Amelie Month Four
I'll be updating with more as we take them. This kid is a riot. Her drool is a like a waterfall. And she giggled for the first time Saturday. She's using her fingers more too.
Hermeneutics and song lyrics
I was browsing SongMeanings.net a few days ago trying to find the meaning of "Hide and seek" by Imogen Heap, and something hit me like a ton of bricks. The bulk of the comments left on the song's lyrics begin with either the phrase "What this song means to me is..." or "I think it means..." Some of these people would post five or six paragraphs of their own personal interpretation of the song. There really is not a nicer way to say this. When I go poking around on the internet for the meaning to a song's lyrics, I don't care what you think it means! If I think the song is about cupcakes and rainbows, that really does not matter one bit (aside from the fact that someone may want to send me to get mentally evaluated).
The sole determining factor in the meaning of a song's lyrics lies in two places. First, it lies in the grammatical relationships between the words of the song. In other words, the meaning lies in the meaning of the words of the song and how they fit together. But I understand that vaguery exists in the English language, which leads me to the second source of meaning of a song's lyrics, the original intent of the song writer. Imogen had a specific meaning and context in mind (hopefully) when she wrote the song, and therefore we must go to her to fully understand what the song is saying to us. Nothing else is valid. Therefore, a proper comment on the song's lyrics would begin something like, "Imogen said in an article that it means..." or "I asked Imogen at a concert and she said it was about..." The assertion that I can give the song a meaning of its own is pure dribble.
For the uninitiated:Hide and Seek
Where are we?
what the hell is going on?
the dust has only
just begun to fall
Crop circles in the carpet
Sinking feeling
Spin me round again
and rub my eyes
this can't be happening
when busy streets a mess with people
would stop to hold their heads heavy
Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines
All those years
They were here first
oily marks appear on walls
where pleasure moments hung before
the takeover
the sweeping insensitivity
of this
still life
Hide and seek
trains and sewing machines
Blood and tears
They were here first
mm what d'ya say?
that you only meant well, well of course you did
this it's all for the best, of course it is
that it's just what we need, you decided this?
what did you say?
Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
Mid sweet talk newspaper word cut outs
Speak no feeling no I don't believe you
you don't care a bit
A room full of mirrors...
Not to show people the all-satisfying God is not-John Piper
to love them. To make them feel good about themselves when
they were made to feel good about seeing God is like taking
someone to the Alps and locking them in a room full of mirrors.
Content Resurrection: Breathing new life into old content...
So before this blog I actually had 3 other blogs. I had a Livejournal account and two Blogger blogs. Although all three are technically still floating around out there on the internet, no one is really reading them, and they aren't being updated. The only thing I do not like about this is that there are some really good posts in those blogs that no one who reads The Cross Driven Blog will ever see. I was poking around on my old blogs today looking for something, and I had an idea. Why don't I resurrect some of the content? It would provide my new readers with a look at some of my old posts (which is new content to them) without me having to send them wading through my old (and suffering from neglect) blogs. Now, not all the content that I post is going to be original content. There are quotes and pictures and such. I just don't want those who have followed me from other blogs to say, "Why is he posting this again?" So without further ado, here is my first post in the Content Resurrection series:
My favorite part of Half Nelson:
Dan: If I had a copy of Mein Kampf, would that make me a Nazi?
Isabel: Well, you don't have a copy of Mein Kampf, but if you did, then yes, I'd ask if you were a Nazi.
Dan: Maybe I'm hiding it.
Isabel: Why would you hide it?
Dan: 'Cause it's just not cool to be a Nazi anymore, baby.
My favorite part of Half Nelson:
Dan: If I had a copy of Mein Kampf, would that make me a Nazi?
Isabel: Well, you don't have a copy of Mein Kampf, but if you did, then yes, I'd ask if you were a Nazi.
Dan: Maybe I'm hiding it.
Isabel: Why would you hide it?
Dan: 'Cause it's just not cool to be a Nazi anymore, baby.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ban Lifted
President Obama has lifted the restrictions upon the use of government funds for embryonic stem cell research. Yuval Levin at Moral Accountability has cleared up four misconceptions about stem cell ban resulting from media coverage. Click to see the article. I'll sum up his misconceptions here:
1. The federal government has in fact never before-even under President Clinton-used taxpayer dollars to encourage the destruction of human embryos, as it will now begin to do. Obama’s decision is an unprecedented break with the longstanding federal policy of neutrality toward embryo research.
