Maybe this explains why he seems to have so little time for personal hygene maintenance.
Ryan Adams is set to release his third album of 2005. This third full length album of all original material is currently slated for release in December of 2005. One of his albums this year (Cold Roses) was even a double disc! I did the math- that's fourty-three tracks. Ryan Adams will have released in one year, the amount of music it took u2 twelve years to release. TWELVE YEARS!
Here's how I see it: If you are a professional musician like Adams or U2, your job is to make music, to write songs. It's why you get paid. If you can't turn out AT LEAST ten decent tracks a year, then maybe you're in the wrong line of work, you know what I'm saying? I mean what are these rock stars doing all day? I'll tell you. They're going to Hollywood Movie Premiers with their ex-supermodel girlfriends and crap like that. (I should probably cut Bono some slack for saving Africa or whatever) But still! Take your guitar with you and write me some freakin' songs on your lunch break.
Anyway, props to Ryan Adams for being the hardest working songwriter in rock and roll. And let this be a rebuke to all the bands that release one album every four and half years with every third one being some crappy live- acoustic rehash of previously recorded material.
28.10.05
Eli, Peyton & Polanyi: Quarterbacks and the Tacit Coefficient
If you are into football and obscure twentieth century epistemologists, then you will LOVE this article. If you're just into football, you'll still like it. If you're only into obscure twentieth century epistemologists, then your name is Dru Johnson, and you should stop horsing around on the internet and get back to work before I call Dr. Williams and tattle on you.
30!
I don't want to give away any secrets or anything, so let's just say, one of the persons in this photo is now 30 years old. Happy Birthday, Sweet Heart!
In my world, this makes perfect sense.
Those of you who, like me, were raised on rock and roll and now find yourselves raising small children will be able to relate to this excellent music video. The rest of you will think we've all lost it. Enjoy
New Development
Attention: In order to further enhance my 'street cred', I will from now on refer to myself solely in third person and using the moniker G Love and Special Bloss. You may now return to your normally shceduled activites.
Sincerely,
G Love and Special Bloss
Sincerely,
G Love and Special Bloss
25.10.05
say what?
I stumbled upon this lovely piece of rational thought and air tight argumentation when perusing the website of Fred Phelps, pastor and owner of www.godhatesfags.com
Guys like this are the reason why 75% of my ministry is spent doing damage control.
Guys like this are the reason why 75% of my ministry is spent doing damage control.
Not Too Cool for School
This from Relevant Magazine:
One lucky Harvard student will get the ultimate roommate this spring semester when Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo returns to the university to finish his bachelor’s degree. The multi-platinum rocker has said that he will move back into the dorms, officially making him that weird 35-year-old guy that creeps everyone out
One lucky Harvard student will get the ultimate roommate this spring semester when Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo returns to the university to finish his bachelor’s degree. The multi-platinum rocker has said that he will move back into the dorms, officially making him that weird 35-year-old guy that creeps everyone out
22.10.05
Apple's itunes now sells music videos for $1.99
And you can watch them on your new ipod with video capabilities. But don't buy them! Videos use to be available to watch for free on the itunes website. Now you can only watch a short sample before paying to download the whole thing. That really sucks. Music Videos are advertisments for the musicians that are selling music. It is ridiculous to ask me for $1.99 so you can advertise your product to me.
I won't pay for it. You won't advertise to me. And then I won't buy your product. Now go home and cry on your ex-supermodel wife's shoulder. Bad! Bad rock star!
I won't pay for it. You won't advertise to me. And then I won't buy your product. Now go home and cry on your ex-supermodel wife's shoulder. Bad! Bad rock star!
Every church is liturgical
Click the link and scroll down below the fine photo of the marching band uniform. Thanks to KDNY for pointing this out.
Baptize your babies
The following was lifted from a blog quoting Doug Wilson. The argument from silence is VERY strong.
