Medical Show Heroes

I have always watched TV shows that revolve or have themes that revolve around medicine, even those I have just watched in reruns. M*A*S*H, Doogie Howser, Rescue 911,Third Watch, along with other shows, have entertained me through many late nights and boring afternoons. The three crown jewels in my book of medical TV shows are, ER, Scrubs, and House M.D. In each of these shows there are characters who stand out. It is these characters that put each in the top three.
Dr. Robert Romano. Many fans of the widely popular ER hated Romano for his rude comments, rough social skills, and canny ability to piss people off. The character was killed off the show midway through the tenth season. Dr. Romano was the type of man who got things done. As Chief of Staff Romano would be described as being insensitive, but if there was one thing that he did care about was saving lives. Dr. Romano, usually a jerk, usually right, and always entertaining.

The next doc to grace my top three is Dr. Perry Cox on another NBC medical show, Scrubs. Though scrubs is the comedy that jump started Zach Braff's career the comedy stylings of John C. McGinley help to make the show. Dr. Cox appears to be a self centered arrogant doctor who doesn't want the role of mentor that everyone else places on him. The truth is Cox is self centered, but deep inside he cares more about his patients and coworkers than anyone else at Sacred Heart. His hilarious drawn out rants, insults, and raves make the character the hero of the show.
I guess the producers at FOX finally picked up on idea of the jerk doctor who doesn't like people and is always sure that they are right. In 2004 House M.D. premiered. Staring the popular British actor Hugh Laurie as a Gregory House, the brilliantly dysfunctional Head of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Living under the philosophy that everyone he meets is lying to him, House, spends as little time as possible with patients and uses questionable techniques to save lives. The pill-popping, limping self loathing doctor doesn't care as much about people as he does with doing what is right. The character offers a paradox with his questionable morals concerning his personal life but over exerts himself to save patients he claims he doesn't like. The intricate character development, in my opinion, is the reason the show is multiple award winning drama.

I don't know if it is the fact that there are few people in the world that act in the manner of Romano, Cox, and House, or the fact that at times we all act like them, but they are the type of characters that make me sure that cynicism makes humanity more entertaining.


Honorable Mention:


Hawkeye Pierce

The 40 Acres

I graduated Saturday. I became one of the many names to be placed on the alumni wall at Hardin-Simmons University, the 40 Acres. After four years I have earned my Bachelor of Arts in Ministry. The things I learned in order to earn my degree H-SU don't come close to rivaling the life experience I gained in the past four years. I have met people who have changed my life for the better, some of them friends I will keep close the remainder of my life. College went by Fast. I remember my first night on campus my roommate, Geoffrey, and I locked ourselves out of the dorm and stood outside for close to an hour before we found someone to let us in.

My very first class, Computer Basics, I sat across from a man named Arron Nunn. Aaron was on 25 and starting H-SU as a freshman for the second time in his life. The first time he had gone to college for all of the wrong reasons and as a result his GPA was so poor that he ended up dropping out and joining the military. While in the military (or some time shortly after) Aaron's life was turned around. He began living his life for the Lord.

My very first class was the only class I had with Aaron at H-SU, however I vaguely kept up with Aaron when I would run into him on campus. Saturday morning the first person I saw when I entered the room where the graduating students were instructed to congregate, the first face I saw was Aaron's. We briefly discussed our time at school, our wives, and our plans for the future. The thing that struck me the most about our conversation is realizing how much we had both changed while at the 40 Acres. The past four years have been some of the best of my life.

here are the links to my favorite H-SU posts I have written over the past four hears:

• HSU 04-05
• Hardin Simmons Round 2
• HSU 06-07
• Anderson Hall
  

Change

Over the past month I have experienced significant change. And over the next month I will go through even more change. Exactly one month ago I married the love of my life and my life suddenly changed. In less than one month my life will experience even more change and I will graduate from college. Change looks different throughout life, but never before can I think of change ever effecting me so much than now.

For the past four years my priority for living in Abilene was (at least supose to be) first of all school, followed second by work, and third social life including dating. As soon as I said "I do" (actually I said "It is") my priorities changed. My first priority became my family, second became work to provide for my family, and third now is school. Since I am a month away from graduating I am not to concerned about but if i had to make the choice, school would no longer be first.

I have also begun to realize that there has been a change in my time. I no longer am simply using "my" time to do things but am now using "our" time. My time is no longer my own. What I do with my time will effect my wife and the things that she does. I have become more conscience of what I do and how long it takes me to do that.

The way I live from day to day has greatly changed. I seem to clean much more now than I did before. I eat out less, go to bed earlier, and wake earlier. With all this change happening I have come to the understanding that not all change is bad. It seems that many times in life we reflect on how things were. Change often times is uncomfortable, it is awkward, and most of the time it is unwelcome. But it is important to realize that without change there would be no, reformation, no America light bulb, no cars, no computers, no cell phones. Change is a necessity of life. There comes a time when we have to realize that nothing is permanent, life changes, and with it so do we. There is a way to embrace change without forgetting the fondness of the past.


For more insights on change check out Lifevesting.com

Book Review: Three Treatises

Martin Luther's, Three Treatises

AUTHOR BACKGROUND

In the study of Christian history one can not get far without hearing of Martin Luther. Most famous for his ninety-five thesis that he nailed to the door of a Wittenberg church door, he is considered the father of the protestant reformation. Born, November 10, 1483, Luther devoted his life to the monastic lifestyle of knowledge and faith, after having quit law school. His own studies of scripture led him to theological views that did not align with the Roman Catholic church or the Papacy. On October 31, 1517 when Luther nailed his theological views to the front door of a church he began the steps that lead to the protestant reformation and upheaval from the Roman Catholic Church. Three years after the nailing of his ninety-five Luther released three works: An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian. Together these works were compiled to form his Three Treatises.

