Jeremy Bridgman

Along came a spider...

2009-06-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

Excuse the noise in the pictures...it was lower-than-ideal light, the little bugger moved kinda fast, and I don't have a macro lens.

:o)

A follow-up to the "atheism" post

2009-05-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'd like to follow up quickly on my previous post on atheism, by submitting a link of great interest to me as I find myself quite aligned with Van Til's presuppositional and Reformed Christian philosophy:

"Why I Believe in God" - Cornelius Van Til

On the flip-side of atheistic thought, I figured I would posit a good summary (for that is all this link is: a summary) of why I believe what I believe.

As well, here is a contribution by Dr. Greg Bahnsen on Van Til's presuppositional apologetic (VERY good read): The Crucial Concept of Self-Deception in Presuppositional Apologetics

Also, more of Van Til's work (and the work of many others) can be found here.

Why I don't believe in atheism

2009-05-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" - Psalm 14:1. (OK, OK, I'm sure that verse has been used on just about every anti-atheism article ever created...so sue me).

Atheism intrigues me. It intrigues me because of its contradictory nature and illogical reasoning. There is something fundamentally flawed with its premise and conclusion. Because of these reasons, I posit that most atheists, if they truly considered the logical end of their belief, would at once switch positions to that of agnosticism as they conclude that there is no way in the universe they can proclaim with 100% certainty that "there is no God". It just isn't plausible.

Atheism, in its truest form, MUST conclude that there is no God. If atheists merely conclude that there is most likely no God, they have just proclaimed themselves to be agnostics because the very definition of agnosticism is that of uncertainty about whether or not God exists; according to agnosticism God may or may not exist, but one cannot tell for sure. If atheism merely concluded that there is a 99.999999999999999999999% chance there is no God, here again "atheism" turns into agnosticism. If atheists claimed that atheism was merely a theory, that alone would catapult their belief to agnosticism. Atheism is a positively definitive statement: there is no God, and I believe the majority of "atheists" are really agnostics at heart who have not done the math, so to speak, of taking atheistic thought to its logical end.

Consider the atheist's base (pun slightly intended) belief that "there is no God". They would claim they only use scientific, natural methods to come to these conclusions, such as there being no evidence of the existence of God, and so on. Here's the trouble with that: NO ONE can make the claim that there is no evidence of the existence of God. Has anyone ever looked under every grain of sand on the beaches of the world, peered into every molecule of ice at the polar ice caps, observed every fiber of vegetation on this green earth to make sure God is not residing or hiding in those places? Certainly not; it is a human impossibility to do so. Has anyone ever examined the quadrillions of stars in the universe to make sure God was not hiding behind them or within their core? No.

Consider also the origins of matter and energy. Matter and energy exist. It is scientific that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed in the natural world. But matter and energy WERE created at the beginning. It is unscientific that matter and energy would magically appear or create itself. Matter and energy have to have origins, scientifically. But natural science alone will NEVER be able to explain the origins of matter and energy without delving into the SUPERnatural - that which is above nature and natural thinking. Atheists would gladly tell you that they just do not know how matter and energy came into being; but all that does is make us question again how they can then know with 100% certainty that "there is no God" if they cannot tell us with 100% certainty how matter and energy came into being.

Therefore, you cannot make the claim that there is no God without being a god yourself: able to examine ALL matter from the smallest quarks inside atoms to the largest star on the outskirts of the universe; able to know with 100% certainty all facts about all things that exist everywhere. You cannot make the claim that there is no God without first being able to explain with absolute certainly where matter and energy came from. Saying "there is no God" without knowing these things betrays a contradiction with what you say and what you know. One may say "there is no God", but simply, there is no way for them to tell for certain.

Here we begin to see why I don't believe in atheism. Why atheism requires much more faith than atheists are willing to admit. And why, if atheists really think about it, they might be willing to shrug off the label of "atheist" and acknowledge the possibility that there might be a God, falling under the auspices of the "agnostic" label instead.