"The question for our baptistic brethren is this. Are you prepared to maintain that an infant brought to your congregation (formally and covenantally excluded) is in the same position as an infant brought to a believing synagogue in Jerusalem in AD 52? Not only would the believing synagogue not exclude such an infant, I believe that they would have difficulty even comprehending the concept of excluding the infants. And if there was such a generation-long uproar over the inclusion of the Gentiles, what would the commotion have been if the apostles really were teaching the Jews that not only must you start admitting the Gentile adults, but you must start excluding your own children? I have trouble believing that this would not have caused the Mother of all Theological Controversies. But there is not a word about such a controversy in the New Testament".
"The question for our baptistic brethren is this. Are you prepared to maintain that an infant brought to your congregation (formally and covenantally excluded) is in the same position as an infant brought to a believing synagogue in Jerusalem in AD 52? Not only would the believing synagogue not exclude such an infant, I believe that they would have difficulty even comprehending the concept of excluding the infants. And if there was such a generation-long uproar over the inclusion of the Gentiles, what would the commotion have been if the apostles really were teaching the Jews that not only must you start admitting the Gentile adults, but you must start excluding your own children? I have trouble believing that this would not have caused the Mother of all Theological Controversies. But there is not a word about such a controversy in the New Testament".
Baptize your babies
The following was lifted from a blog quoting Doug Wilson:
"The question for our baptistic brethren is this. Are you prepared to maintain that an infant brought to your congregation (formally and covenantally excluded) is in the same position as an infant brought to a believing synagogue in Jerusalem in AD 52? Not only would the believing synagogue not exclude such an infant, I believe that they would have difficulty even comprehending the concept of excluding the infants. And if there was such a generation-long uproar over the inclusion of the Gentiles, what would the commotion have been if the apostles really were teaching the Jews that not only must you start admitting the Gentile adults, but you must start excluding your own children? I have trouble believing that this would not have caused the Mother of all Theological Controversies. But there is not a word about such a controversy in the New Testament".
"The question for our baptistic brethren is this. Are you prepared to maintain that an infant brought to your congregation (formally and covenantally excluded) is in the same position as an infant brought to a believing synagogue in Jerusalem in AD 52? Not only would the believing synagogue not exclude such an infant, I believe that they would have difficulty even comprehending the concept of excluding the infants. And if there was such a generation-long uproar over the inclusion of the Gentiles, what would the commotion have been if the apostles really were teaching the Jews that not only must you start admitting the Gentile adults, but you must start excluding your own children? I have trouble believing that this would not have caused the Mother of all Theological Controversies. But there is not a word about such a controversy in the New Testament".
21.10.05
Problem: Two Parties- One Funky Presbyterian
It's all boils down to math, really. Two parties Saturday night and only one Funky Presbyter to go around. Ah well. Such is the price one pays for such a hip happenin' social life. Normally I would choose which party to attend based on the predicted funkiness of each. Unfortunately both are registering as maximum funk on the funkometer. In such a case I would normally choose based on which party would afford me the greatest opportunity to display my break dancin' skills. I mean skillz. Neither gathering bodes well for my awesome robotics. (I was pro'lly gonna do the worm too, but whatever). So I guess I must resort to going where I was invited first. Maybe I'll bust out the windmill anyway.
As consolation for your deep empathy with my dilemma, I've linked to an appropriate cartoon. Enjoy.
As consolation for your deep empathy with my dilemma, I've linked to an appropriate cartoon. Enjoy.
All Things Beautiful and Bright
Hey. Remember that really awesome Christian Rock band that played Cornerstone back in in the summer of '93 and blew everybody away? Remember? They opened with Adam Ants "good two shoes" and then ripped through a set of songs good enough to make Thom York jealous. Remember? Then they left Cornerstone and wrecked thier van and they all almost died and were in the hospital for months and then when they all got out they recorded one more album which was one of the best albums of the year- maybe even the decade? Remember that? It had that Frank Lloyd Wright designed interior of a public library on the cover? And it had that song "Mincemeat" that just absolutely left you breathless everytime you heard it? And then they just disappeared. Remember? Of course you don't. No one does.
Well, I remember. That band was called Luxury and recently their ex-lead singer, Lee Bozeman has released a solo project under the name "All Things Beautiful and Bright". You can listen to a track by clicking the title link of this post.
