Catholic Faith

Last Sunday, out little group here in New York went to mass at a Catholic church. It was an interesting experience that I will not soon forget but it did get me thinking about the Catholic Faith. I found myself wondering if a catholic person is a true Christian. Yes, they believe in Jesus Christ who died for us and took our place on that cross, but the way that Catholics go about there faith is just all wrong to me.

At mass, everything was scripted. And I mean everything. Every prayer was written down, it was so impersonal it was crazy. How can you have a relationship with God if everything you say to him is just something that you memorized as a child or from a piece of paper that is sitting in front of you?

Another thing, did you know in the bible, the LORD said that "you shall call no one on Earth' father' for you have on Father, and he is in heaven"(Matthew 23:9)? So, the Catholic Faith says that I am suppose to call the priest 'father' but is that not in direct contradiction to the word of God?

Did you know that the Bible, that is the WORD OF GOD, actually calls the Catholic's hypocritical liars?

1 Timothy 4:1-6 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

Who are not allowed to be married? Nuns and Priests. Who are not allowed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent? Catholics. It is right there, clear as crystal in the Living Word that that is wrong and that the Catholic Faith is following deceiving spirits. Why would God say it is now okay to eat pork BUT now you cannot eat meat on Fridays. It is comprehensible to think that God would contradict himself in such a manner.

Also, could someone please show me where in the bible it says that I should pray to Mary for intervention? Or, where it says that I need to go to my priest so I can obtain forgiveness through him? Last time I checked, the only way that I could obtain forgiveness was through JESUS CHRIST!! And I can talk directly to him. I do not need someone to talk to Him for me.

Guess what? Last time I checked, the ten Commandments forbid Idolatry (the worship of Idols). Can someone tell me what the Pope is? Can someone tell me what Mary is? These are both Idols that the Catholics have built up in such high esteem. The bible clearly states that no man on this Earth shall be built up to be bow downed to or to worship.

Well thats what I have at the moment. Are Catholics real Christians? I'm not sure, but I do know that the way they are practicing their faith is not the way it is suppose to be. Don't take my word for it, God is the one who said it.

It has been WAY to long...

Guess who has been slacking on his blogging?? This guy, Jordan Robert Nilson. I am just a forgetful person and when i do finally remember that I need to blog, I am always somewhere that there is not a computer, like the Brooklyn Bridge. Well blog followers, I am not going to post what happened these last five days in separate post because, to be honest, I cannot be sure what happened on what days!! So this little blurb in the internet super highway will just sum up the awesomeness that I have experienced in the last five days...or atleast the things that I can remember.

So, January 14th was the wonderful day that we got to move out of our tiny little apartment into the wondrous new apartment. In cause I never told you guys, for two days we had to stay in a little apartment that was two bedrooms and a living area...that is it for all eight of us. Lets just say the space was a little packed. This new place though had three bedrooms, living room, and a full kitchen!! It was like paradise...we never wanted to leave and we were not going to all month but...

Morning of January 16th (Saturday), half of the group is gone to do New York Cares activities. All who are at the apartment are Teake, Jon, Haley, and myself. There is a knock at the door at about 11:30am. It is the cleaning people. They inform us that we must be out of that apartment by 2pm because someone is suppose to move in. Not a very big deal, we will just move back to the apartment on Charlton, but since we were not expecting a move, everyones crap is everywhere. We did the best job packing possible, but it was not pretty.

Mmkay, apartment drama over. Next adventure.

January 15th (Friday) just might be my favorite day so far on this glorious New York adventure. That afternoon, all of us decided to go and walk the Brooklyn Bridge and it was just beautiful. The light fell so perfectly on the backdrop of the city, it was just breathtaking. We went just as the sun was setting. Watching the sun set on the Brooklyn Bridge will not be a memory i soon forget. Walking that bridge is about a two mile walk, which felt amazing! During my walk, I decided that I need to start swimming at the YMCA, so keep me to it!!

After we walked the bridge, we went to find a place to eat. Kim suggested this little diner down the street so we decided to check it out. Best burger I ever had in my life! I swear I am having food-gasms at every single place we eat. I mean, this food was so delicious, it should be illegal. It was like a party in my mouth complete with pacifiers, glow sticks, and florescent paint. I am going to miss this food seriously when we head back to the Dakotas.

