Guesswork Theory by Justin Scott

Giving Up What God Didn't Promise

2012-01-19T15:37:00.000-05:00

I attended a church service a year or so ago during which the pastor spent some time illustrating ways Christians misrepresent Christ and the Gospel. He explained how Christians sometimes claim that if you come to Jesus, you will have happiness and contentment. Then someone comes to Jesus, and their family member dies in a car accident, and they reject him. Sometimes Christians claim that if you come to Jesus, you will be blessed with wealth and security. Then someone comes to Jesus, and a financial crisis takes everything they have, and they reject him.

The pastor explained: Christ never promised these things. He promised mercy, grace, and a relationship with him. But he also promised that this broken world would bring us suffering and persecution. When Christians make promises in the name of Christ which Christ never made, they set up new believers for disappointment and despair.

This much I've been taught before, but not in this way. It struck me that there is one particular false promise that I've bought for a long time. And every time God doesn't make good on this promise I've attributed to him, I'm left with disappointment, confusion, and often anger.

I believe God promised me that if I came to him, he would make the world make sense. He didn't, and it doesn't.

Now I didn't expect God to give me a reason for everything that happens, or to fully reveal the inner workings of the human condition, or give me a bankable answer to every spiritual question I have. But I'm starting to realize that deep inside me I expect God to provide a cognitive, cohesive belief system. A basic set of ideas which fit together in such a way that the world can be intellectually approached without fear of contradiction or complete confusion. I know that God is truth, and that he created this world, and therefore somehow my gut has concluded that if I follow him I will find a sublime coherence.

But I've looked in the Bible, and this promise isn't there. At no point does Jesus set a pile of philosophy texts on the ground in front of five thousand onlookers and promise, "Follow me, and all this will fit together."

I understand why Christians think it's there. Throughout the modern age religion has been accused of lacking any semblance of intellectual integrity. We have been accused of being sheep, of lying to ourselves, of believing in contradictions we pretend aren't there. We are accused of choosing fairy tales (dangerous fairy tales, at that) when plain and simple facts are laid before us. We want to defend ourselves, and to a certain extent we should. God is the creator of all truth and knowledge and we should seek this truth diligently and passionately. He has revealed much to us and he has even more yet to reveal. Belief in Christ is not a conceptual balm for the simple-minded.

Still, this world is full of mystery. There are many things God has chosen not to reveal, though sometimes they grate against my desire for truth and justice. God has given me himself, his son, and I am charged to let that be enough.

Image: TheOtter

Quotes: Frontier, Mystery, and Problems that Do Not Disappear

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

"The spiritual life cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed." Howard Macey via Melissa Guthrie

"The ideal mystery is one you would read if the end was missing." Raymond Chandler

"God offers a way to live with questions that do not have answers, and problems that do not disappear." Del Glick

Fred Rogers, My Hero

2012-01-12T23:42:00.001-05:00

I am one of those people who tries not to let cynicism run so deep inside him that he no longer has heroes. And one of greatest heroes is Fred Rogers.

I grew up on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, as perhaps you did, and his ever-present voice of assurance in my young life still gives me confidence in my place in the world. Just the way I am.

As an adult I have found a few videos and articles that have solidified my belief in the extraordinary goodness of Fred Rogers, a man for whom grace was a way of life. I wanted to share them with you.

1. My favorite piece of creative non-fiction, an article about Mr. Rogers by Tom Junod titled "Can You Say... Hero?" (I know it's long. After you've read the first two paragraphs I promise it will be very hard to put down.)

2. CNN's fifteen reasons Mr. Rogers was "the best neighbor ever."

3. Mr. Rogers' speech after receiving a Lifetime Achievement award at the 1997 Emmys, a beautiful display of humility and kindness and truth:

4. Mr. Rogers goes to Washington and convinces the Senate not to cut funding for PBS:

5. Mr. Rogers' farewell speech, which I just can't watch without crying:

Thank you so much, Fred.