In addition, Luxury released a NEW album on Northern Records this month. Look it up, check it out. Purchase it.
File Under: Christian Rock that doesn't suck. (it's a very small category).
Well, I remember. That band was called Luxury and recently their ex-lead singer, Lee Bozeman has released a solo project under the name "All Things Beautiful and Bright". You can listen to a track by clicking the title link of this post.
In addition, Luxury released a NEW album on Northern Records this month. Look it up, check it out. Purchase it.
File Under: Christian Rock that doesn't suck. (it's a very small category).
I am speechless.
One Nation Under... Hey Wait a Second! I am speechless, but thankfully, KDNY is not! KDNY suspects the bushfish is the reason for Katrina. You know... I think he may be on to something.
Originally uploaded by Greg Blosser.
20.10.05
19.10.05
17.10.05
15.10.05
This looks like a Pez dispenser...
...but really it's an MP3 player. I am overwhelmed by the awesomeness.
13.10.05
HOW SERIOUS IS THE THREAT OF ASIAN BIRD FLU?
Well, check this out. I pulled it off the cdc web site. Apparantly in April of this year W signed an executive order broadening the scope of quarantinable diseases to include influenza. ahh- Ahhh- AHHHH- CHOO!
Executive Order: Amendment to E.O. 13295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 13295 of April 4, 2003, section 1 of such order is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
"(c) Influenza caused by novel or reemergent influenza viruses that are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic.".
Sec. 2. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 1, 2005.
Executive Order: Amendment to E.O. 13295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 13295 of April 4, 2003, section 1 of such order is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
"(c) Influenza caused by novel or reemergent influenza viruses that are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic.".
Sec. 2. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 1, 2005.
12.10.05
you go, google.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (search) vowed to create a company "that does good things for the world even if we forgo short-term gains." Toward that end, the pair said they would earmark 1 percent of Google's stock and future profit for a charitable foundation.
- Read the rest of the article at the above link. Man, just imagine what couold be done with 10%.
- Read the rest of the article at the above link. Man, just imagine what couold be done with 10%.
11.10.05
you go girl.
I give Oprah flack whenever I can. It's really not Oprah- the person- I have a problem with. It's what she represents. It's all the cheap psycho-babble- believe in yourself- remember your spirit- just look inside- stuff she preaches each day and the way America undiscerningly laps up every empty self-help cliche she spews forth. She's preaching the only gospel she knows. Just so happens it's no gospel at all. Then there's Dr. Phil, Oprah's instead-man. Don't get me started. (However I will say he definiely knows how to rock the 'stache).
Yes. I give Oprah crap.
Therefor it is only fair that I also give Oprah props on her admirable and courageous behavior as well. Most recently she has announced that she intends to fight for the improvement of laws relating to the sentencing of convicted child molesters. She intends to attack this issue state by state and at her own personal expense. She believes this is the purpose for which she was created. (It's just too bad she got side tracked with that whole talk show thing for the last couple of decades).
Anyway, her passionate conviction and determination to make positive change in defense of the defenseless and at great personal expense is truly noble. You go girl.
Yes. I give Oprah crap.
Therefor it is only fair that I also give Oprah props on her admirable and courageous behavior as well. Most recently she has announced that she intends to fight for the improvement of laws relating to the sentencing of convicted child molesters. She intends to attack this issue state by state and at her own personal expense. She believes this is the purpose for which she was created. (It's just too bad she got side tracked with that whole talk show thing for the last couple of decades).
Anyway, her passionate conviction and determination to make positive change in defense of the defenseless and at great personal expense is truly noble. You go girl.