Later that evening a dream was fulfilled. Eric and I got tickets to see Wicked!! Oh my goodness, I was more excited then a those kids that use to win the Toys-R-Us shopping sprees. I was frikin ecstatic. We had front row...I repeat...front row tickets to the show!! The set was amazing. Every time the actors would sing I could feel my heart leap into throat. I just cannot even express the emotion I felt while watching that show. I was in complete awe every time something would happen. I found myself crying at the most random parts of the show. Not just because of what was happening, but because of what i was feeling and thinking about my future. To experience the emotion that everyone on stage, and I mean everyone, was emitting at all times was just so rewarding.

Just watching professionals on the stage has taught me so much about what I need to be doing. Everyone who is on that stage is fully committed to the part the are playing. Whether they are in the background or the main character, every single actor on that stage believes in the part that they are portraying and I can tell. If I can be like that, put my whole heart into my performance, put my whole being into what I am doing whilst on that stage, I just might have a chance to fulfill my dreams.

The days of Saturday and Sunday were pretty much filled with Jordan and the other guys enjoying the wondrous occasion that is NFL Playoff Football. Might sound boring, but it was awesome and I loved it.

Monday consisted of some lazing around for a little which got quite boring quite fast. So we went out adventuring with Kim the Bartling. We decided to hit up the Roosevelt Island Tram which was an interesting 4 minute (not 30 second) ride. Though it did take us awhile to arrive at the Tram station, but life is full of little adventures and thats what we love about it. We were going to go to the Chelsea Gallerias but they were all closed, sad day. We decided to split for dinner and reconvene later that evening for some sketch comedy.

The sketch comedy show was freaking hilarious!! That is what I want to do back at school and it will happen. Smart comedy is good comedy. That is the kind of writing that I want to do. That is the kind of laughter that I want to bring to people, that is the kind of feeling that I want to give people when they watch me perform.

Okie dokie, thats what I have at the moment bloggers...check back soon for more!!

'Til Tomorrow,

Jordan N.

Memphis should stay in Memphis...

Oh what a day it was!! Day 6 in New York was a most splendid affair. It started out quite early again, up before 9am...oh glorious. I was not the only one up earlier than usual though, as everyone was up by at least 10am on this wonderful Tuesday. Not a real adventurous morning in any sense of the word. Except, I did get to eat my Raisin Bran out of a pot because there was no bowls in our apartment. That was an experience I guess. But other than that, nothing really was going on until that afternoon.

Jon and myself decided to head on over to Kim's apartment because we were a little bored and she is not a boring person so it just seemed to make so much sense! While at her abode, Kim had the wondrous idea that we should go on the fire escape because it was such a beautiful day. I was the only on brave enough to attempt the feat and it was really cool out there...probably my new favorite thinking spot. Well, after a wee bit-o-time, we (Jon, Kim, Anne, Eric, And I) had to head on over to "The Housing Works" to find Jon some pants (Eric and him were ushering at the Women's Project and he needed khakis).

After our little shopping excursion, Anne, Eric, and I headed down to 93rd and Broadway to help give out sandwiches to the less fortunate. It is such a rewarding experience handing out food to these people! We talked to one lady who walks 50 minutes one way every Tuesday and Thursday to get one of these sandwiches. Wow. The need here is so great, I'm just happy we can do a little to maybe help someones life for the better.

Afterwards, Anne and I decided to go check out the price of the student rush tickets for the shows that we were interested in seeing this month. What was suppose to be a quick half hour of checking prices turned into a wonderful night that I will not forget until the late stages of Alzheimer's ravages my brain.

While checking out the prices for Memphis, Anne and I discovered that they were currently selling great seats for students for that night (5th row Mezzanine) for only $26.50. That may sound expensive, but the average Broadway ticket is like $125...so yeah, student rush is a great deal. So, naturally, we bought our tickets for that night and were set!

It was INCREDIBLY windy out which translated into some awesome tear bringing coldness, so we decided to duck into this restaurant named Junior's. It was delicious!! Any got some wonderful ball soup of the matzah variety and I got me a wonderful cheeseburger. It was some delicious foods. After we left, Anne decided she wanted to be a bad girl and sneak some Peanut M&M's into the theater! We went on an adventure to find a store to buy some from when we saw a street vendor selling some. The Asian lady running the stand said the candy was a 1.25, Anne said no thank you and we started to leave which prompted the storekeep to intermediately drop the price to $1. The M&M's were purchased and I feel like we accomplished something great.

Now...it is SHOWTIME!!!