Why am I concerned about the label one uses for these beliefs? Because if a so-called atheist is willing to admit that his former statement of "there is no God" has turned into "there might be a God, but I just don't know", it is MUCH easier to have a conversation with this person on how possible it is to actually KNOW there's a God - not merely through the abundant natural revelation present all around us, but also through faith in what we cannot see with our limited, faulty eyes. Overcoming agnosticism is another battle in and of itself, but that can be saved for another blog post.

After all, if we only believed in things we saw, touched, tasted, felt, or heard ourselves, then there's no way we could ever believe we have minds, convictions, consciences, or other abstract concepts we all use and are familiar with on a daily basis. And I'm sure no atheist is willing to put forth a statement that "there is no mind", would they? As I once heard: I may not be able to see my own mind, but I come under its effects and I experience its workings every day. In the same way, I may not be able to see God with my own eyes, but I come under His effects and I experience His workings every day.

And I am eternally thankful that He IS.

MOAR PIX!!!!!! (additional photographs)

2009-03-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

OMG HI2U!!!!!111oneone

2009-03-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

We are very pleased to have finally met you, Miss Rosalie Hope Bridgman, born on March 15, 2009 at 10:55PM, weighing in at 6 lbs. and 3 oz., at a length of 18.75 inches.

You are very beautiful. We thank our God for you.

More pictures to come...

The people of Denver, CO - Winter 2008 / 2009

2009-01-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

I've decided to break my Denver, CO posts into two parts: "The people of...", and "The places of...", simply because I only felt like processing and posting the people pictures in this go-around. I'll get around to posting the "places of..." at a later time, when I remember how to stitch together photographs for a panoramic shot.

If you want the stories of what all went on during our trip, you'll have to hit up my wife's blog, Lydia's blog, or Jerusha's blog for those details, but here you get to at least enjoy some of the photos I painstakingly took and processed for all y'all's benefit. ;o)

Remember, you can click on each picture for a larger view.

Anyway, on to the show - hope you enjoy (leave comments!!!):

Talia and her folks:

Talia and her sisters:

Elijah:

Tyra:

Jerusha:

Lydia:

Josiah:

Dad:

Brother and sister models. Check out that sucked-in cheek action!

Talia and mom:

Miss Emma Smiley:

Miss Annabelle Fluffyhead:

Miss Caitlyn Cutiepie:

Just about one of the cutest nephews ever:

Tyra and Brayden:

Christine and Brayden:

The aftermath of baking with Grandma Horner:

The family cat:

Dad and one of his favorite hobbies:

Lydia rocking out on our way to Evergreen, CO:

Rebecca in the van:

Jerusha - contrast and colors adjusted for effect (I really like this shot):

Brotherly love can really be seen here - in Evergreen:

Emma and Rebecca in Evergreen:

Chris and Jerusha in Evergreen - contrast and color saturation adjusted for effect:

Bundled-up Annabelle in Evergreen:

Lovely Talia in Evergreen:

As always, comments are most welcome. As long as they're nice. :o)

Pink

2008-11-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

I hope you all continue to like pink.

That is all I'm going to say.

;o)

Cabin in the woods

2008-09-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Escape the heat of Bakersfield and travel with me, if you will, to a cabin in the woods with good friends, beautiful scenery, and plenty of photo opportunities:

The Cabin:

The Outhouse (there was a bathroom inside the cabin, too):

And the door that leads to nowhere (or a pretty nasty sprained ankle):

"Fred":

Playing near "Fred":

Good buddies:

Little Blondie:

Another blondie:

Still another blondie:

The blondies! They've taken over!:

The Rev.:

The women...and some sort of feline thingy:

Rich:

Ricardo:

Beth:

Rich & Beth:

"Ooh, a free ride!":

"Hey, look over here":

The girlies:

Gerdy:

Pretty blue sky:

Artsy shot...of pine needles:

Artsy shot...of tree moss:

And last, but certainly not least, my lovely wife and me:

Ah yes, there we go. Of course, these pictures don't tell the whole story, especially that of a broken-down van, AAA, the puke bucket, and more, but you'll have to ask Rev. Gruggett about all that some other time.

For the love of photography

2008-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

People love pictures. People love to take pictures. A few people actually like to be in pictures.