Lyrics
From The Mountain Goats album The Sunset Tree:
love love love
king saul fell on his sword when it all went wrong,
and joseph's brothers sold him down the river for a song,
and sonny liston rubbed some tiger balm into his glove.
some things you do for money and some you do for love love love.
raskolnikov felt sick but he couldn't say why
when he saw his face reflected in his victim's twinkling eye.
some things you'll do for money and some you'll do for fun,
but the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one.
love love is going to lead you by the hand
into a white and soundless place.
now we see things as in a mirror dimly.
then we shall see each other face to face.
and way out in seattle young kurt cobain
snuck out to the greenhouse, put a bullet in his brain.
snakes in the grass beneath our feet, rain in the clouds above,
some moments last forever, but some flare up with love love love.
love love love
king saul fell on his sword when it all went wrong,
and joseph's brothers sold him down the river for a song,
and sonny liston rubbed some tiger balm into his glove.
some things you do for money and some you do for love love love.
raskolnikov felt sick but he couldn't say why
when he saw his face reflected in his victim's twinkling eye.
some things you'll do for money and some you'll do for fun,
but the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one.
love love is going to lead you by the hand
into a white and soundless place.
now we see things as in a mirror dimly.
then we shall see each other face to face.
and way out in seattle young kurt cobain
snuck out to the greenhouse, put a bullet in his brain.
snakes in the grass beneath our feet, rain in the clouds above,
some moments last forever, but some flare up with love love love.
10.10.05
Another Sign of the Apocalypse:
This Louis Vuitton wallet sells for $570. Of course the obvious question: Once we've purchased the wallet, what the @#*%! are we suppose to put in it?
Kabbala, Madonna and the Christ
By RACHEL HOAG
Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM
A song on Madonna's upcoming album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported Sunday.
The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar.
Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Rabbi Rafael Cohen, head of a seminary named after Luria, suggested Madonna's actions could lead to divine retribution.
"Jewish law forbids the use of the name of the holy rabbi for profit. Her act is just simply unacceptable and I can only sympathize for her because of the punishment that she is going to receive from the heavens," Cohen told the newspaper.
Another rabbi called for Madonna to be thrown out of the community.
"Such a woman brings great sin on kabbalah," Rabbi Israel Deri told Maariv. "I hope that we will have the strength to prevent her from bringing sin upon the holiness of the rabbi (Yitzhak Luria)."
Madonna spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment Sunday.
The singer and actress was raised a Roman Catholic but has become a follower of Kabbalah in recent years and adopted the Hebrew name Esther. She made a much publicized visit to Israel in 2004, when she visited many sites important to Kabbalah, but didn't travel to Luria's grave.
And this from Grace Central last night:
come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
full of pity joined with power
he is able, he is able
he is willing, doubt no more.
Kabbala rejects "such a woman" because she brings great sin upon Kabbala. Jesus calls "such a woman" SO THAT SHE MAY bring her great sin upon him, and thus recieve mercy, grace and transformation.
The beauty of the gospel as seen in contrast is overwhelming. At least to those of us who understand we too are "such a woman". He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more.
Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM
A song on Madonna's upcoming album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported Sunday.
The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar.
Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Rabbi Rafael Cohen, head of a seminary named after Luria, suggested Madonna's actions could lead to divine retribution.
"Jewish law forbids the use of the name of the holy rabbi for profit. Her act is just simply unacceptable and I can only sympathize for her because of the punishment that she is going to receive from the heavens," Cohen told the newspaper.
Another rabbi called for Madonna to be thrown out of the community.
"Such a woman brings great sin on kabbalah," Rabbi Israel Deri told Maariv. "I hope that we will have the strength to prevent her from bringing sin upon the holiness of the rabbi (Yitzhak Luria)."
Madonna spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment Sunday.
The singer and actress was raised a Roman Catholic but has become a follower of Kabbalah in recent years and adopted the Hebrew name Esther. She made a much publicized visit to Israel in 2004, when she visited many sites important to Kabbalah, but didn't travel to Luria's grave.
And this from Grace Central last night:
come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
full of pity joined with power
he is able, he is able
he is willing, doubt no more.
Kabbala rejects "such a woman" because she brings great sin upon Kabbala. Jesus calls "such a woman" SO THAT SHE MAY bring her great sin upon him, and thus recieve mercy, grace and transformation.
The beauty of the gospel as seen in contrast is overwhelming. At least to those of us who understand we too are "such a woman". He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more.
Reading...
