“But you must just answer a last question. Two equally old trees are growing in a large garden. One of the trees grows in a sunny spot and has plenty of good soil and water. The other tree grows in poor soil in a dark spot. Which of the trees do you think is bigger?…
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Current Events
To Sell Art for Profit is to Deny It’s Worth: Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones & Pirates
“Others, like the label Records on Ribs, have developed a model of supporting artists and raising their profile (because, isn’t that sort of what a record label should be passionate about?) that allows anyone to download new music for free, and then offers them the chance to donate what they think is appropriate for it….
The Bible and Homosexuality
Recently I was involved in a long written correspondence with a friend about the Bible and homosexuality, initiated by the poster above which I posted on facebook. My friend, who is passionate about God’s written word, was upset that I was using the Bible to back up my personal opinion on homosexuality. We ended up…
How the Chick-fil-A boycot is messing with American Capitalism
…this represents the great truth that democracy may not be be complicit with unethical forms of capitalism (if not capitalism itself). That is, if people are given the facts, and begin to care about how people are actually treated, and begin to care about equality of our citizens, business as usual cannot go on. There…
Why Don’t Academics Talk Like Normal People?!? | Art by Charlene Liu
The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. ~Spinoza I can always see the question coming. After recommending to a friend that they read a technical, heavy duty philosophical or theological text, I’m asked “why don’t they just talk like normal people, using normal…
Why Teens Get Bored | Art by Smithe, Mexico
Galvan’s experiment was quite ingenuous. She had kids, teens, and adults play a pirate video game while inside an fMRI scanner, with their heads restrained. Their arms were free to push buttons. With each successful turn of the game, they won some gold–on the screen flashed either a single gold coin, a small stack of…
Who says my spelling is bad? | Illustration by Justin Mezzell
Consistent spelling was a great way to ensure clarity in the print era. But with new technologies, the way that we write and read (and search and data-mine) is changing, and so must spelling. … The notion that words can and should be spelled only one way is a fairly recent invention. “The phrase ‘bad…
How To Destroy Love: Eros The Misunderstood Love | Art by Amanda Rae Long
“Now EROS makes a man really want, not a woman, but one particular woman. In some mysterious but quite indisputable fashion the lover desires the Beloved herself, not the pleasure she can give.” … “Without Eros, sexual desire like every other desire is a fact about ourselves. Within Eros it is rather about the Beloved.”…
There is no Room in the Bible for Piper’s “Masculine Christianity”
“God is spirit,” announces Jesus by the well (John 4:24). This is one of only two definitional propositions about God in scripture. The other is “God is love.” … This is a blog post in accordance and solidarity with Rachel Held Evens and her challenge for men to push back against John Pipers “masculine Christianity.”…
Suppressing Feelings Doesn’t Make Them Go Away
Over the last 50 years, we have learned a lot about what helps children grow up to be psychologically healthy or unhealthy. Chief among those is the emotional climate in a family or simply put, the way parents treat their children and each other…A key element is listening with empathy. When parents learn to listen…