I am among the least regular bloggers I know. Despite that fact, I am now expanding my blogging reach by joining a team blog posting at Religious Affections. (Here is a post introducing the team.) My first post went up last week (on Thursday; I’m the Thursday guy); you can read it here.
An article about me
I thought it was odd to find an article about myself on First Things this morning.
Logic and Existence
Seeking a bit of input here. Consider the following scale of possible claims:
- 1. God does not exist.
2. It is irrational to believe that God exists.
3. You are within your rational rights to believe in God.
4. Rationality demands belief in God.
5. God exists.
Which of those claims do you think we can prove? And, my bigger question: is there any gap between claims 4 and 5 (or between 1 and 2, for that matter)? In other words, if you prove 4, have you proved 5? If you haven’t, why not?
A growing Riley
I was able to go with Alicia for her ultrasound last week. So far, all seems to be well with our little one. One highlight, captured here: we got to see the baby sucking its thumb. It was quite amazing to see its little jaw moving.
On the general intelligence of folks
Once upon a time, on some discussion website, I saw a commenter’s signature that included this gem:
Consider how dumb the average person is. And now consider that half of the people are dumber than that.
Now, in all honesty, I find this quite funny; I also recognize that it’s supposed to be funny, and that it’s not intended to be subjected to analysis. But analysis is what I do, so let’s consider why it’s funny.
It seems to me that this quip works only because of the Lake Wobegon effect: many people tend to think that “most folks” (a category from which we exclude ourselves, naturally) ain’t too bright.
Making a quick application, it seems to me that this (mis)perception diminishes expectations for our congregations. I have heard, on many occasions, that some hymn or teaching or book or whatnot ought not be thrust upon a congregation, because, after all, “Most people just wouldn’t get it.” Our helpful advisor nearly always exempts himself from great unlearned hoard; he would understand, of course, but they wouldn’t.
I’m certainly not prepared to base an entire philosophy of ministry on this observation: I’m merely contending that too many ministries have built their philosophies of ministry on the assumption that average people are below average.
A link, posted with envy
I don’t own a real smartphone, but that doesn’t stop me from being jealous of this writer, who managed to turn off his phone. Some thoughts worthy of consideration there.
The illustrated guide to facial hair
Note with particular attention the entirely accurate description of the full beard. I think that the illustrated guide in tandem with Ryan Martin’s timeless historical theology of beards are sufficient arguments to draw into the question the spiritual wisdom of the clean shaven.
God’s aseity and conservatism
A number of months ago, I presented a paper at a Conservative Worship Symposium organized by Scott Aniol of Religious Affections Ministries. Scott has been posting my talk in bits and pieces over at his site, but for those interested in such things, both the audio of my talk and my notes are available from the CWS website.
The gist of my presentation is as follows: God’s aseity guarantees the existence of non-relative truth, in that God’s knowledge does not depend on anything outside himself. I argue that a meaningful parallel exists between God’s knowledge and God’s affections; this is, I think, perhaps a novel contribution to the discussion of the impassibility of God. If I am right, God has “feelings” (or better, valuations) about all of his creation that are the standard for our feelings about all of creation, just as God’s knowledge is the standard for ours.
If this is correct, there is good reason to disbelieve that beauty is in the eye of beholder.
A good deal on music
I think I’ve previously mentioned eMusic on this blog; at the very least, I know that in some of my posts on various music issues, I’ve linked to some of their track samples. I was introduced to eMusic by Ryan Martin, who directed me to this great (read: cheap), relentlessly addicting music store.
Anyway, the point of this blog post is simple: eMusic is currently running a really good offer on music, and I thought I’d pass word along for those interested in building their collections. The Annual Basic plan is now $99.99, which gets you 24 credits per month, plus 100 bonus credits for choosing an annual plan.
And now I have to explain credits. eMusic used to be a “one credit equals one track” store, so that 24 credits meant you could download 24 songs. I’m an album guy; I hardly ever (read: never) download individual tracks from CDs; this means that I used to hunt eMusic for things like long symphonies (for instance, Beethoven’s 9th), so that I could download a whole CD for only 4 credits.
However, in recent years, eMusic has made two significant changes: they’ve added some of the major music labels (Sony, etc.), and they’ve switched most CDs to a flat 12-credit-per-disk price (regardless of the number of tracks).
Bottom line: at 24 credits per month, plus the 100 bonus, you get 388 credits for the year. That’s just over 32 CDs, and because some labels (like Telarc) still function on the old plan (one credit per track), you can actually get that number up higher with a little digging. For $99.99, you’re looking at just over $3 per CD, which is hard to beat for really good CDs.
And now for the full disclosure: if you’re reading this, and it sounds like something you’d be interested in, shoot me an email (mpatrickriley@gmail.com). If I send you an invitation to eMusic and you join, I get 50 free credits. Quite frankly, however, it’s just a good deal, and even if you don’t email me and you just go to eMusic directly to take advantage of this, you’ll have a good way to get music for a great rate.
An announcement, and an amusement
The announcement is:
And the amusing story to accompany the announcement: I had taken a picture of the ultrasound with my phone and made it my phone background. While my boss and I were loading our delivery trucks for the day, I decided to show him the picture of our coming baby. So I pulled out my phone and showed him the picture, but I didn’t tell him what it was. His reply: “Hurricane Alex?”
And thus, the baby has a nickname.
Diakrisis 