"But in all fairness, there is another side to this story, justifiably provoking the contempt of the skeptic. Much of what has passed for the Chrisitian message has been nothing more than frothy God-talk - mindless, thoughtless and in it's exploitation of people, heartless. This too, will not do. Just as so much of antitheistic thinking when scrutinized is sensically impoversished, so also much religious verbiage, seeped in emotional drivel and bereft of reason, can be tossed at unsuspecting audiences in the name of orthodoxy. The ruinous end of the latter, in it's destruction of lives plundered materially and spiritually, may be greater than the ideas perpetrated by the openly cynical. Is there an answer to all this? I sincerely trust there is. And it is to find that common ground of interaction that this material is presented."
- page xvi, Can Man Live Without God
Ravi Zacharias
- page xvi, Can Man Live Without God
Ravi Zacharias
7.10.05
Josh Ritter's Thin Blue Flame
A new track by Josh Ritter. You've got to check him out. This guy's got the goods. I'd love to read your review of this track here. Who likes it? Who doesn't & why?
6.10.05
Second Greatest Band Of All time Releases Oral History Today
It is now time for the celebratory rocking out...
I had me a vision
There wasn't any television
From looking into the sun
Looking into the sun
We got to think quick
Says blind St. Nick hey
From looking into the sun
Looking into the sun
We got to get some beer
We got no atmosphere
From looking into the sun
Looking into the sun
I had me a vision
There wasn't any television
From looking into the sun.
I had me a vision
There wasn't any television
From looking into the sun
Looking into the sun
We got to think quick
Says blind St. Nick hey
From looking into the sun
Looking into the sun
We got to get some beer
We got no atmosphere
From looking into the sun
Looking into the sun
I had me a vision
There wasn't any television
From looking into the sun.
Depression and Liturgy: Insights from the funky study
Have you ever been to a church service in which the order and content of the service was prescribed from start to finish? These are called liturgical services. They consist of prayers and readings that have been prepared in advance.
If you are depressed, you are going to have to learn to be a liturgical worshipper.
If you wait until you feel motivated to worship, you might be waiting a long time. If you are remotely inclined to communicate with God, you might find that words fail and you have nothing to say. When you drag yourself to worship, the service had better be mapped out ahead of time.
- from "Depression: A Stubborn Darkness" by Edward T. Welch (MDiv, PhD)
If you are depressed, you are going to have to learn to be a liturgical worshipper.
If you wait until you feel motivated to worship, you might be waiting a long time. If you are remotely inclined to communicate with God, you might find that words fail and you have nothing to say. When you drag yourself to worship, the service had better be mapped out ahead of time.
- from "Depression: A Stubborn Darkness" by Edward T. Welch (MDiv, PhD)
5.10.05
Jose Gonzalez
He's Swedish! He's Argentinian! He's a singer! He's a songwriter! He's a super-hyphenated, multi-instrumental, musical-up-and-comer. If you like Elliot Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Redhouse Painters, Alexi Murdoch, or Chumbawumba if there was only one of them and he wrote good songs, didn't suck, played an acoustic guitar, and never had a snowball's chance of making it on Mtv, then click the link above to hear a sample and see a video.
If you wipe boogers under your school desk then do not click the link above.
If you wipe boogers under your school desk then do not click the link above.
Jacksonville City Nights - Ryan Adams
I am currently practicing the art of delayed gratification by NOT purchasing this album. But above is a link to a well written review.
How to Sing the Blues: Depression, Anxiety, Sorrow and the Struggle for Belief
A heart that beats is a heart that breaks. Our modern culture would have us to believe that the experience of depression, anxiety and sorrow is abnormal, wrong and a problem to be “fixed”. Join us as we examine the difficult feelings all people experience and the surprisingly realistic perspective our ancient faith brings to bear at such times.
If the drugs stopped working, you’re on your fifth therapist or you just need a fresh look at an old struggle, join us at grace central for How to Sing the Blues. We look forward to seeing you.
237 West Second Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201
6pm Sunday Evenings: October 9th – November 6th
If the drugs stopped working, you’re on your fifth therapist or you just need a fresh look at an old struggle, join us at grace central for How to Sing the Blues. We look forward to seeing you.
