For those following the discussion, I finally had a chance today to respond to the comments in my recent Natural Law thread.
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Month: February 2006
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New Ambient Composition
I had the synths revved up again this weekend, and here is the result: Sea, a new Ambient composition. If you’re new to Ambient music, it’s an experimental form, usually without too much melodic or rythmic structure. The idea is to become immersed in the soundscape rather than in the form.
This is part of an Ambient project I’m working on that I’m calling “Answering Job,” based on Job 38. In Job 38, God answers Job’s distressed questions, but not in a way we might expect. “Sea” is based on verses 8-11:
“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
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The Smell of Paint
It’s amazing how smells can trigger memories. Today I walked the dog down to the house my brother- and sister-in-law are fixing up. It’s a small, old house, and right now it smells like sawdust and paint.
That paint smell brought back vivid memories of a time that now seems like a dream. We were young, fit and free. We didn’t worry about money. We came and went as we pleased. There was always music playing, and plenty of sex.
The 1960’s? No, fifteen years ago when my wife and I were first married and living in our first apartment. That little space, with its oddly-dimensioned attic loft and diner around the corner, was just perfect for us. Somehow the smell of fresh paint in my brother-in-law’s house zipped me back to when we newlyweds first moved into our cozy fixer-upper flat, only fifteen years, and yet a lifetime, ago. Good days then, and now, and Lord willing, to come, with my lovely bride.
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More on Natural Law and Transcendence
In comments to a prior post on Natural Law, Ahab stated
You may be right that morality is ultimately grounded in some transcendent being. But it seems as reasonable, if not more so, to me to ground it in human beings and their evolutionary development. We can trace the precursors of morality in the social systems of animals. I don’t know how you could begin to do the same for some transcendently based moral system. . . . But I didn’t see you give any reason for why God is the way He is, other than saying “because.” I’m guessing or assuming you think that God is a necessary being and that explains it.
If that is your position, then I think it more likely that the necessary being is not God but matter.
These are excellent points, and I wanted to move them up here and take a few minutes to respond.
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The Purpose of Worship
I’ve been thinking alot lately about the purpose of worship in a local church. These are a few thoughts I’ve had banging around in my head. I don’t intend this as a full theology of worship, just as an outline of some thoughts I’ve had to get them organized.
1. Worship is Central to the Purpose of a Local Church Because it is Central to our Purpose as Human Beings: to Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever. God created us to enjoy and worship Him. When we worship, we are fulfilling one of His great purposes for our existence, one which we will continue to fulfill throughout eternity. Moreover, God richly deserves our worship and praise. Therefore, worship is inherently good and vital apart from any other utility it may hold. We worship simply because of who God is and who He made us to be. If we fail to worship, we fail to engage in a central purpose for our lives.
2. Worship is Central to the Purpose of a Local Church Because it Helps Form Community and Edify the Body of Christ. When a local church community engages in corporate worship, that community is drawn closer together and strengthened in the faith. Corporate worship is a time of refreshment, healing, grace, and unity. It helps us set aside the worries of the world, prepares us to receive the ministry of the teaching of God’s word, reminds us of God’s care over and goodness to us, and strengthens our resolve to serve God and advance His Kingdom throughout the world. If we fail to worship, we will fail to function and be strengthened as a corporate body.
3. Worship is Evangelistic. When we worship, we proclaim the Evangel, the good news of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. There is no conflict or contrast between worship and evangelism; they are cut from the same cloth. The church’s principal task in evangelism is to proclaim the Gospel so that those God is calling to Himself will hear and respond in faith. A principal focus of worship is to celebrate and publicly and joyfully declare that the Kingdom of God has come in Christ and is to be fullfilled at Christ’s return. If we fail to worship, we fail to evangelize.
4. Worship is Contextual. Because worship is evangelistic, worship serves a missiological function, and it is appropriate to speak of worship in missiological terms. From a missiological perspective, worship should be contextualized. We seek to proclaim the unchanging Gospel in the varied and changing cultural contexts in which God places local churches. When we proclaim the Gospel to a culture in written or spoken language, we seek to do so in the “heart language” of that culture, be it English, Swahili, Chinese, Kitatuga, or any other of the world’s many languages. When we proclaim the Gospel in art, music, or literature, we should seek to do so in forms that are part of the “heart language” of the culture in which we minister. What this means for any local church, as it continually evaluates its cultural context and the physical and human resources available to it, will and should vary. For many North American churches with a relative abundance of resources and a relative diversity of constituents, this may require a range of different worship events and settings. But if we fail to contextualize worship, we will fail to realize fully its core exaltative, edifying, and evangelistic purposes.
5. Worship is Music and More. Music is a central part of worship. We are admonished in Ephesians 5:19-20 to “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Likewise, we are encouraged in Colossians 3:16 to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” The singing of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” must be a priority for any local church. Yet, worship is more than music alone. Everything we do when gathered as a corporate body should be viewed as an act of worship, whether it be music, public prayer, readings, visual art, dance, or preaching and teaching. A Christian community by definition is a worshipping community, because everything the community does is under the Lordship of Christ.
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Article on P2P Litigation
My article Peer-to-Peer Networks, Technological Evolution, and Intellectual Property Reverse Private Attorney General Litigation has just been published in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal. For the morbidly curious, send me an email with your address and I’ll send you a reprint.
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Open Source Symposium
On Friday, February 10, I will participate in a Symposium at Temple Law School on The Evolution of the Open Source Model: To Life Saving Drugs and Beyond. A copy of my presentation is available on my website.
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Civil Rights and Natural Law
In a previous thread, we’ve been having a good discussion about Natural Law and the basis for morality. In light of yesterday’s funeral of Coretta Scott King, I tried to highlight the link between Natural Law theory and the civil rights movement. The question I’m asking is “what reasons justify the civil law?” As I mentioned in the other thread, this question of “reasons” isn’t merely academic. Our ideas about “reasons” have enormous consequences for our ideals of justice and freedom.
What I’d like to do now is highlight how the concept of Natural Law led to the revolution that is the civil rights movement in America.
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A Scholarship?
This year I applied to the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. One of my life goals is to earn a Ph.D. in public policy and/or theology. NYU’s Wagner school is a very good public policy school. I love NYU; I’m an alum of the NYU Law School (LL.M. 1999). The Wagner School has a part-time Ph.D. program, which would suit me very well since I teach just uptown at CUNY. However, I inquired of some of the Wagner faculty last fall about the Ph.D. program, and it appeared that my background and research focus isn’t specific enough to gain a slot in that program. So, one possible plan is to work on a Master’s in Public Policy at Wagner, get to know some the faculty, and then try to transfer into the Ph.D. Problem is, Wagner is very expensive. I figured I’d apply and see if I qualified for any scholarships.
Well, yesterday my wife fielded a call from the Assistant Dean for Admissions and Enrollment at Wagner, with a message that I should call back. Unfortunately, I keep getting voice mail. I’m almost certain that a call like this means I’ve qualified for some significant scholarship money. Of course, it could be something much more mundane — maybe they lost my essay, or want to invite me to an open house, or some other dumb thing. But I think they’d just do that by email. So — tune in tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll see!
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Simple Walks
Today I’m working at home. It’s a crisp, cold February day, with a blue sky and bright Sun. I took my dog for a walk and it was wonderful. Just me and Patti, plodding along, with the wind in our faces and no one else in sight. Just perfect.