Sunspots 929

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

The Arts: (and computing) A Conversation writer discusses the use of artificial intelligence in the production of art works.

Christianity:  Two senators, one from each party, are introducing legislation which would hold artificial intelligence companies liable for AI errors, says Gizmodo.

Health: A Conversation writer discusses the finding that over 96% of the US population had antibodies to COVID.

Gizmodo reports that gas stoves produce carcinogens.

Science: Science Alert reports that humans have (usually invisible) stripes on their skins.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 827

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Gizmo's Freeware describes a search engine that turns up public domain art, from art museums. See graphic, which comes from the New York Public Library: 

Computing: Gizmodo reports that the National Weather Service's computing structure is in danger of failure, at times when we need it most.

Gizmodo links to a tool that lets you see if your phone number was among those acquired in a massive Facebook data leak. (Mine wasn't, thank God!)

Education: More than half of the US states have names coming from Native American languages.

Environment: Former Environmental Protection Agency head, Scott Pruitt, did his best to cripple the agency's science advisory boards, for example by placing people on them that claimed that air pollution is good for us. The Biden administration is working to reverse the damage.

Gizmodo reports that the cherry blossoms in Japan are blooming earlier than they've bloomed within the past 1200 years.

Politics: The Pacific Standard analyzes gun laws, and finds that you are more likely to be shot in states that have less restrictive gun laws.

FiveThirtyEight discusses media distrust among Republicans.

And FiveThirtyEight tells us why, after losing the senate and the white house, Republicans aren't looking to change anything.

The graphic usually used in these posts (below) is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this. 

Thanks for looking! 

Sunspots 756

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: The Scientist has posted photos of art made by placing microorganisms on a culture dish. 

Christianity: (and politics) Christianity Today reports on the favorite verses of the Democratic candidates for President.

Christianity Today also reviews a book on Christianity being compatible with socialism.

Relevant reports on an interview with Pete Buttigieg, about the Bible.

Relevant also has a tribute to Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
Computing: (And politics) Rolling Stone has an article about how Russians really operate in the social media universe. (It's probably not the way you think.)

Politics: Five Thirty Eight analyzes the reaction to the November 20th debate between Democratic candidates for President.

(or something) A Utah woman has been charged with a crime because she took her shirt off in her own home, according to NPR.

Science: Gizmodo tells us how bees escape when they fall into water.

Mosquitoes are being infected with bacteria, then released, as a way to combat some mosquito-borne virus diseases, according to NPR.

Gizmodo reports on research on brain function in persons who have had half of their brains removed. Function was remarkably good.


The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.
 
Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 702

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: (and computing) Scientific American considers the question of whether artificial intelligence can create true art. (Aside: The article doesn't say much about the fundamental question: "can you define true art?")

Christianity: He Lives points out some difficulties in taking all scripture literally.


Health: NPR (and other outlets) report on new guidelines on exercise, from the government.

History: (and humor) Listverse tells us about 10 common traditions, and that they are not really long-standing (most less than a century).

Humor: (sort of) NPR reports that a train, with  no crew (or passengers) on board, went for a 57-mile ride, at a good speed, until it was wrecked by remote control.


Politics: Sojourners reports on a survey. Their summary: "White evangelicals are proving to be far more white than evangelical."

(and science) Gizmodo reports on a CNN meteorologist's response to President Trump's tweet about the causes of the fires in California. National Public Radio also writes about the causes. President Trump is correct that part of the problem is (and has been for a long time) management. Some previous fires should have been allowed to burn, so that less fuel was available, or underbrush should have been cleared out. But climate change is an even larger cause of the increase in frequency and strength of the fires.

Science: Gizmodo reports on genetic studies of ancient humans in the Americas, and on how such studies indicate that humans migrated through the New World.

Gizmodo also reports on tool-making in cockatoos.

NPR reports that the kilogram, worldwide, will no longer be defined by a metal object in France.


The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.
too
Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 582

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: This year is the 500th anniversary of the death of Hieronymus Bosch, who produced perhaps the strangest paintings ever painted. Here's a link to his most famous one, The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Christianity: A report that thousands of Tibetans, including some Buddhist monks, have come to belief in Christ, mainly because of the unselfish work of Christians after a disaster.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware points to an article on how to use your Windows computer as a wireless hotspot.