Quotes: Socialism, Generalizing, and Beethoven's Sonatas

2012-01-10T01:11:00.002-05:00

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." John Steinbeck

‎"I realize that I'm generalizing here, but as is often the case when I generalize, I don't care." Dave Barry

"Life can’t be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years." William F. Buckley

Top 5 Things That Have Recently Blown My Mind

2011-12-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

1. In countries as widespread as Brazil, Rwanda, Turkey, and the United States, researchers have found that rises in soap opera viewing are correlated with lower fertility rates, more rights and responsibilities for women and girls, and increased stickiness for messages about public health.

2. A prominent historian in California has gathered compelling evidence that it was the Soviet entry into the Pacific conflict, not the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that forced Japan's surrender and ended WWII. If this is true, it raises provocative questions about the morality of the atomic attacks and the concept of nuclear deterrence, a cornerstone of global military strategy.

3. The United States military owns and operates a secret robot space plane.

4. The first openly gay presidential candidate from a major political party in American history is running right now. He is a Republican.

5. In 1941, a Japanese pilot who participated in the bombing of Pearl Harbor crashed his damaged plane into a small Hawaiian island. Assistance given to him by three local Japanese immigrants (which included freeing him, arming him, helping him take hostages, and helping him burn down a villager's house) may have influenced the creation of Japanese internment camps in the United States.

Waiting

2011-12-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

How then should we live?

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear

If this ball of hate and pain is headed for destruction, if almost everything we encounter here is irredeemable, if we have been rescued from a perpetual downward slide which still remains around us, if the only hope for anyone in this life is salvation when it's over—then we do our best to help others be rescued from sin. We serve the poor because Christ did. We spread the word so when Christ returns, there will be many to greet him. We are waiting on God.

O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of hell thy people save
And give them victory over the grave

If this ball of hope and promise is headed for redemption, if almost everything we encounter here is redeemable, if we have been called into a perpetual renewal which is all around us, if our hope in this life is to see God's kingdom come—then we do our best to remake the world. We serve those who are in need, we fight for justice, we battle oppression because God has instructed and enabled us to join his ongoing work. God is waiting on us.

O come, desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid thou our sad divisions cease,
And be thyself our King of Peace

Rejoice, Rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel

Image: Pedro Moura Pinheiro
This post draws on a recent sermon by WCF senior pastor Del Glick and this previous post.

Why did he come?

2011-12-15T17:19:00.000-05:00

Why did he come?

Some say he came to free us from sin. They say this world of ours is corrupt beyond repair, and he came to give us hope that one day all its fear and pain and evil would be purged by fire, and through his sacrifice we would be welcomed into a new one, where there would finally be peace. Now ye need not fear the grave: Jesus Christ was born to save.

Some say he came to redeem the world. They say his ministry was an example of how to live in ways that daily bring his kingdom to earth through his power, his peace, his justice, his grace, his mercy which makes all things new. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

Some days you leave the house and enter a world so marred by sin and evil that you cannot believe good could exist in such a place. Death eats at everything. The Bible delivers a message our society has forgotten: we are irreversibly prone to evil. In the turmoil of our time, fear is pervasive and commanding. We hope for Christ's return.

Some days you leave the house and enter a world so full of promise you believe you can see the hand of God reworking the soil. You find hope in community, in service, in humility, in signs of life. We hope for the redemption of our world.

Often it seems he can't have come for both. Either the world is head to hell in a hand-basket or heaven in a slow cooker. This is the tension of already but not yet resurrected fallen man: A world where there is hope and there is no hope. A person who is damned but sanctified. A savior who was God and man.

Image: Lehigh Valley, PA

Johnny Cash – "Ain't No Grave"

2011-12-08T12:30:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of the intriguing Johnny Cash Project.

All Your Show

2011-12-06T12:34:00.000-05:00

The following are lyrics from a song called "Instead of a Show" by one of my heroes, Jon Foreman. As someone who is involved with music at my local church, they are deeply convicting to me. I feel it might do us some good if every worship leader in every church across America had these words taped to their wall.