Unfortunately, Memphis was sort of a disappointment. The set was the most amazing thing that I have ever experienced in my life. I think every single thing on that stage moved somehow and it was awesome. The singing was spectacular and so was the orchestra but that is were the goodness stopped. The directing was poor and the acting left something to be desired. I could not connect with the characters at all and I felt the worse thing that anyone can feel during a play in the second act...boredom. I was bored with the plot and the actors. I kept thinking how I could not wait for a scene change to see what the set would do next!!

The thing that made the show awesome was seeing it with the grand Miss Anne Wentworth! We made little comments to each other during the show and danced our little hearts out while being appropriate in the theater. Oh goodness, I don;t think I could have enjoyed it as much if she was not there with me!!

After the show, we headed back to the apartment and chilled until about midnight when everyone decided to call it a night.

'Til Tomorrow,

Jordan N.

New York DOES Care!!

So day 6 in New York was a pretty interesting day. Woke up pretty early this morning, like at eight 8am. Everyone else woke up at about noon, so I was quite bored for awhile. Then Anne, my good friend, called up and we decided to go on over to Kimberly Bartling's apartment to write our blogs. Awesome thing happened, we got lost. A walk that was suppose to take like, not even ten minutes, ended up taking about an hour. BUT a good thing did come out of this, we found a cool little bakery called "The Donut Pub". They had pretty amazing Boston Kreme filled doughnuts.

Well, Anne and I stayed at Kim's for a little bit and she bought us some cookies and they were quite delicious. Also, she made some coffee and I tried it. It was as gross as I thought it was going to be. At least I tried it...that counts for something right??

Mmkay, so....

After the fun times at Kim, we headed back to the apartment for a little bit. While we were there Haley, Anne, and I rocked out to the Hairspray soundtrack while Mariah looked at us with judging eyes. Quite a wonderful hour that was!! Hahahahaha

At about 5:20pm, we left the apartment for New York Cares orientation. This is the part of the trip that we are all looking forward to the most i believe. I know that I am. I cannot wait to help the unfortunate poor people of this city. Is is going to be a great experience and I am so excited!!

After orientation, back to the apartment for some snackage and the sleep before 10pm again! Walking is really tiring me out...

Well, short entry today, but not much happened so heres to hopefully a more exciting tomorrow!!

'Til Tomorrow,

Jordan N.

Shop 'til You Drop

Another day has gone by in the Great New York Adventure and I had a wondrous time out with some of my glorious friends today. Not a really adventurous day, a real life Lazy Sunday (rim shot) if you will. After a late morning, Haley, Anne, and myself went out to SoHo to once again deliver handouts for the Women's Project's production "Smudge". Whilst delivering, we kept getting distracted by stores with awesome clothes and shoes and what have you. Granted, the delivering did get done, but some shopping got done as well.

After the delivering/shopping adventure. Haley took Anne and me over to the 99 cent pizza place right off of Time Square. You would think that such cheap pizza would be small and tasteless, well it was quite the opposite. The slices were fairly large and the crust was amazing!! Like melt in your mouth deliciousness. Totally worth the dollar. Oh and they say it cost 99 cents, but you do not get your penny change back. Granted it is just a penny but those pennies add up pretty quickly.

After pizza we headed back to the girls apartment only to be whisked out again twenty minutes later for more shopping, this time with Mariah in tow. We traveled out to Union Square and shopped our littles bodies sore at Strawberry and Filenes Basement. Strawberry's was kind of a womens shop but I loved Filenes Basement!! I will definitely try nad get back there at some point this month.

Oh goodness, I almost forgot! When Haley, Anne, and I were just outside our buildings doors, this old man started screaming almost every obscenity you can imagine at this taxi cab. I'm talking like 70 year old dude with a walker yelling at a taxi that is trying to get around him as he shuffles his way down the middle of the street going the wrong way. Probably the most hilarious thing that happened all weekend.

After the shopping and the old man encounter, it was chill time in the men's apartment for a little bit until I fell asleep around 11pm. Quite a good day in the NYC.

'Til Tomorrow

Jordan N.

That Good Ole Ragtime!

Wow...what a day!! I'm not even sure where to begin telling you guys about the most wonderful day that I have experienced so far here in New York. Well, why not the beginning?

Woke up pretty early this morning, at about 8ish I want to say. Took a shower, always a wonderful part of the morning, packed up my things (we were moving to a new apartment that afternoon for a week), and had some pop tarts. We left the apartment around 11:45 and met Dr. Professor Bartling at her apartment to head on over to "Ragtime" for the lottery for tickets, which your name had to be submitted for by 12:30pm. This is where the whirlwind of an adventure filled afternoon began.