Finance: FiveThirtyEight says that poor kids need summer jobs, but well-off kids are more likely to get them.

Science: Listverse reports on 10 very large one-celled organisms.

Listverse also presents 10 interesting facts about the planet Jupiter.

A writer in Wired considers the idea that we are not only making many species extinct, but are also doing things that make new species possible, and there have been some new species which have appeared recently because of what we have done in the environment.

Wired reports on the contents of sunscreen.

Sports:


Image source (public domain)

Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, 48

Remember how the most earnest medieval art was full of light and fluttering draperies, of quick and capering feet. It was the one thing that the modern Pre-raphaelites could not imitate in the real Pre-raphaelites. Burne-Jones could never recover the deep levity of the Middle Ages. In the old Christian pictures the sky over every figure is like a blue or gold parachute. Every figure seems ready to fly up and float about in the heavens. The tattered cloak of the beggar will bear him up like the rayed plumes of the angels. But the kings in their heavy gold and the proud in their robes of purple will all of their nature sink downwards, for pride cannot rise to levity or levitation. Pride is the downward drag of all things into an easy solemnity. One “settles down” into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness. A man “falls” into a brown study; he reaches up at a blue sky. Seriousness is not a virtue. It would be a heresy, but a much more sensible heresy, to say that seriousness is a vice. It is really a natural trend or lapse into taking one’s self gravely, because it is the easiest thing to do. It is much easier to write a good Times leading article than a good joke in Punch. For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light. Satan fell by the force of gravity.

Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here. Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.

Excerpts from Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton, 47

It is one of the hundred answers to the fugitive perversion of modern “force” that the promptest and boldest agencies are also the most fragile or full of sensibility. The swiftest things are the softest things. A bird is active, because a bird is soft. A stone is helpless, because a stone is hard. The stone must by its own nature go downwards, because hardness is weakness. The bird can of its nature go upwards, because fragility is force. In perfect force there is a kind of frivolity, an airiness that can maintain itself in the air. Modern investigators of miraculous history have solemnly admitted that a characteristic of the great saints is their power of “levitation.” They might go further; a characteristic of the great saints is their power of levity. Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly. This has been always the instinct of Christendom, and especially the instinct of Christian art. Remember how Fra Angelico represented all his angels, not only as birds, but almost as butterflies.

Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here. Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.

Sunspots 544

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: (I am not making this up) The American Society for Microbiology sponsored an Agar Art Contest. First place went to a depiction of neurons. Some good stuff.

Christianity: Christianity Today reports that a recent Pew Research poll indicates that those who attend church regularly are less likely to believe that science and religion conflict.

In Christianity Today, a pastor tells us why we should sympathize with, and help immigrants to the US.

Relevant reminds us of what real persecution is like.

Speculative Faith reminds us that October 31 is also Reformation Day.

Benjamin L. Corey says that Christians shouldn't go into hiding on October 31, but acknowledges that there is something sick about a lot of Halloween displays, and suggests how Christians should act on that date.

Computing:  Wired argues that the notion that what happens on-line is not really real is nonsense, and dangerous nonsense.

Do you know what catfishing is? What astroturfing is? They are both related to on-line reviews of items, ebooks in particular, and unscrupulous people are making lots of money of some of us this way, says National Public Radio.

Food: The New York Times examines nutritional studies, and finds them mostly wanting. To be specific, there is not good evidence that honey is better for you than fructose from corn.

Politics: Benjamin L. Corey argues that US tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating terrorists, faster than we are killing them.

Science: A writer in Wired muses on Avogadro's number, including giving us Avogadro's real name.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 543

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: An article in Relevant that says that true art points to God.

Christianity: Relevant tells us that we, who can read this, are rich, and indicates how rich we are.

An essay on the virtues of old hymns, by a worship leader who used to disrespect them.

Ken Schenck finishes a series on the sacraments. He affirms the usefulness of several sacraments, and suggests some other activity that may bring some people closer to God. "But God can use anything to transform us."

