being a good Christian vs simply being good

You don't have to be a Christian to be a good person. There are many good individuals helping others, the environment, animals or other noble causes who are NOT Christian -- Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and some plainly gnostic. These other individuals have their own (religious or otherwise) reasons to be good citizens in this world and beyond. Needless to say, some of these people are even our dearest friends -- especially if living in NYC.

We -- as Christians -- are supposed to be good all the time as a way to be true ambassadors of God on earth and beyond our limited human capacity of understanding. The best practice to achieve this (or so I've been told numerous times) is to pray, talk to God, ask for favors, be true servants of God and do everything on God's behalf. As someone told me, you should start the day with a prayer, live that prayer through out the day and end the day with a prayer.

"There are many who recommend opening the day with a prayer, and then continuing to live that prayer. Or, put another way, to do what we do -- even, say, washing the dishes, riding the subway -- in a meditative sort of gift to God... Then closing each day with even a simple word of gratitude."
http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/then-how-much-more-response.html

Of course, this is something that many Christians fail to do or care not to do at times (myself included in the second group too many times). Said all this, if we dare to call ourselves CHRISTIANS, we've got a higher obligation to be good as we do good in God's name.

then how much more? a response

a response to...
http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/no-utopia-then-how-much-more.html (including the italics)

"Excellent point! There are many who recommend opening the day with a prayer, and then continuing to live that prayer. Or, put another way, to do what we do -- even, say, washing the dishes, riding the subway -- in a meditative sort of gift to God... Then closing each day with even a simple word of gratitude. That can get our percentages up!"

opinion of one

It's hard to justify one's opinion. I keep going back to the lack of faith and interest that we as Christians have in our own faith and God (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/no-utopia-then-how-much-more.html). Maybe I should take a break from beating on this dead horse (horrible expression to be used by a vegetarian; http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/animals-better-than-men.html).

So where do I find myself in all this? I haven't been participating in church as I used to. Perhaps I've been more worried thinking what I could do rather than doing anything. Both FAPC (http://www.fapc.org/) and ULC (http://www.themonastery.org/) -- both of which I'm a member of -- have several opportunities to serve God, but I'm not taking advantage of any (except from being asked to help during service once in a while). I'm such a waste.

no Utopia, then how much more?

I shared my calculations (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/saturday-night.html) with a minister who then asked me, "how much can and should we spend?" Just when I had a number for the least amount of time we Christians really live our faith (0.5952381%), now I'm thinking about her question.

Ideally one should spend (dedicate, give, serve) 100% of the time to God, but we don't live in Utopia. We should dedicate as much time as possible to God -- serving God in all possible ways. Maybe we could track down how much time we truly (being honest without ourselves) spend in our faith from day to day or week to week. This way we could try to set personal records for ourselves and try to achieve that 100% Utopian goal.

name change: project 0.5952381%

I've changed the name of this blog for the second time. Originally it was called "Shopping for Faith" as I was looking for a church to go to (12/31/2008, http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2008/12/confused-no-news-there.html). Then it became "Le Culte du Cassette" as a "lo-fi" joke (02/06/2010, http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/03/lo-fi-joke-for-those-who-were-born-in.html). Now it's "Project 0.5952381%" (10/07/2010) to point out the lack of faith that we (myself included) have -- a mere hour a week (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/project-05952381.html).

The only problem's been the tedious work of changing all the links to the new name. Therefore, as soon as I'm done, I'm backing up the blog as XML.

project 0.5952381%

Most of us (myself included too many times) are "real" Christians about an hour a week (1 in 168 hours). This means a mere 0.5952381% of the week if we go to church (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/saturday-night.html). It's such a pitiful shame. Maybe this is often the reason why I stay more than hour at church on Sundays -- as a means to excuse my lack of faith and interest. Of course, I must admit that my mind wanders off many times during the hours I hang out at church, which defeats the purpose of being in church in the first place. From experience, spending extra hours in church during the week (for example, small groups, volunteering, etc) makes church and faith a much more rewarding experience.

Saturday night (0.5952381%)

It's Saturday night. I guess the Christian thing to do should be getting ready for Sunday, but that's hardly ever true. At times it feels like we're sinners all week long except for whatever time we spend in church. This means that we're truly Christians merely 0.5952381% of the time -- considering one hour a week (one in 168 hours). Well honestly my math can't be right. We're true to our faith much less than the 0.5952381% estimate. I dare say a mere 0.1% being generous.