237 West Second Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201
6pm Sunday Evenings: October 9th – November 6th
Being Truly Progressive by Brett McCracken
Found this article on RelevantMagazine.com
Much that is written on this website—and indeed, most writing anywhere these days—can be categorized as critical. That is, writing that critiques, analyzes, induces or describes something—whether art, a public figure, etc. This kind of writing is largely subjective, marginally informative and dominates public discourse today. Thanks to the influence of decades of postmodern theory, cultural and technological transformations (the Internet and other digital communication) as well as the general deconstructed “information age” in which most of us have grown up, this rather new phenomenon is not just a passing fad.
Lest you shrug off the influence of this “populist critic” phenomenon, just turn on the news. The media today is less about reporting facts and much more guided by talking-head orgies of analysis. There are head-filled squares all over the screen, prattling on about who’s to blame for this and that, or what the latest polls about thus and such mean. It is all a wild game of speculation, and the viewers eat it up. Why? Because we too are obsessed with deconstructive critique. Look no further than the mirror to see your own favorite critic.
The problem with a culture in love with criticism is obvious, however. Amid all the accusatory rambling, partisan bickering and self-serving questioning, there is a massive dearth of the one thing we use to find helpful: answers. Unfortunately for us, postmodern life has infused in us a general disposition away from answers, largely because they proved so ineffective in the modernist, totalitarian chaos that was the 20th century. Questions are much more fun, less judgmental and certainly less dangerous than answers. But where, if not eventually to some sort of answers, will our questions lead us?
Before I go further, I want to make a distinction that I think is important when we talk about questioning. On one hand, questioning is a very good thing. Neil Postman called it “the most important intellectual ability man has yet developed” (Teaching as a Subversive Activity). When it is done out of a sincerely inquisitive, awe-inspired spirit, questioning is a beautiful thing. We were made for such reflection. The sort of questioning that plagues our society today, however, is that which we first learned in school: questioning to learn what we must to get by; questioning for our self-advancement. It is this spirit that leads us away from serious, unpretentious inquiry and toward a perverted skepticism that thrives on passing off blame, purging self-guilt and demolishing all that comes close to threatening our subjective paradigms.
Where will such a philosophy take us? To a cultural meltdown I think, and perhaps much sooner than later. It is only logical to assume that in a society where answers are forbidden and objectivists are burned at the ideological stake, we will eventually run ourselves into the muck of useless existential filibuster. It is all too apparent that if our politics continue to phase out dialogue in favor of bloody-knuckle turf warfare, our government will collapse under its own identity crises. Finally, it is eerily evident that in these days when men so aggressively downplay their own culpable characters in favor of arbitrary value judgments against forces outside of themselves (parents, gender, governments, hurricanes), C.S. Lewis was dead right: “Stepping outside the Tao, they have stepped into the void … They are not men at all: they are artifacts. Man's final conquest has proved to be the abolition of Man.”
In an effort to not defeat my own argument here, I must now take this discussion away from doomsday speculation and back to a practical level of application. For therein lies the heart of what I am saying here—it is fun, easy and (sometimes) productive to critique the world, but only helpful if there are suggestions or answers to be offered as well; or at least directions we can be productively pushed.
So that I do not sound like one of those “postmodernity is the devil” Christians, let me make clear: I do not advocate a return to a dogmatic, “we have ALL the answers” faith. Part of postmodernity’s value is in its reminder that truth is far more decentralized than Western rationalists might like. That said, we must recognize a key difference between possessing truth and proclaiming that it exists. The mindset today is that since truth is relative, a la carte and localized, its broad relevance or application is negligible. This attitude quickly becomes a sort of teleological defeatism, with study and inquiry ultimately to a rather undefined, paltry end. What Christians and most religions proclaim, however, is that there are Answers with a capital A, and that they apply to everyone and everything under the sun.
To acknowledge the existence of Answers and universal truths is a big step. If Christians can reconcile this reality with the notion that we do not, in fact, possess all such knowledge, we might start to become truly progressive. Progress builds upon what we know already (which is not everything) into the world our senses and intellect can explore. Progress comes when questions, probes and queries about the nature of being, art, origin and end become the driving force of a culture willing to expand its mind.