Computing:  Wired tells us how a young mother was one of the most important pioneers in computer programming, and in the US Space Program.

Gizmo's Freeware has published a list of the best free Android apps.

Gizmo's Freeware has also noted a free utility for clearing the Windows print cache, without having to re-boot, etc.

Politics: Benjamin L. Corey says that the Bible commands us to bless Muslims, as well as Israel, and gives Biblical evidence.

Science: (sort of) NPR reports on how astronauts use the toilet, with a video (you won't see anything that you shouldn't) to explain what happens.

Sports: A video of an amazing football reception.


Image source (public domain)

Too much criticism, too little creation

Relevant has a fine essay on the topic of the title of this post.

Yes, in almost any area of human endeavor, such as politics, sports, business, TV programming, films, literature, music, food preparation, gardening, teaching, and, unfortunately, Christian doctrine, it's easy to find a critic. In fact, you usually don't have to look. They'll jump out of the woodwork.

That's not the way it should be. We need more creativity, in lots of areas, such as, for example, water use. We do need occasional, honest, loving criticism. We don't need self-serving, non-stop, prejudiced criticism.

Thanks for reading.

Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by Gilbert K. Chesteron, 11

But it is impossible to be an artist and not care for laws and limits. Art is limitation; the essence of every picture is the frame. If you draw a giraffe, you must draw him with a long neck. If, in your bold creative way, you hold yourself free to draw a giraffe with a short neck, you will really find that you are not free to draw a giraffe. The moment you step into the world of facts, you step into a world of limits. You can free things from alien or accidental laws, but not from the laws of their own nature. You may, if you like, free a tiger from his bars; but do not free him from his stripes. Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump: you may be freeing him from being a camel. Do not go about as a demagogue, encouraging triangles to break out of the prison of their three sides. If a triangle breaks out of its three sides, its life comes to a lamentable end. Somebody wrote a work called “The Loves of the Triangles”; I never read it, but I am sure that if triangles ever were loved, they were loved for being triangular. This is certainly the case with all artistic creation, which is in some ways the most decisive example of pure will. The artist loves his limitations: they constitute the thing he is doing.

Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here.  Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.

Sunspots 505

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Relevant has an opinion piece that says that Christians should care more about design -- in music, and in other arts, including book covers. There's a link to a compiled list of the worst Christian book covers of 2014, and yes, most of them are really awful.
Christianity: Relevant on "4 Ways the Modern Church Looks Nothing Like the Early Church." Pretty important ways, too.
Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a free Windows program to list all your drivers, and their properties.
Health: National Public Radio reports on how difficult it is for veterans to get benefits. Shameful.
Politics: National Public Radio reports that the South Carolina Poet Laureate's poem was not read at the inauguration of Governor Nikki Haley, last week. The poem is included in the report.
Science: National Public Radio reports on the question of how humans come to like foods (like hot spices and coffee) that they didn't like when they were small children.
Wired tells us why squinting helps us see better.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 490

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

The Arts: (And Christianity) A fascinating discussion of so-called "white magic," which is illustrated thus:
Many Christians, including many parents, are practicing “white magic” whenever they fear and shun objects, symbols, and Things more than they fear Jesus Christ and hate inner sin.
Health: National Public Radio reports on how many days dying patients spend in hospitals, and what causes the variation. It varies widely, almost three times as much in New York and New Jersey as in Utah and Idaho.
Science: NPR reports on a portion of the brain that may be a main cause of unselfish behavior.
The BBC asks if all the ants on earth weigh more than all the people. I thank one of my brothers for this link.
Wired reports on a spider that lives its entire life underwater.
(And politics) Some right-wing news outlets are trumpeting a recent study, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as showing that global climate change is not caused by human activity. Not exactly. Here's a report on the study, from the Associated Press. To quote the AP: "The study ... does not question global warming but argues that there is evidence that in at least one place, local winds are a more important factor explaining ocean warming than greenhouse gases." Critics of the study have pointed out that local winds, themselves, are probably influenced by human activity. And, of course, even if human activity has no effect on winds, the report is not global, and it does not question that human activity effects ocean warming. Here's a press release, from NOAA, on the report.
Sports: The scoring summary of the September 21, 2014 NFL game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders. All of the scoring (a touchdown, an extra point, and six field goals) was done by three players, Sebastian Janikowski, Rob Gronkowski and Stephen Gostkowski. That must be some sort of record . . .

