Response to Christian Journalism

Being a Christian is a complicated matter sometimes. God tells us to spread the word of His love and tell others that Christ died for every person's sin. However, that does not arise in every situation or context and many times that can turn certain audiences away. Lots of people have a predetermined biased towards anything to do with Christian living or God in general. I believe that people do not necessarily have to profess their faith in tremendously vocal ways like a lot of Christian publications try to accomplish.

The Paste Magazine is an example of a publication who is Christian, yet they do not flaunt that label in your face like other Evangelical magazines tend to do. Paste reviews video games, music and other medium that might not have anything to do with God in fact. How then would somebody go about incorporating some lesson about living closer to God in a review of a Boxing video game? The idea is absolutely absurd. Its simply a piece of entertainment people play in their spare time and to have fun. Especially if one is fond of such media, incorporating some kind of spiritual meaning is nearly impossible. One could argue that it is not about the video games, but having a closer relationship with God and we should be killing off any lustful, fleshly desires. But we are all human and enjoy various activities one way or another (whether that is video games, sports, music, etc.). These activities should not be the center of a believer's life, but to completely abolish them out of their life would be nearly impossible for must of us and only reserved for the most religiously devout. There should be a balance in one's life. That is the most important thing about being a Christian and living a healthy life for God. If the video games and other media start eating away at that healthy relationship, then it is up to the individual to seriously reconsider their choices.

Obituary 2 of other student

Oscar Gil was a father, pursuing journalist and commuter. On the fateful day of March 24th, 2011, Gil was struck in the chest with three bullets. Today, at the age of 25 at La Mirada, California, he died choking in a pool of his own blood. A few years before coming to Biola, Gil was a student at Fullerton Jr. College for his first two years. Before that, Gil was enrolled in La Serna High School which is in the L.A. County. He was married to his beautiful wife, Lyndsay Gil. He aspired to do work in the ministry field in regards to his emphasis in public relations for his journalism major. His focus was to do something with ministry work for the church in terms of evangelicalism. Tonight, students will hold a ceremony honoring the junior student.

My obituary; this is an exercise

 Helmer, behind the guy in middle, with friends and family on a Missions trip in New Orleans.

Christian Helmer, a 19 year old college student who attended Biola University, was a happy student who aspired to do something with his life. Focusing in the major of Journalism, Mr. Helmer focused on writing for his profession. Unfortunately, he died on thursday of this week in L.A. He had many hopes and dreams not yet accomplished.

On the night before his death, Helmer had spent the night at a friend’s house just about one hour away from Biola campus. While he was entering his friend’s car on his drive back, three teenagers had pulled up on the scene in a rickety Monte Carlo and blasted full rounds on him before he could even pull off. Amazingly, his friend was spared, but not without fatal injuries to his legs and his arm. “I thought I was a goner,” says best friend Brett Balough in full arm and leg casts.

Helmer’s family received news of the tragic event just an hour after school officials had called them. His sister, Saffiyah Rieff, says sobbingly, “I just wish we had gotten to spend more time with him before this happened.” Helmer had grown up in a normal middle class home like most Californian kids. Coming from the town of Rancho Cucamonga in the Inland Empire, he had spent his first two years of high school at Alta Loma High. 

After complications with his faith and his parents, Lesma Yorke, his mother, decided to enroll him in Ontario Christian High. “I remember that he wasn’t quite fond of it,” explains Yorke. “He always complained about the environment being unwelcoming.” 

During his last year, Helmer went back to Alta Loma and finished strongly as a senior. But this was not without taking part in a few extracurricular activities like Cross Country and Track & Field. “He was quite the runner,” remarks Chaffey College student A.J. Wilson, who was a senior when the two ran together.

In his last few days, Balough said Helmer had this to say about his life, “I think if I had to die today, I think I would have lived a pretty good life.”