We got to the Christopher Street Subway station only to learn that that the 1 train was not running. So, we had to "fast walk" our way to the next station, the 14th street one. Just our luck, when we got there, the train had just left. We waited on the platform for about five or so minutes for the next one. At this point it was past twelve and doubt of making it in time to submit our names began to creep the mind.

When the train did finally arrive, we boarded and waited for our stop on 50th street. The thing is, the train seemed to be going extra slow this afternoon, so when we did finally arrive at our stop, we had about five minutes to make it from the station on 50th to the theater on 52nd. We literally sprinted from the subway to theater making it with a minute to spare, no exaggeration.

The eight of us all put our names into the drawing, unfortunately out of the ten or so names drawn, the ones from USF were not, which was actually okay. We still got a discount ticket even though it it WAS the very last row in the theater, but they were actually decent seats.

The show was breathtaking. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me envious, it made me incredibly happy. "Ragtime" was my very first Broadway musical and it did not disappoint in anyway. The singing was phenomenal, the acting made me actually care what happened to these characters and the set and prop usage was spectacular. Oh, and the orchestra and lighting was just amazing. I was literally shaking during the curtain call, once again confirming to myself that this will be what I do with my life. There is nothing else that gives me this feeling and I never want it to leave.

After the show, Mike McGowan, a South Dakota native that Kim knows, took us on a backstage tour. It was so awesome. I was literally speechless. I had so many questions but couldn't find the words to ask them. I was surprised how small the wings were; smaller than the ones at USF for sure. Every big prop item is flown in and out in the wings during the show, so interesting. Mike also introduced us to the leading man, Quentin Earl Darrington. His voice was superb and i felt so honored just to shake the mans hand and to get a photo with him. He is going to win a Tony someday for sure! Also right before we left, we got a photo with Mamie Parris, the lady who played Mother that night. She was so amazing and so petite!

Well, after we got back to our new apartment (which is quite splendid) I just crashed and literally slept for about 12 hours, so I better be caught up on sleep now!!

New York, day 4...wow!!

'Til Tomorrow,

Jordan N.

Dog poop and BFF's

Day 3 of the great New York adventure has come and passed. Not the most exciting of days so far but it still had its moments. After my wonderful Pop-Tart fueled breakfast, the five of us headed over to Kim's apartment to hear what we would be up to today. The verdict? Handing out fliers for The Women's Project's production of Smudge.

We split up into two teams. Kim, Eric, and Mariah took West Village while Jon, Teake, and myself tackled the East Village. I found it hilarious that a group of three guys were handing out fliers for a womens rights type of group, especially the 6'6 bass that is Jon. But we did it with dignity and pride, though the weather outside was quite chilly. As we were handing out these fliers to local businesses, I managed to step in dog doodoo not once, but twice. Once with each foot. I thought that that was a great metaphor on life, as soon as we finish wiping off the crap on one of our shoes, we step in it on the other it seems.

Well, after our wonderful East Village adventures, we met up with the other three and headed down to this Thai place in the Village that Kim highly recommended. As we turned the corner who do I see but my long lost computer buddy Miss Anne Wentworth!! It was so very very nice to hug and have her here finally! Oh, BTW, her bag JUST got here like at this VERY minute, I have never seen her so excited hahaha.

To get back on track here, the Thai place was closing down to clean the kitchen even though there was still bout fifteen minutes 'til four. Lets just say we were not happy campers and that that restaurant missed out on quite a hefty check. So we went to this pretty good chinese place just down the street and they allowed us to still get the lunch special even though it was a bout five minutes after four! Again, another life metaphor, when you can't find what you want where you are, there is a better opportunity waiting for you just down the street (just avoid the dog crap).

Well, after we ate, Anne, Kim, Haley, and I went to do some shopping at "The Housing Works". It was a very nice little shop that had some wonderful clothes and shoes and furniture very very cheap. I am talking like designer stuff here. I think Anne got a dress for like fifteen dollars that would normally have been over $200. Also, it is a place that is there to help people with AIDS. Wonderful wonderful place.

After shopping, Anne and I left Kim and Haley and headed to meet the others at MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art). It was amazing to say the least. I got to see some famous original Picasso's and also got to see some of the original drawings done by Mr. Tim Burton. It was a very neat experience, to say the least.

After MoMA, we headed back to the apartment and I crashed at like 10pm. It was so early but I was so tired, it had to bee done. That wrapped up day 3 of the New York Experience.

'Til Tomorrow,

Jordan N.