Image source (public domain)

Worship is for us to do, to please God - how to make a cherub

Exodus 26:1 Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make them. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits,* and the width of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure. 3 Five curtains shall be coupled together to one another; and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. (World English Bible, public domain)

*A cubit was about 18 inches/46 cm, according to a text note.

There are a lot more instructions on how to make the Tabernacle, its furnishings, and the priest's garments, in considerable detail, in Exodus 25-28.God thought then, and now, that worship is important. But note that, even though many of the dimensions and materials are specified, there is no instruction in how to make the cherubim (angels). There was room for artistic initiative on the part of the workers. Worship depends on us, too.

Isn't God a great artist?

I don't think it's original with me, but I sometimes place, in the description of a photo I post, such as those on Flickr, the question, "Isn't God a great artist?" (This is, I believe, the latest of these.)

God as artist

What do I mean by that? What should I mean? I wish to muse about these questions. First, some scripture:

Genesis 2:19 Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” (all Bible quotations from World English Bible, public domain)

Isaiah 64:8 But now, Yahweh, you are our Father.

We are the clay, and you our potter.

We all are the work of your hand.

Leaving aside questions about how literally we are supposed to take these passages, the language indicates clearly that God can be described as an Artist, a Craftsman who takes existing ordinary material and does something wonderful with it.

Is God an artist? Of course. Orthodox Christian belief includes this:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty maker of heaven and earth,of all that is, seen and unseen. (Taken from a version of the Nicene Creed, 1975)

If God is Almighty, He clearly can be an Artist. If He is "maker of heaven and earth," then that required Him to be an artist, in the sense that He took, not "existing ordinary material," but nothing, and made a lot of something, wonderful something, from it. See the graphic at the top of this page for more about this question. Not only did God make things, but He sustains the universe -- see Colossians 1:16-17, and Hebrews 1:3 for part of the evidence for that.

Christians also usually believe that God is Omnipotent and Omniscient. Such a powerful Creator should, then, be able to design every leaf on every tree on earth, and every water ripple and dewdrop on earth, and every human face, individually, and to the finest detail. I suppose that human faces are altered by human activity, such as disease, emotions, bad nutrition, exposure to the sun, accidents, and, of course, makeup. But I believe that God could have designed each face, exercising complete control over its appearance. I'm not sure that God did, for reasons I hope to explain below. There are those who believe that not only could God have designed each face, but that He did, and that He is also in control of how each face changes as it matures and is exposed to the environment, including emotions and human activity.

Free will and randomness

We come, thus, to the question of free will, at least for humans. I'm not suggesting that leaves, water ripples and dewdrops have a will at all, free or not. But humans do, and I'm certainly not alone in believing so. If they do, part of what a human face looks like is because of choices that human has made, or that others have made affecting that person.

How about leaves and ripples? Although God created the universe, and sustains it now, it is possible that God's artistry is not so much expressed in His work in each leaf, ripple, or face, but in the creation of the laws that determine how things develop. For example, God could have created the universe in such a way that the Big Bang produced the elements with small nuclei, and in such a way that supernovae produce the elements with heavier nuclei. He could also have created the universe in such a way that Carbon atoms bind rather easily with Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulfur and Phosphorus so as to assemble the complex organic molecules that make life possible. Creation of a universe with laws and properties resulting in the way things are now would have been as great, or even greater, artistry than assembling each leaf, atom by atom.

God could also have built some randomness (or maybe a lot of it) into the universe. I have posted previously on this idea, asking "Is there such a thing as chance?" and on "God and Chance," here and yet again, and also on the idea of randomness at the subatomic level. Henry Neufeld, theologian, has also written about this subject. C. S. Lewis, on the other hand, had one of his best characters, Puddleglum, in The Silver Chair, say that "there are no accidents."

