My Favorite Desmond Tutu Quote

I ran across an outstanding quote today by Desmond Tutu:  Don't raise your voice.  Improve your argument.

Yeah.  I'll be socking that one away for future use.

My Favorite Daniel Patrick Moynihan quote

You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. -- Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Getting something out of Psalms

I can't recall a time when I didn't hear other Christians speak of how "deep," "rich," etc. they found the Psalms.  This has long been a frustration to me, because it has never been my experience of this book.  It's not that I had any antipathy for the Psalms.  Indeed, I've often wanted to have similar experiences, I just...couldn't.

At times, I've wondered if my lack of psalmic epiphanies weren't due to some terrible deficiency in me.  Perhaps I was rotten to the core?  At best, maybe I was just spiritually insensitive--afflicted by a sort of spiritual Asperger Syndrome.

Recently, however, I've found reason to doubt those more pessimistic notions.  Admittedly, this all began when I was asked to adjunct an Old Testament survey class that would encompass the Psalms.  In attempting to bring myself "up to speed" in order to make a respectable attempt at teaching, I first read through a couple of books on the stylistic features of Hebrew parallelism and poetry.  Second, I decided that if I were going to expect my future students to read through this section of Scripture over the course of the class, then I ought to do so as well.  I mapped out how much I would need to read each day to keep up with the teaching schedule I had mapped out, and commenced work.

What I found is that the Psalms are finally "clicking" with me.  This has happened not so much through intensive focus on small sections of Scripture (a method that has brought me much enlightenment for other sections of Scripture) but rather through reading several psalms at a setting.  I have come to realize that--at least for me--the power of the Psalms is more in imaging them than in analyzing them.  In the attempt to immerse myself in their metaphors (I end up trying to imagine how particular passages might be portrayed by Hollywood on an unlimited budget). 

Perhaps this was my problem all along.  I was trying to experience a poetic emotional state, through largely (if not exclusively) rational analysis.  I'm curious if others have had similar challenges when reading the Psalms; And if so, how you responded to/coped with them.

Proverb of the Day: On Rudeness

Rudness is the weak man's imitation of strength. -- Eric Hoffer

Everytime I read Hoffer's quote, I feel a little guilty.  I doubt it can be absolutized (not sure how one would square this with the frequent biblical use of satire, taunt, mocking, etc.) but, in general, this strikes me as pretty accurate.

Guns and Goobers

Eric Shreiner and Dan Joseph have posted a great parody video of the anti-gun hysteria at CNSnews.com.  I heartily recommend it for a good laugh.

Epiphany of the Day: On Teachers

Two kinds of people become teachers: 

Those who enjoy empowering others; 

and those who enjoy the feeling of exercising power over others in their role as "authoritative experts."

The first make great teachers.  

The latter should be avoided like the plague.

What is Christianity?

My drive home from work is a time of reflection for me.  Recently, I started pondering the question:  "How would I respond, if someone asked me what Christianity is?"  Almost immediately I dismissed phrases like, "a religion" or "a set of beliefs."  Though it took a bit longer, I even decided the popular evangelical definition of the last 30 years that it's "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" is insufficient.  After all, it seems to me that everyone has a relationship with Jesus...it's just that for some of us that relationship is one of hate, of dismissal, etc.

Then it hit me.     

Christianity is the original alternative lifestyle 

Fletcher's Illustration of Christian martyrs burned at the stake by Ranavalona I in Madagascar