There's a saying that goes, "There are two things that are certain in life: death and taxes." I'd like to add my own spin on that: "There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and pictures."

Every life event, no matter how minor or major, seems to inevitably be captured by the quick depression of the shutter button. Maybe it's because we all want to have our own take on a certain moment in time...or maybe it's because we all have poor memories. In any case, there will never be a shortage of photo-taking. So I'd like to show a few photos of just that, for your enjoyment:

Redondo Beach / Elijah's Commissioning - 06/06/2008 & 06/07/2008

2008-06-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Horner family drove all the way from Denver, CO to Bakersfield, CA just in time to catch our beautiful low-80-degree weather on Wednesday night, 06/04/2008. The Horners, minus Lydia, then drove down to Redondo Beach on Thursday. Lydia stayed with us through Friday morning and accompanied us on our trip to Redondo Beach to meet up with the family. It was on this Friday afternoon that we took some time to enjoy the surf and turf of Redondo Beach. All of this was in preparation for Elijah's Air Force Commissioning on Saturday.

Oh yeah: by the way, if you are ever looking for a great way to exfoliate your feet 'til they're as smooth as a baby's butt, just spend a bit of time on Redondo Beach walking around in the sand. It is rough. Oh, and watch out for the random tar deposits; I'm still working on restoring the heel of my foot to its original color.

First, some Redondo Beach shots:

To the north

To the south

Silvery waters

Elijah

Annabelle

Emma and Elijah

Annabelle and Grandma

Lydia

Grandpa

Random bird

My sweetie

Jerusha and Josiah

Emma and Jerusha

Annabelle again - she loved being buried

Lydia and Talia

Talia and Lydia

Jerusha, Valerie, Lydia, and Talia

The girls again

And now for some Air Force Commissioning photos:

The picture-taker and a tired, hot Annabelle (taken by my lovely wife Talia)

LMU

Looking out over the crowd - so very chic / GQ

Flyover

The commissionees

Old Glory

Right before the commissioning

The swearing-in

Photo-op

Affixing the bars of rank

Family photo-op

Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Elijah Horner

Josiah

Lydia

Talia

The men

The women

The monkey

And last but not least, the family

Family - May 31, 2008

2008-06-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

Our family gathering this past Saturday was another opportune time to get familiar with my new camera and rockin' lens. Enjoy some examples below:

My lovely wife

Brother-in-law Luke

Cutie-pie Annabelle

Cousin Caitlyn

Caitlyn's Thomas

Cutie-pie Emma

Grandma Netnet and Annabelle

Sister Jessica

Grandma Pat (went for a sepia tone here)

Annabelle and Aunt Barbara

Mr. Cale Corwin

The once-in-a-lifetime photo of Cousin Brent

Mrs. Steph Corwin

Practice makes perfect

2008-05-31T12:10:00.001-07:00

Emma's making it a point lately to practice her bicycling. This is the most effort she's put into it since she got the bike on her birthday in January.

Quite a bit of concentration going on:

"Smile for the camera!"

In other news, Annabelle has been exceptionally grumpy lately (and, consequently, spending more time in her room as a result). So, you might not see too many photos of her on my blog until she cheers up and learns to look at the camera with a smile at least part of the time.

Blog purpose (or, "blurpose")

2008-05-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I should primarily use this blog for posting photos, as nothing else has really struck my fancy as far as inspirations to blog. That being said, maybe it would be a good place to receive comments/criticism on the photos so that I may learn with every post how to do it (the photographing) better.

So without further ado, here's a cute little shot of the girls for you to enjoy:

Again, C&C (comments & criticism) is very welcome.

I got it.

2008-05-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, baby. I got it.

Canon EOS 40D DSLR:

Along with this SWEET lens - 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM:

And this very cool walkaround bad - Crumpler 4 Million Dollar Home (4MDH):

And just so you don't think I got the camera but failed to shoot some photos to show you on its first day here, see below:

Wish list

2008-04-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

Canon stuff.

The stuff a photog's dreams are made of.

So now I've got a wish list of the Canon equipment I'd like to own one day...feel free to drool with me, ye photog-o-philes!