SUMMARY OF CONTENT

In critiquing such a work as Three Treatises one must look at each of the three portions separately in order to make an accurate critique of the whole. The first of the three sections, An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, is addressed to German nobility in hopes that they will help enact the reform that the Roman Catholic Church so blatantly opposed with their excommunication of Martin

Luther. While the letter can be broken down into three sections, (The Three Walls of the Romanists, Abuses to be Discussed in Councils, and Proposal to Reform) the third of which has three subsections of it’s own, the underlining message that comes from this portion of the book is the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer.

In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther attacks the sacramental system. In his argument he begins by immediately dismissing all but three sacraments, the Eucharist, Baptism, and Penance. In the end he regarded penance as positive in the light of Matthew 16:19 ("I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.") although the doctrine had been corrupted by the Roman Catholic Church. Even though the Matthew 16:19 view of penance was positive Luther did not view it as sacramental status. The only remaining two sacraments were the Eucharist and Baptism, each with it’s own set of corruptions from the Papacy and the Church. Luther focuses a great portion of his argument refuting three portions of the Eucharist: the laity can not receive the cup, the transubstantiation of the elements, and the sacrifice of Mass.

The third and final portion of the book is The Freedom of the Christian Life. This final letter is much shorter than the other two letters. The content of it contains the whole of the Christian life in a brief summarized form. In it he deals with the contradicting natures of man.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In the documents present in the book one can not say that Luther’s arguments were unsupported, shallow, or weak. On most any given page one turns to one can find multiple scripture references and explanations of those references. In example (randomly selected among hundreds) the section To The Christian Nobility of the German Nation under the topic of attacking the first wall of the Romanist structure Luther says, “ …we are all consecrated priests through baptism, as St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2.” Countless more times throughout the book not only does he reference scripture but directly quotes it as well.

Not only is the book well saturated with scriptural references, but also it is structurally formed in such a way to break things down into simple form for the reader. In a similar style of his theological descendant, C. S. Lewis, Luther forms a simple structural breakdown that allows the reader to fully understand the arguments presented in his writings. This is best seen in the first letter where he breaks the it into three sections: The Three Walls of the Romanists, Abuses to be Discussed in Councils, and Proposal to Reform. Luther also takes it a step further and breaks it down into subcategories and numbered lists of explanations and repudiations. The same structure can be seen as well in the second letter when he breaks down the three sacraments and again breaks them each into smaller sections to discuss and reform the positions.

It is difficult when critiquing a document such as this to develop any negative critique, when the student writing the critique comes from a devout protestant background. Documents such as the three represented in the work by Luther have become foundations for much of the doctrine that is held true in protestant institutions. In order to critique such material one must lay one’s presuppositions aside and if necessary look through the perspective of someone who holds to the opposite views. In the case that is presented in this critique the opposite view point would be that of the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. Keeping such perspective in mind while analyzing the essays it becomes evident that Luther commits the logical fallacy of, “attacking the person.” The fallacy that is such that the author makes it a point to attack the person in order to argue or strengthen their own argument. This is evident in Luther’s writings in To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation. In his attack on the second wall that is presented by the Roman Catholic Church he attacks the Pope when he says, “But Christ's words to Peter, ‘I have prayed for you that your faith fail not’ [Luke 22:32], cannot be applied to the pope, since the majority of the popes have been without faith.” He continues to commit the fallacy when he says, “The Romanists want to be the only masters of Holy Scripture, although they never learn a thing from the Bible all their life long.” He continues through all three documents to use harsh words and name calling to attack his opponent, even suggesting that the Pope is an Anti-Christ. While these attacks seem small in the entirety of Luther’s arguments they are present and do take a role in weakening his argument, even if it is just a bit.

The literary style is hard to judge seeing as the original letters were written in German. Each section was translated and revised by separate men. An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility was translated by Charles M. Jacobs. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church was translated by A. T. W. Steinhauser and revised by Frederick C. Ahrens. The Freedom of a Christian was translated by W. A. Lambert and revised by Harold J. Grimm. Since the one critiquing the book has no knowledge of German, therefore not possessing the capability to compare the translations and revisions to the original text the critical analysis of the writing style is inconclusive.

The Three Treatises is a book that provides an ample supply of doctrine. Much of that doctrine has influence and laid the foundation for Protestantism. The book itself is recommended to any and all people in the protestant faith in order to better understand parts of the faith’s foundation and doctrinal beliefs.

Tetris

This is an actual screen shot taken from a game of Tetris that I just played. It was the greatest game of Tetris I have ever played and quite possibly the greatest game of Tetris that has ever been played in the history of the game. The Russians don't hold a flame to my mad Tetris skills. If you notice I am on level 19 with 182 lines and with an amazing 140,148 score. If you think you can beat me take a screen shot of your score and post it in my comments. The site is Free Tetris.

12 Days to Wedding

In 12 days I will be a married man. Ever since I proposed to Ashley I have been getting advice, "Joel says this." "Joel don't say that" "Joel you should help with the wedding" "Joel you should avoid helping with the wedding." I am appreciative that Ashley has just wanted me to be me. If that means I help or don't she wants me to be true to who I am. In our culture we are told that we have to work hard to be the best person we can be...whatever happen to being made in the image of God. Don't get me wrong...I am not naive enough to think that when I get married everything will be easy and stay the same, but I also don't want to work so hard to become someone who isn't me. Isn't it logical that doing such a thing would only make the transition of lifestyles more difficult. So I am in love, getting married, and trying hard to stay true to who I am while discovering who we will be.