2. The coverage suggests the Bush policy was a ban on embryonic stem cell research. In fact, again, the Bush policy provided federal funds for the first time.
3. In the last few years, researchers have made groundbreaking advances in the development of pluripotent cells without the need to use or destroy human embryos.
4. The real holy grail for the treatment of degenerative diseases may be the employment of small molecules to transform cells from one type to another within the body of a patient: a different model of treatment altogether from the cell therapies that stem cell science was once expected to produce.
These four facts fly in the face of the media coverage that the lifting of the embryonic stem cell research ban has been getting. Give the article a read to get the truth in a bit more detail. It is worth your time.
1. The federal government has in fact never before-even under President Clinton-used taxpayer dollars to encourage the destruction of human embryos, as it will now begin to do. Obama’s decision is an unprecedented break with the longstanding federal policy of neutrality toward embryo research.
2. The coverage suggests the Bush policy was a ban on embryonic stem cell research. In fact, again, the Bush policy provided federal funds for the first time.
3. In the last few years, researchers have made groundbreaking advances in the development of pluripotent cells without the need to use or destroy human embryos.
4. The real holy grail for the treatment of degenerative diseases may be the employment of small molecules to transform cells from one type to another within the body of a patient: a different model of treatment altogether from the cell therapies that stem cell science was once expected to produce.
These four facts fly in the face of the media coverage that the lifting of the embryonic stem cell research ban has been getting. Give the article a read to get the truth in a bit more detail. It is worth your time.
The Bare Minimum...
John Piper:
Somehow there had been wakened in me a passion for the essence and the main point of life. The ethical question “whether something is permissible” faded in relation to the question, “what is the main thing, the essential thing?” The thought of building a life around minimal morality or minimal significance—a life defined by the question, “What is permissible?”—felt almost disgusting to me. I didn’t want a minimal life. I didn’t want to live on the outskirts of reality. I wanted to understand the main thing about life and pursue it.How am I living my life? Am I trying to do the bare minimum as a father, as a student, and as a preacher of the gospel? Or am pursuing the main thing for my greatest joy?
God of this city.
This is the promo video for Vintage Church. It features the song "God of This City". They lyrics are below.
You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of these nation
You are
You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things
Have yet to come
And greater things
Are still to be done in this city
For greater things
Have yet to come
And greater things
Are still to be done here
You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings
You Are
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for you and love for you
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here
Nearly every day I drive from the seminary campus to the West Bank, where I work. As I make the merge from from I-10 to 90, I can see the sun rising in the east. It strikes the Mississippi River bridge and hits the city buildings. The buildings cast long shadows into the city, and the city lights can still be seen in many places. It's breathtaking and beautiful. I googled around for a picture of it, but I couldn't really find one that shows it from the angle from which I see it. Some day I may stop and take a picture if it is not too dangerous.
I believe that God is doing something amazing in this city. I love New Orleans. I think I want to spend my life here. There is no other place on Earth like it. God wants the to save New Orleans from the sin and corruption that characterizes it. The light of Christ can shine in this city. We have to be faithful. We have to pray hard. We have to work hard. We have to live and love and make our homes in the city. We have to be generous and selfless. We have to love the people -all of them. The gospel will win. God will transform this city by the power of the Holy Spirit. Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.
You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of these nation
You are
You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things
Have yet to come
And greater things
Are still to be done in this city
For greater things
Have yet to come
And greater things
Are still to be done here
You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings
You Are
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for you and love for you
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here
Nearly every day I drive from the seminary campus to the West Bank, where I work. As I make the merge from from I-10 to 90, I can see the sun rising in the east. It strikes the Mississippi River bridge and hits the city buildings. The buildings cast long shadows into the city, and the city lights can still be seen in many places. It's breathtaking and beautiful. I googled around for a picture of it, but I couldn't really find one that shows it from the angle from which I see it. Some day I may stop and take a picture if it is not too dangerous.
I believe that God is doing something amazing in this city. I love New Orleans. I think I want to spend my life here. There is no other place on Earth like it. God wants the to save New Orleans from the sin and corruption that characterizes it. The light of Christ can shine in this city. We have to be faithful. We have to pray hard. We have to work hard. We have to live and love and make our homes in the city. We have to be generous and selfless. We have to love the people -all of them. The gospel will win. God will transform this city by the power of the Holy Spirit. Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.
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