A Few Things I’ve Wondered About Lately
Here are a few things I’ve been wondering about recently (a laundry list)..
1. Where does the Meat Eater’s Creedo come from? I posted it here in 2007 and Eric Raymond contacted me inquiring about the source. I thought I had a source, but apparently not. If anyone knows about the origins of this charming, classic quote which found its way into many Unix Fortune Cookie Files, please do spill the beans (err… the beef, I mean)!
2. Why is there not yet a half descent way to manage a podcast collection (on ones mp3 player) that runs natively on Linux? (I’m talking something that automatically deletes listened to episodes, is relatively painless, etc.) Am I missing something? (and, yes, I’ve already tried gPodder, its going in the right direction, but IMHO not there yet).
3. Why can one buy a descent Mac desktop AND a descent 18″ PC laptop combined for LESS than the price of a descent 17″ MacBook?
3. Are all devotees of Gordon H. Clark (Christian apologist) chess players? (I’m almost convinced that one of his disciples proclaimed the white bishop on A8 a heretic.) Is this Clarkian fascination with chess something I should be concerned about, being a sort of neoVanTillan? What is a characteristically Van Tilian game?
4. If we took John Robbins (The Trinity Foundation) and Marc Carpenter’s (Outside the Camp website) heretics lists, and concatenated them, would there be any orthodoxy left? What would have happened had they sat in the same room? Is anyone else relived that Marc or John never have been the leader of a state church?
5. Are there any Arminians who practice Exclusive Psalmody?
6. In the debate movie Collision, what are we to make of Christopher Hitchen’s comment about not wanting to convert the last Christian to atheism (to Dawkins dismay)?
7. What was C.S. Lewis possibly thinking when he wrote Reflections on the Psalms?
8. It seems clear to me that there are fundamentalistic/militant atheist public figures. Are there any that would correspond moreso to a “theologically liberal” Christian? If so, who are they? Who is redefining the boundaries, playing word games, and denying/reinterpreting the fundamentals? Is there any softening, liberalizing influences within the New Atheism, or is it a fast track to fundamentalism?
9. Why is it so hard to find a good Greek salad? How can so many places, especially sit down restaurants, get it so badly wrong? It can’t be that hard, can it?
10. How old is Jeeves supposed to be in Wodehouse’s novels? Is there a way to deduce it? The book covers tend to portray him as a bit oldish, but the TV series Wooster and Jeeves portrays Jeeves as older than Bertie, but still fairly young looking.
11. (In reference to Wodehouse’s portrayal of Honoria Glossop) Am I the only one who would can only shake my head at Bertie Wooster on this account? How could he possibly fall for a disciple of Nietzsche? (Interesting psychological quetions raised here)
12. What would have happened differently in NHL hockey if Mike Bossey landed on the Quebec Nordiques team (as almost happened while they were in the WHA) instead of the New York Islanders? Would New York still win 4 cups in a row? How would it change the fate of the Nordiques? Would they win a cup with Goulet/Stasany brothers/Bossey? Would they move to Colorado after that? Would Bossey still score 50-60 goals a year? Would he still retire before reaching 10 years?
That’s it for now. If you have any answers, I’m all ears.
1. I wish I did. According to a simple Google search, the full credo shows up on websites going back to 06, but even then they’re referencing email signatures. The only name that appears in conjunction with it is “Jim Williams”, though I didn’t see any with contact details. The first lines show up in a Google Book search referencing a Guardian article from 1997, though I didn’t see anything else. I have to admit that it strikingly sounds like something Samuel Johnson would’ve said, but I have no way to confirm that.
3. I always though vanTillian theology looked a little something like the game “Go”.
5. Good question. I think Methodism may have a tradition of chanting the Psalms, though it seems like many of the small, rather tetchy Arminian groups despise anything smacking of Rome (which somehow ends up including most all liturgy, including traditions of Psalmody). Then again, that’s coming from a very small sample (I don’t get out very much). Then again if Arminian means non-Calvinist, then I’d imagine that a number of other groups would come pretty close.
6. I think he likes having voices of dissent around. The idea of completely squashing out anything probably wouldn’t sit with commitment to freedom of thought (though I’d imagine that the last Christian would end up behind glass in a museum somewhere, where he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore).
7. I liked his stuff on the Psalms…what did I miss?
Hi Nick,
1. There’s an article called “Carnivores Creedo”, but that is not the same. There’s some indication it might be from an older comedic act, but no concrete info on that yet.
3. Good one, never thought of that!
5. If you go far back enough, I think you will find the Psalms being at least more prominent in all Christian worship. I guess I’m thinking of modern exclusive uses of it. Probably some isolated group somewhere, I imagine!
6. In the movie, Hitchens acknowledges that not haivng anyone to argue is one plus side to it, but not THE reason. Great point about “though I’d imagine that the last Christian would end up behind glass in a museum somewhere, where he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore”
7. I’m not completely done Reflections on the Psalms yet, so I can’t comment on it in its totality. But its quite out there, I think. Left field. Among other things, he’s flailing all over the place with judgments against the Psalmist, not to mention Job, etc. Really shaky on the Scriptures, that we shouldn’t condone certain Psalms, calling parts of the scripture “devilish” and making serious accusations against the Psalmist as being sinful and wrongheaded. I totally understand what Lewis is struggling with and they aren’t easy topics, but the resolution is totally compromised and wrong headed. Lewis’ medicine here is worse than the thing that supposedly needs “curing”. What Lewis introduces about the nature of God and His Word is worse than any “difficult” Psalm. Honestly, I was not at all expecting this–I though this would be a good read. Now, granted, there are good parts–really good parts, no doubt, but also some really, really bad parts. Too much bathwater, not enough baby.
Thanks for your comments and help, Nick.
7. Perhaps I’ll have to go back and review the text again. I do recall he used the word “diabolical” at one point, though I don’t recall why. In any case I did appreciate the honest, straightforward way he wrestled with the scripture. It’s his very personal review that largely comes from a literary angle. Obviously this is not exhaustive of the spiritual realities that lie uncontemplated therein, but I thought it was a helpful introduction at the time. However, I have to admit that I really don’t remember anything he said about the nature of God. Thanks.