while, I went in to see Grandma. She had all kinds of tubes hooked up to her and a breathing mask on, and that didn't make me cry. But when I went to tell Grandma I'd see her later (as I was going to a Bible study), she said, "I love you." On the way home to pick up my Bible and material, I cried the whole way.

When I got home, I let the dogs out and found out they had gotten into some of Grandma's medication that we didn't even know she had left at our house. I called Dad and told him, and he said not to go to the Bible study, but to stay with the dogs and make sure they're okay. After an hour, I called Dad to see how Grandma was, and he suggested that if the dogs were okay, I should come back to the hospital. So I put the dogs in a place where they had no access to harmful medicines and left.

I found out that the nurses had asked Grandma if she wanted them to use "heroic methods" if her heart stopped—shocking her heart and so forth. She said, "No, just let me go." It was heartwrenching.

A friend of ours—well, their entire family—came to comfort us, and the mother in the family helped me count out Grandma's meds to see what the dogs could have gotten into. She was taking Coumadin, a blood-thinner, and she was worried about that, so we started counting them out to see how many were missing from the bottle. The dogs had gotten into one of those seven-day pill containers, this one having pockets for four doses per day, making 28 pockets. The dogs had eaten some of Sunday's meds, and we noticed on the Coumadin container that Grandma didn't take it on Sundays, so the counting was for naught. I had a handful of Coumadin when my cousin came in to say we better go see Grandma.

I went in to Grandma's room, and the whole family was gathered around. The nurse check Grandma's heart with her stethoscope and shook her head. Most of us, myself included, began crying. It was so incredibly sad. One of my uncles took the oxygen mask off of her face, and her lips never moved. He tried to close her eyes, and the came back open—not like the movies, where a body's eyes close easily. My aunt shook Grandma's leg and said, "Wake up, wake up!" My uncle covered Grandma's face with her blanket, and my mom said, "I hate it when they do that on TV."

My sister, my cousin, and I left the room and went to our friends outside, who comforted us. Hugs were exchanged and one friend told me, "You don't have to be brave." She said I could cry, because mourning is in the Bible. After not too long, we left.

The funeral was yesterday. It, too, was sad, and I cried so much. Grandma looked so nice in the casket. There were a ton of flowers and plants. My young cousin counted 35 flower arrangements and plants. The luncheon before the funeral was nice, and there was quite a bit of food. The church building was packed during the funeral. So many people came that I never expected. It was so nice of them.

So many people had done so many nice things to me and our family during this trying time. The youth minister of another congregation in my town came—I didn't ask him to, but he came. A friend of mine came—wearing a tie, mind you. So many people from church came, so many gave flowers, so many gave food. During the funeral procession, everybody we passed pulled to the side of the road out of respect. I wanted to cry because it was so kind. You never know what these simple things mean unless you're in the recipient's situation.

When we went back to the church building, we looked through the guest registry to see who came. All the family signed it, including my sister, whose signature is noteworthy. My Grandma, hours before she died, said to her and my cousin, "I'll miss you when I'm gone." That got them teary-eyed, and it's making me teary-eyed just thinking about it. When my sister signed the book, next to her name, she wrote, "I'll miss you, too." I thought that was so sweet.

We divided up the plants and went out separate ways, and when we got home, people brought us dinner. Not just a casserole, but a lot of food. Our kitchen table was absolutely full of foods, and we overflowed on to the counters, stacking pan on top of pan to fit all the food. I still don't know how we're going to eat all of this. I went in the bathroom and cried because it was so kind. I prayed to God that I could be just a tenth as nice as they were to me. As my mom explained it, "'Thank you' just doesn't say enough." If anybody who did anything like that for us is reading this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness was so appreciated. You have made this unbearable situation bearable. Thank you, and God bless you.

The minister who gave the eulogy said he'd never had so many calls from people saying they wanted to come to the funeral but couldn't. He told of some people who were wanting to drive from far away, but their car broke down, so they tried to rent a car, and there were no places with cars to rent, so they couldn't come. Cars were lined up down the street. I never knew so many people cared that much. It brings tears to my eyes even now. I have cried more than once about this—little things that mean so much, like that youth minister that I respect so much coming. No one made him, but there he was.

A man from our church when a great voice (he sings barbershop for fun) led the singing at the funeral. It was so beautiful—there were a great many members of the church there who were used to singing acappella, so the singing was excellent. I am so greatful to that man, and I have so much respect for him.

Many were there because of not just Grandma's survivors, but Grandma herself. You never know how many lives you can touch, and Grandma evidently touched quite her share of lives. Don't ever doubt your influence, because they're always watching, and you're always touching somebody. Maybe your act of kindness can bring someone to tears.

When we went home, all these relatives from surrounding states came to our house to visit and eat up all that food. It was so cool, because I was talking with relatives I never knew I had. I was meeting people I was kin to that I didn't know even existed. That was great. But now our house is back to normal, except for all the food laying around everywhere. We have to only freeze or refridgerate what is necessary because our two fridges don't have the capacity to take in all this generosity.

I hope that from this tragedy I can learn a lot. I hope that I can comfort others who face what I faced. I hope I can show the kindness that brought me to tears. I still am utterly in awe of the amount of love that poured from the people we know. By last night, I was no longer crying over Grandma, but over the love showed to our family. So next time someone you know has a relative or friend die, send them flowers, bake them some food, give them a hug, go to the funeral, do something to show you care. And pull over at all funeral processions, because it means the world to those who losted a loved one. I'm learning all these things I thought nobody cared about are necessary or appreciated. Funerals are necessary, because it's not about the person who died, it's about comforting that person's survivors. It's just a collection of friends and family there to comfort. And pulling over for the processions shows that people you don't even know care about you. It's just so nice.

Grandma was a very kind person. She loved cats, and was buried with a stuffed cat and some messages from her grandchildren. The minister said her motto was, "I can be sick at church just as well as I can be sick at home." I hope her legacy of care and compassion continues on through me and everyone whose life she touched. And I hope I am now touching your life by your reading this. I love you, whoever you are. Know that as you continue through your day. Yesterday I found out that without a doubt I am loved. So many people love me and my family that tears come to my eyes. You, too, are loved by me, and by God.

The minister yesterday made a good point that Grandma would have wanted her loved ones and everyone there to come to Christ. He made a point to show that she was a godly person who cared about others, and we should immitate her as she immitated Christ. So if you haven't come to Christ yet, do so soon, because you never know what will happen.

And don't take your friends and family for granted. They're not going to be here forever, so tell them thank you, tell them you love them. Show them you care, and spread the Gospel to them. Be kind and considerate, because your kind actions will not go unappreciated. A simple plant can bring someone to tears. My high school U.S. History teacher and his family sent a plant. That's amazing, because it was so unexpected. Every aspect of our lives was covered, as even styrofoam plates and plastic cups and forks were provided so we didn't have to wash dishes. Oh, it's so amazing.

Maybe you haven't experienced this, but sometime you may, or someone close to you will. Show kindness because it's so awesome.

In the meantime, I am tired and sore, and I need to get off the computer. So get out there and love somebody. Show Christ in your love.

Jo Nell Bielby
July 22, 1927 to February 4, 2005

News Archives

Home