This section of RELEVANT is known as “Progressive Culture,” but is that title aptly descriptive? Too often the section seems bogged down by culture critique and entertainment analyses that offer little in the way of progressive advice or engagement. Progress can be as little as raising a genuine question that will instigate needed discussion; it can be as much as a cultural call to arms. What it can not be, however, is self-gratifying ranting which proclaims, “This is how it is, we have nowhere to go from here.” That is the opposite of progression.
My cultural call to arms, then, is this: Christians, embrace dialogue, thought and search for that elusive frame of mind in which, as Lewis describes in The Abolition of Man, the love of truth exceeds the love of power. Do not sit back and join the choir of carefree criticism that dominates our culture. Mark Noll is right to warn, in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, “If we take this action by inaction, we are saying that we want our lives to be shaped by cultural forces—including intellectual forces—that contradict the heart of our religion.” To be passive in a culture that seems to define progress as the destruction of traditional truth seeking will surely be our downfall.
Much that is written on this website—and indeed, most writing anywhere these days—can be categorized as critical. That is, writing that critiques, analyzes, induces or describes something—whether art, a public figure, etc. This kind of writing is largely subjective, marginally informative and dominates public discourse today. Thanks to the influence of decades of postmodern theory, cultural and technological transformations (the Internet and other digital communication) as well as the general deconstructed “information age” in which most of us have grown up, this rather new phenomenon is not just a passing fad.
Lest you shrug off the influence of this “populist critic” phenomenon, just turn on the news. The media today is less about reporting facts and much more guided by talking-head orgies of analysis. There are head-filled squares all over the screen, prattling on about who’s to blame for this and that, or what the latest polls about thus and such mean. It is all a wild game of speculation, and the viewers eat it up. Why? Because we too are obsessed with deconstructive critique. Look no further than the mirror to see your own favorite critic.
The problem with a culture in love with criticism is obvious, however. Amid all the accusatory rambling, partisan bickering and self-serving questioning, there is a massive dearth of the one thing we use to find helpful: answers. Unfortunately for us, postmodern life has infused in us a general disposition away from answers, largely because they proved so ineffective in the modernist, totalitarian chaos that was the 20th century. Questions are much more fun, less judgmental and certainly less dangerous than answers. But where, if not eventually to some sort of answers, will our questions lead us?
Before I go further, I want to make a distinction that I think is important when we talk about questioning. On one hand, questioning is a very good thing. Neil Postman called it “the most important intellectual ability man has yet developed” (Teaching as a Subversive Activity). When it is done out of a sincerely inquisitive, awe-inspired spirit, questioning is a beautiful thing. We were made for such reflection. The sort of questioning that plagues our society today, however, is that which we first learned in school: questioning to learn what we must to get by; questioning for our self-advancement. It is this spirit that leads us away from serious, unpretentious inquiry and toward a perverted skepticism that thrives on passing off blame, purging self-guilt and demolishing all that comes close to threatening our subjective paradigms.
Where will such a philosophy take us? To a cultural meltdown I think, and perhaps much sooner than later. It is only logical to assume that in a society where answers are forbidden and objectivists are burned at the ideological stake, we will eventually run ourselves into the muck of useless existential filibuster. It is all too apparent that if our politics continue to phase out dialogue in favor of bloody-knuckle turf warfare, our government will collapse under its own identity crises. Finally, it is eerily evident that in these days when men so aggressively downplay their own culpable characters in favor of arbitrary value judgments against forces outside of themselves (parents, gender, governments, hurricanes), C.S. Lewis was dead right: “Stepping outside the Tao, they have stepped into the void … They are not men at all: they are artifacts. Man's final conquest has proved to be the abolition of Man.”
In an effort to not defeat my own argument here, I must now take this discussion away from doomsday speculation and back to a practical level of application. For therein lies the heart of what I am saying here—it is fun, easy and (sometimes) productive to critique the world, but only helpful if there are suggestions or answers to be offered as well; or at least directions we can be productively pushed.