The fact is that we have no way of determining whether God controls all events in the universe, or whether he lets some of them be determined by the properties He has built in to the universe, or by those properties, plus chance. So God could have specially designed each and every leaf, and its changing fall colors, or God could have built laws and principles and properties into the universe which lead to the changing fall colors of each leaf, or God could also let random events, at the subatomic level, or higher, determine the appearance of such a leaf, over time. But, in all of these cases, God either controls or allows. If random processes produce a beautiful leaf, God be praised! If intricate control does, God be praised! God is a great artist.

An illustration of what Puddleglum said: While thinking about this subject, and preparing to write about it, I came upon a discussion of the artistry of Linnéa Spransy, who, she says, attempts to express "the tension between freedom and constraint" in her paintings. Spransy is a Christian. The post says this:

Like many working scientists, she is seeking a way of understanding how the creator engages with His creation, and a better grasp on how we creatures should make our way in response. On one hand, her attentiveness to the basic orderliness of the material creation has a corollary in the familiar disciplines of faith, including reading the scriptures, prayer, and responding with mercy to ruptures in human lives and communities. But on the other hand, her embrace of surprise and chaos is, as she says, an “invitation to the otherness of God,”. . .

You may wish to see my recent post on the use of the words, beauty and beautiful, in the Bible.

Thanks for reading, whether by chance or design.

C. S. Lewis and the arts -- a good post

I have just seen a good post about how C. S. Lewis felt about the arts. The post is really good -- it's got footnotes to its sources!

The author says something that Lewis also believed, namely that Christians should try to be overtly Christian in their art, but should try to be Christian in their life and soul, and, from that, art that expresses Christianity will emerge. He was right.

Thanks for reading. Read the post.

Human construction praised by God? Jeremiah 22:6

Jeremiah 22:1 Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 2 Say, Hear the word of Yahweh, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. 3 Thus says Yahweh: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. 5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited. 7 I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons; and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8 Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city? 9 Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them. (World English Bible, public domain)

The Hebrew word, bayith, translated "house," occurs in verse 6, which I wish to focus on. It also occurs in verses 1, 4, and 5, and in verse 13 of the same chapter, which I did not quote above. As in English, there is some uncertainty about the meaning. House can mean a dwelling, or it can mean the people who are associated with a household. Since it seems pretty clear that Jeremiah was talking about the royal palace in verses 1, 4, and 5, I'm going to assume that he was also doing this in verse 6. (See here for a number of translations of this verse.)

It seems likely that this translation is correct: 'Now this is what the LORD says concerning Judah's royal palace: "I love you as much as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon. But I will turn you into a desert, with no one living within your walls.' (New Living Translation) Other translations agree with this one, but not all do.

If that translation is correct, it means that a human creation is praised by God, Himself, as being as beautiful, as worth considering, as part of the natural world.

See Exodus 36, which describes the construction of the tent of meeting, and 1 Kings 10, which, to some extent, describes the palace, in the time of Solomon. I have previously posted on taking care of the environment, more than once. The most important of these posts is here. Thanks for reading.

Christianity and high art

Warning! This is longer than a Twitter tweet!

My Sunday School quarterly for next Sunday includes the following questions: "Why do you think many Christians have no time for or interest in higher forms of artistic expression? Should they?"*

I shall not attempt to define "higher forms." Here are my answers to the first question.

1) The most obvious answer is that Christians reflect their culture. Most people in North America in the 21st century have very little interest in, say, opera, or the poetry of Keats. So it is not surprising that Christians don't, either.

a) One reason for this is that most "higher art" is from the past. We don't pay much attention to history, or fashion, or even politics or religion from the past, except to mock it. "New" is probably the most common title of advertisements. It's also probably the most common word in names of churches begun within the last fifteen years.

b) Another reason is our short attention span, often disguised as multi-tasking, and evidenced by twitter, Facebook, etc. Even motion pictures are seldom longer than about two hours. Most literature, and much music and painting from the past, requires that we pay attention to it for an extended period, in order to appreciate it.