Crisis in Japan

The dilemma in Japan right now has been the top concern for over a week as Japanese people have been hit by earthquakes, tsunamis, and are dealing with monumental radiation problems. It is certainly nothing to scoff about when hundreds of people have been reported as missing or dead. People have been living in shelters and other places of refuge as their homes have been swept away by the flood. Radiation has been found in milk and vegetables, contaminating food for everybody.

Students at Biola are very aware of the problems going on in the country and are concerned for their overall safety. When asked student Casey Bautista about what she thought about the event, she responded, "I have really close family there in Okinawa and some in Tokyo. We are always praying for them." Casey is part of a bigger group of people who had their family affected by this catastrophic event. Similarly, students who do not have relatives there, but know of others who have been affected are just as concerned. Dan Marino responded, "I'm worried. It's scary times we live in." Dan then stated that his girlfriend had been working in a student exchange program where one of the student's family in Japan had flood warnings and were haphazardly affected by the earthquake.

In dire times like this, the best form of relief is prayer. Student Ann Marie Cortez states, "I have been praying for them." God can work in ways that people aren't even aware of and will aid Japan in this event.

Tasty Food

Cheese pizza, when warm and right out of the oven, is brimming with hot pasta sauce and cheese on top. The aroma of cheese and oils cooked together gives it a satisfying aroma. When biting down into a slice, the taste is absolute greasy goodness. The texture of the bread is satisfying to bite into as it is chewy and soft at the same time. The sprinkles of garlic makes it that much more tasty and pleasurable to the senses.

Sensory Details

I touched the briskly grass with my fingers. As I reached down further into the ground, I felt the soft, complete dirt. It was whole, yet not hard like dry dirt. I gazed at the vibrant, colorful flowers that were pinkish and bunched together. As I walked further down campus, I came across loud, noisy, interrupting, construction workers. They were interrupting my quiet time to observe my senses. As I closed my eyes, I felt the soft, soothing air against my skin. Walking down by the Caf, talkative, noisy people pierced the quietness. The warm, bright beaming sun’s rays shinned down all around me as it warmed my body to the touch. The chirping birds bounced around and flew from tree to tree. The loud police siren could be heard down the street. Walking across Horton Hall, there was green, tall trees that loomed dark shadows over the sidewalk. An extremely loud lift machine was driving down the street. Finally, before I went back into Library as looked up into the cloudy, blue sky. It was all apart of God's beautiful creation.

Smell of Opposite Gender

The aroma of the female sex can be often times appealing to the sense of smell. It is very artificial, albeit attractive to most men. The perfumes sprayed on most girls give them a inviting and strong aroma that smell like flowers It is certainly more inviting and better smelling than that of men.

Feature Writing

The lead I found amazing is from the Pulitzer website that talked about a girl who has been abused in the most rundown, putrid home that has ever been found. The lead was amazing because it used emotions to captivate the reader to continue reading each and every paragraph to find out what would happen next. The feature has a group of police storming into the house and they find maggots and cockroaches everywhere along with feces and other matter. It makes the reader cringe and holds them onto the edge of their seat as they wait to find out what will happen next.

Every paragraph beautifully transitions from one obscene detail to the next. There are not many quotes but has lots of brimming information about the venture through the house to rescue the 7 year old girl. This is an example of the wonderful writing that went into this piece, "She lay on a torn, moldy mattress on the floor. She was curled on her side, long legs tucked into her emaciated chest. Her ribs and collarbone jutted out; one skinny arm was slung over her face; her black hair was matted, crawling with lice. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her skin. Though she looked old enough to be in school, she was naked — except for a swollen diaper." (DeGregory) This scene describes the unfortunate girl's situation living at this rat house.


The article uses lots of sensory detail to get the story across to the reader. ""It sounded like you were walking on eggshells. You couldn't take a step without crunching German cockroaches," the detective said. "They were in the lights, in the furniture. Even inside the freezer. The freezer!"" (DeGregory) As disgusting as this is, it appeals to the senses because cockroaches are very nasty creatures that appeal to the basic human senses of people's fears of insects.