my war on indifference

this is super. and i agree. thank you.

2009-09-03T13:32:55.254-05:00

this is super. and i agree. thank you.

Havaianas have to be the most comfortable flip flo...

2009-08-27T14:29:11.249-05:00

Havaianas have to be the most comfortable flip flops there are. I went to Rio last year and bought and pair and I've worn then ever since. Even in winter.

I miss living in a place where the church has a ha...

2009-08-17T12:09:01.516-05:00

I miss living in a place where the church has a harvest festival.

I agree with what you said about capitalism, but i...

2009-05-26T22:31:23.399-05:00

I agree with what you said about capitalism, but it's my opinion that it's not the government's job to do what the church should be doing. It would be very difficult to make a safety net without distorting capitalism. It would be awesome, but nearly impossible since, as you said, our government isn't run by God.

But great article nonetheless.

I agree with you. It may be true that poverty wil...

2009-05-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

I agree with you. It may be true that poverty will not be eliminated until the Kingdom of God, but Jesus told us the Kingdom does not come with observation but is within us.

We ae responsible for carrying the Kingdom and it's release on Earth.

Jesus taught us to pray, Thy Kingdom Come -Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in heaven

I know that someday Jesus will return and the Kingdom will come in fullness and perfection, but until that day it's my job to exhibit the Kingdom of God in Earth now.

My concern about the social gospel is this: too much of the way it was practiced before had nothing to do with Christ.

Jesus is the rally point. He is what it is all about. If it is all about doing good -without pointing to Jesus -then it isn't even real righteousness. Righteousness only comes through him.

I'm focusing my life personally on what it means to live out the Kingdom of God.

this is so moving, Dave. so well thought out and w...

2009-05-08T15:09:00.000-05:00

this is so moving, Dave. so well thought out and written. thank you.

Dave, I like Kuyper's concept of government not be...

2009-05-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

Dave, I like Kuyper's concept of government not being a social contract, but "a form of grace in an evil time." I believe that Locke's principle of social contract is fallible, because man has no power to give in the first place. All that man has he as received. The establishment of the state is to provide the man with a degree of protection from the evil that resulted from the fall.

Ryan

david, this is sooo wonderful! delightful! and s...

2009-04-22T19:28:00.000-05:00

david,
this is sooo wonderful!
delightful!
and so on:)

I was just wondering a couple days ago if anyone h...

2009-02-28T16:08:00.000-06:00

I was just wondering a couple days ago if anyone has written a book comparing biblical and Constitutional hermeneutics. Glad you heard me!

I wonder if it right to compare them as you have because I think the interpretation of each has two different purposes. The interpretation of Scripture is intending to understand God (ie, the text is pointing to something outside itself) where as legal interpretations, in my understanding, try to understand the Law (ie, the text points to itself). Two examples:

When Illinois drafted non-discrimination for LGBT people legislation a couple years ago, they included sexual orientation but did not mention transgenderism exactly. However, they did define "sexual orientation" to include transgenderism in the bill. Everyone that knows anything about transgenderism knows it's not an orientation, certainly the transgender people who supported that strategy. They did it that way knowing it did not have to make sense in the wider historical or psychological context as long as it was consistent in the purely legal context of that and other IL laws. (By the way, I think this strategy is awfully stupid, but what do I know about drafting law?) But it seems the Law is intended to stand alone, without requiring context.

The biblical (human) authors, however, did not have that intention because they all wrote not to us 21st century Christians but to their immediate communities. I believe that if you take only the context and intent of Isaiah, Isa 53 is not talking about the Messiah, only about Israel. The alternative is to believe Isaiah was thinking to himself, "how can I write this book to talk about the Resurrection without anyone knowing I'm talking about it until after it happens?" Sounds too much like a conspiracy. However, Scripture has two authors: humanity and the Holy Spirit. Isa 53 speaks about Messiah because the Spirit intended, not Isaiah. And we cannot use the intent of the Holy Spirit to understand Scripture because we are already using Scripture to understand the intent of God, creating circular reasoning. Certainly much of Scripture depends on historical context et al, but that is only part of its meaning. When Tradition says Scripture is living, we mean it has a voice outside its human authors.

The problem of legal hermeneutics is reflected in ...

2009-02-28T01:25:00.000-06:00

The problem of legal hermeneutics is reflected in legal writing practices - the necessity of avoiding ambiguities at any expense. Thus, the best legal writers are those that can, within the text, remove the need for context by eliminating alternate interpretations that conflict with their authorial intention. This, I think, shows up the subjectivity from the reverse angle.