So that I do not sound like one of those “postmodernity is the devil” Christians, let me make clear: I do not advocate a return to a dogmatic, “we have ALL the answers” faith. Part of postmodernity’s value is in its reminder that truth is far more decentralized than Western rationalists might like. That said, we must recognize a key difference between possessing truth and proclaiming that it exists. The mindset today is that since truth is relative, a la carte and localized, its broad relevance or application is negligible. This attitude quickly becomes a sort of teleological defeatism, with study and inquiry ultimately to a rather undefined, paltry end. What Christians and most religions proclaim, however, is that there are Answers with a capital A, and that they apply to everyone and everything under the sun.
To acknowledge the existence of Answers and universal truths is a big step. If Christians can reconcile this reality with the notion that we do not, in fact, possess all such knowledge, we might start to become truly progressive. Progress builds upon what we know already (which is not everything) into the world our senses and intellect can explore. Progress comes when questions, probes and queries about the nature of being, art, origin and end become the driving force of a culture willing to expand its mind.
This section of RELEVANT is known as “Progressive Culture,” but is that title aptly descriptive? Too often the section seems bogged down by culture critique and entertainment analyses that offer little in the way of progressive advice or engagement. Progress can be as little as raising a genuine question that will instigate needed discussion; it can be as much as a cultural call to arms. What it can not be, however, is self-gratifying ranting which proclaims, “This is how it is, we have nowhere to go from here.” That is the opposite of progression.
My cultural call to arms, then, is this: Christians, embrace dialogue, thought and search for that elusive frame of mind in which, as Lewis describes in The Abolition of Man, the love of truth exceeds the love of power. Do not sit back and join the choir of carefree criticism that dominates our culture. Mark Noll is right to warn, in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, “If we take this action by inaction, we are saying that we want our lives to be shaped by cultural forces—including intellectual forces—that contradict the heart of our religion.” To be passive in a culture that seems to define progress as the destruction of traditional truth seeking will surely be our downfall.
2.10.05
I am awake way way too late.
I have a coffee & bagels men's group meeting tomorrow morning pretty early. I hope someone shows up, cause I'm stinkin; tired and can't sleep. Ever have one of those nights when you know you have to up early in the morning and you just keep laying there looking at the clock like every ten minutes and one time when you roll over you see it's like super late- like four AM late and you start like doing the math in your head like "ok... if I go to sleep right now i can still get two and half hours of sleep... plus hit snooze twice, maybe I can skip the shower, that'll give me three hours... three hours. that's not too bad" but then like an hour and a h alf later you are still awake? Do you know what I mean? And then you start getting really mad at your wife for laying there all asleep, with her eyes cosed and what not like she's just rubbing it in that she can get some rest while you toss and turn. And then she has the nerve to pretend like she's not sleeping well on purpose, just to make some kind of point. Know what I mean? Alrighty people, I gotta get some rest or the boys may not have any bagels in the AM.
GO TO SLEEP.
SLEEP, %^#@$&!
NOW!
crap.
GO TO SLEEP.
SLEEP, %^#@$&!
NOW!
crap.
A quote I read today (and which I take as a personal challenge!)
However, if your pastor teaches the way of Christ in a such a way that he, at times, is in jeopardy of getting fired you may be in a good church.
Old Canes
Old Canes, Early Morning Hymns: I've been enjoying this abum quite a bit lately. Sometimes it makes me happy and sometimes it makes me sad. Right now it makes me sad. It just sounds sad... in a happy way. I guess you'll just have to listen to see what I mean. It's somewhat low-fi. Everything sounds to have been recorded in one take. Has a very off the cuff feel. I like it and I'm willing to bet you will as well. Click the title of this post for a special treat.
Also, if you scroll down a few posts to the Neutral Milk Hotel entry and click on the title you will be magically transported to a special live recording of NMH's Two-Headed Boy: Part 1. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
Also, if you scroll down a few posts to the Neutral Milk Hotel entry and click on the title you will be magically transported to a special live recording of NMH's Two-Headed Boy: Part 1. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
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