2) We are afraid of being contaminated. Many conservative Christians are suspicious of artistic expression, unless it is specifically designed for them. They will read the "Left Behind" series, for example, but not the National Book Award or Pulitzer Prize winners. They listen to, or sing, contemporary Christian music, but not the latest hits. They will see Fireproof, or Soul Surfer, but not The King's Speech. Why is this? There are several reasons. Secular literature and music may be written  or performed by atheists, pagans, adulterers, fornicators, people with drug habits, and the like. Movies, painting and sculpture may show such ways of life, or be created or performed by actors who practice such. Sinful ideas may rub off on us if we watch or listen to such things. We may become contaminated.

3) Conservative Christians are often anti-intellectual. We aren't the only ones -- see 1) above. But, again, we fear contamination. We are taught, and believe, that the Bible is more important than any other book. Thus, we tend to reject other books, even non-fiction books. We are probably less inclined to take up new ideas than our contemporaries are. Many of us educate our children at home, or in Christian schools, in part so that they are not exposed to some ideas that some Christians consider anti-Biblical. (Again, fear of contamination.) The Ten Commandments include a commandment against making "graven images" (King James language). Isn't this a prohibition against sculpture, and perhaps painting?

Here's my answer to the second question.

Yes, we should!

Why do I say so? There are three Biblical reasons. In John 17:5, Jesus said "I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one." (I'm quoting from the World English Bible, which is public domain.) This implies that we are to engage the world. Carefully, but we are to engage it. We aren't going to be able to minister effectively to those around us if we don't have much in common. Although the world at large is anti-intellectual, there are some people who produce, or treasure, "high art," even in 2011. It is often people who are going to be among those who have the greatest influence.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul gave a commandment. He wrote, in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things." Much "high art" is worthy of praise, and being paid attention to. Work of the past, such as the music of Bach and Handel, specifically magnified Christ. Works that have won awards in our own day sometimes do, too, or at least they portray Biblical ideas.

God apparently likes high art -- the Bible describes the plan for the building of the tabernacle in considerable detail. It seems clear that God called craftspeople of great skill to lead this project. It is also clear that God demanded beauty in the construction of the tabernacle, and in its furnishings. An entire book -- the longest one -- in the Bible consists of nothing but poetry.

A final thought -- surely, even in the 21st century, God has equipped some Christians to participate, even be leaders, in the production and performance of the "high arts," just as He did during the Exodus, and since.

Much more could, and should, be said about these questions.

*Wesley Adult Bible Studies, 122:4, June-August 2011, "Songs of Praise for Every Generation," by Barbara Hilton, pp. 3-9. Quotation is from p. 7.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 278

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science: From an article in The New York Times, discussing the state of research on Alzheimer's: "So far, nothing has been found to prevent or delay this devastating disease . . ."

Wired reports that we may be able to detect oceans on planets in other solar systems, by observing reflections from their surfaces.

Politics: NPR reports on some of the rumors about the recently enacted health care bill.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware mentions programs that make it easier to distinguish between memory devices, like flash drives.

Christianity: From Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength: ". . . craftsmen and skilled artists are worthy role models because they increase the objective amount of good in this world that is worthy of loving."




Image source (public domain)

The Three Pigs and Tuesday by David Wiesner

I don't usually report on books intended for young children, but I am making an exception for The Three Pigs by David Wiesner. The book won the Caldecott medal for 2002. It deserved it. The book is simple to read. The book shows, using the children's story of the three little pigs, an artistic conception of multiple universes, or at least multiple possible existences. I haven't tried reading it to my five-year-old grandson, and I don't know what he would think of it, but I liked it, and his mother and aunt, and grandmother, did, too.

A splendid book. Read it, if you have a chance -- your local library should have it. Look carefully at the pictures.

Wiesner has also written, or, rather, made the illustrations, for Tuesday. (The only text in the book is an occasional mention of the time -- it's about what happens on a Tuesday night.) Tuesday won the Caldecott medal in 1992, and, again, deserved it. The illustrations combine whimsy with great detail. Let's just say that the book is about flying frogs, and urge you to look at a copy.

Thanks for reading.