In someways, I'd say that legal hermeneutics as yo...

2009-02-27T20:33:00.000-06:00

In someways, I'd say that legal hermeneutics as you describe it sounds more "liberal" in that once the text has left the hands of the original author it in a way gains a life of its own separate from the author. Maybe "a life of its own" isn't the right word.

But I do think that those who think they can interpret a text and avoid reference to any context for the text is a pipe dream. They simply interpret the text based on their own context.

To make a parallel with Biblical studies, the first "Quest for the Historical Jesus" ended at the turn of the last century when Albert Schweitzer said (to paraphrase), "They looked down the well of time and all they saw was their own reflection." In their modernistic framework they deceived themselves into thinking they were objective.

We're killing civilians there so they won't kill c...

2009-02-05T14:59:00.000-06:00

We're killing civilians there so they won't kill civilians over here.

I was going to play devil's advocate. Then I remem...

2009-02-03T18:25:00.000-06:00

I was going to play devil's advocate. Then I remembered the election's over and that I don't care anymore. Or rather, I do care but I'm trying not to get worked up about it.

thank you. this is fresh air.

2009-01-20T15:08:00.000-06:00

thank you. this is fresh air.

i love so much that fleet foxes made your top twen...

2008-12-02T19:58:00.000-06:00

i love so much that fleet foxes made your top twenty... three times:)
i wonder what my top twenty five would look like.
over and out.

this is how neocons cater to the blue collar famil...

2008-10-15T14:11:00.000-05:00

this is how neocons cater to the blue collar families--yes, exactly. what average american (married, a kid, a dog, m-f 9-5,beer, sex, dinner) actually recognizes that the market and the government, essentially, try to govern the same nation (on that philosophical, metaphysical, extremely scary politico level)?

how do you fix it? more parties? eliminate big business? wait for every old, white man in the senate to die out so more obamas/edwards's/mayor of san francisco's can exist?

ultimately life-affirming

2008-10-14T05:01:00.000-05:00

ultimately life-affirming

thought-provoking entry~ randomly came across your...

2008-07-18T22:38:00.000-05:00

thought-provoking entry~ randomly came across your blog somehow. btw, nice taste in music.

I like this. It's like I'm reading a political blo...

2008-07-15T10:51:00.000-05:00

I like this. It's like I'm reading a political blog, but it's written poetically, or prosetically(sp?), and it mixes the worlds very nicely. Reading them as one piece too, without the titles, was interesting.

I like you. Stay you.

how beautiful you write, dave.more please.

2008-07-10T00:15:00.000-05:00

how beautiful you write, dave.
more please.

You stink at updating your blog! And I miss you!

2008-04-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

You stink at updating your blog! And I miss you!

If you end up back in Chicago, will you slam again...

2008-04-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

If you end up back in Chicago, will you slam again?

I saw this online today. http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg...

2008-03-27T10:02:00.000-05:00

I saw this online today.

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080323/capt.715333ec68d0461e8942db72c953a064.ukraine_world_tallest_man_xel105.jpg?x=260&y=345&sig=zDZuJJmfX_XrPQe5gKfrwg--

He must be something of a celebrity now. He's much happier like this - aren't we all?

going up to sf this weekend. i don't have facebook...

2008-02-20T21:08:00.000-06:00

going up to sf this weekend. i don't have facebook anymore. e-mail at ryanchang@gmail.com. hope you're doing well.

okay, i read it again. i think the post is too big...

2008-02-19T20:55:00.000-06:00

okay, i read it again. i think the post is too big for it's britches. You bring up some great ideas, but they just don't belong in a briefly stated blog post. all i mean is that this is all too simplified. and actually, i'm not sure i can agree with all of your assessments. (i'm really not sure if indie rock should be considered a reaction to mass culture, and, you see, if this isn't true, a lot of your other statements don't work. ...a lot of indie and underground music is entirely concerned with art and community, and couldn't care less about what is happening in the mass culture.)
but if you're talking about the "genre" of indie, then we're talking apples and oranges. that genre can be just as much a marketplace as country or rap (and from here, i think the misguided notions come by way of assuming that indie rock has a different "attitude" than country or rap. in the mass culture, the indie genre is no better).
but turn this into a few pages, throw in some sources, and you could really be onto something. at this point, it just seems like an overbearing blog post.
(i say all these things as constructive criticism. i hope they are understood as such)
(somewhere on the internet, there's an awesome conversation between David Byrne and Thom Yorke about music's current state of being. you should definitely find it and read it.)