- Canon EOS 40D (decided on the 40D because of what I've heard about the balance, the greater ISO range, the better auto-focusing, the higher continuous shooting speed, etc., etc., and blah blah blah).

- Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM standard zoom lens. Supposed to be a great walk-around lens.

- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM telephoto zoom lens. For the far-away stuff.

- Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM ultra-wide zoon lens. For the, uh, wide stuff.

- Sandisk Extreme III 8GB Compact Flash card. Photos taken in RAW format take up a LOT of space...gotta be prepared with something a little hefty.

There you go. Uh, you've got a little drool on the corner of your mouth...nope, other side...there, you've got it.

So, who wants to contribute to the "Get Jeremy back into photography" fund? Donations are NOT tax-deductible. No refunds.

;o)

Look up slightly

2008-04-09T13:43:00.001-07:00

So, if you shift your eyes up just a little bit to the blog title / picture, you'll see what looks like a very neat panoramic scene in a vineyard.

Well, that was all me. I took that picture (or, those pictures, and stitched them together) with my trusty ol' Canon PowerShot G3.

But I've been less interested in using that camera for photography because it is very slow in focusing and responsiveness, has no image stabilization, cannot use higher-end lenses, etc., etc. Since my wife received the point-and-shoot Canon I gave her a little while ago, we've been relying on that more and more for our pictures (and may I add that my wife has quite the eye for photography) because it is much more convenient.

However, if I ever wanted to get passionate about photography again, and even much more so than before, I think it's gonna have to be with something much better than the old G3 I have.

I'm thinking, maybe a Canon EOS 40D will do the trick? Or maybe the Canon EOS Rebel Xsi? Couple one of those cameras with a couple nice zoom lenses, and I think I might be inspired enough to jump once more into the art of photography.

Any opinions?

Ghetto-fy

2008-03-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Choir practice is hilarious.

We all got turned on to adding "iqua" (or some other variation) to the names of the ladies there. The result? Hilarity ensued (see below):

Talia = Taliqua
Jessica = Jessiqua
Oneida = Oniqua
Ashlei = Ashliqua

And so on.

I think "Taliqua" makes for a rather cute nickname, don't you think?

Motivation?

2008-03-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well.

I, incredulously, received a comment on my last blog post...which happens to be my first REAL blog post here (besides the obligatory "testing" posts most everyone makes when starting a blog).

It's this type of motivation that I need to actually continue blogging. I am quite notoriously inconsistent when it comes to keeping a public diary. My pattern is usually thus: 1) start a blog, 2) post faithfully for the first few months, 3) become bored with blogging or become disenchanted by the lack of comments, 4) quit.

So, I'm curious to see how this go-around will be. My wife (Talia...as if you didn't already know from my last post) has seemed to have stumbled upon a nice little community of fellow bloggers who usually post a good number of comments to her posts. Hence, my willingness to give it another try.

I really don't see why I couldn't keep it up. I mean, I actually DO have quite a few interests: family, Christian theology, music, drumming, computers and networks (it's what I do everyday as an IT Consultant), gaming, shooting, home projects, church work (as a deacon), softball, photography, and more. It's just that I really need to get my butt in gear to actually POST about some of this stuff.

We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm going to familiarize myself with the customization options available, etc. Seems like you can do a lot with Blogger...and it sure is a heck of a lot cleaner than MySpace.

TTFN.

An Ode to my Wife

2008-03-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Talia -
Where to begin?
I do not think it will be the easiest thing to ponder how much
She means to me.
This requires more intellect and time than one possibly has.

But in my feeble attempt, I must declare:
She,
In the breadth of her dedication and love,
And in the depth of her beauty and grace,
Overwhelms me
And melts me
And makes me part of who I am.

Talia -
She is
A soft hand, mine to caress
A silly smile, mine to laugh with
A tender soul, mine to take solace in
A warm heart, mine to share
An undeserved gift, mine to treasure and adore

May I always show her how beautiful she is to me.

'Nother test

2007-11-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

Just seeing how it is.

Testing

2007-06-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

1...2...3...Anybody there?