I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let's argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let's argue this out
You'll be one of the clouds
Let's argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Image: ollycoffey

The Unlikely Love Songs of Josh Ritter

2011-12-01T10:09:00.000-05:00

I love Josh Ritter's music for the particular narratives — sometimes joyful, sometimes haunting — he weaves in his lyrics. Here are four of his unlikely, moving love songs:

An anthropologist and a re-animated mummy

A nuclear scientist and a soldier in an underground bunker

An explorer and his ship

An extra and a star in a silent movie

Image: Kmeron

Paging the Doctor

2011-11-29T00:30:00.000-05:00

One month ago The Rum Diary opened in theaters across the country, featuring Johnny Depp's second portrayal of his friend, Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson (who acquired the title of "Doctor" from the Universal Life Church) was an infamous, alcoholic, drug-loving, anti-establishment hell raiser, the creator of Gonzo journalism, and one of my favorite writers. Most of what I love about his writing is his unmistakable, unparalleled style, but this week my mind keeps going back to the message behind his madness. Thompson wrote about social and political corruption in the era of Nixon and McGovern. What would the Doctor think of what has been going down lately?

My guess is he would bite hard on his cigarette and punch a visceral deconstruction of Peace In Our Time into his typewriter. He would start in Oakland and New York City, where riot police cleared out Occupy Wall St. protesters with tear gas in the dead of night, refusing to let reporters document their actions. He would move to U.C. Davis, where police pepper-sprayed a group of peaceful protesters in the face two weeks ago. I'm not sure he'd be all that thrilled with the Occupy kids; I would expect an ironic, pessimistic, fatalist send-up of both the 1% and the Merry Men in hoodies. But I suspect Thompson understood better than most the corrosive nature of power and the Undying Truth that the enemy of democracy is a can of pepper-spray, a baton, a taser, a fire hose, a rifle in the hand of an irresponsible policeman, regardless of whether he or she has the legal right to use it.

I know he would churn out page upon page about the Republican presidential debates, where audiences have cheered the execution of 200 death row-inmates, booed a U.S. soldier, and applauded the idea that people without health insurance should be left to die in the streets. Maybe what would burn him most, or maybe it's just what burns me, would be seeing a Republican candidate chewed to pieces for suggesting that we shouldn't round up illegal immigrants who have been living peacefully and productively in the country for 25 years, take them away from their families, and send 'em back on a bus.

Nevermind that no pathway-to-citizenship 'magnet' could ever compare with making seven dollars an hour in the U.S. instead of seven dollars a day in Mexico. In fact forget a pathway to citizenship, just declining to deport eleven million illegal immigrants is now a fringe position in the GOP. Apparently it's treasonous heresy to suggest that packing them on 220,000 buses covering roughly 14,000 square miles (or in layman's terms, Rhode Island) and carting them off to their country of origin isn't the best solution to our immigration problem. And heaven help you if you think spending billions of dollars on a 2,000 mile long super-fence is also a lacking solution. Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President?

The kids are turned off from politics, they say. Most of 'em don't even want to hear about it. All they want to do these days is lie around on waterbeds and smoke that g-ddamn marrywanna... yeah, and just between you and me Fred that's probably all for the best.

Hunter S. Thompson

Image: zen

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – "Ffunny Frends"

2011-11-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

This is begging for a rap remix. Available free in this sampler.

Quotes: Church, this Country, and a Decent Cup of Tea

2011-11-15T15:33:00.000-05:00

"The goal of a church service should be to connect people's hurt to the truth of the Gospel." Amy Sawyer

"It's just amazing how long this country has been going to hell without ever having got there." Andy Rooney via Michael Costa

"[...] and she said no one is so busy they can't take time to make a decent cup of tea and if you are that busy you don't deserve a decent cup of tea for what is it all about anyway? Are we put into this world to be busy or to chat over a nice cup of tea?" Frank McCourt, 'Tis

Obama and the Race for Not Romney

2011-11-10T22:29:00.001-05:00

A year ago I decided to have some fun by posting a big prediction: Obama would win in 2012. This was primarily based on three beliefs. First, the economy would continue to improve over the next two years and jobs would start to return; second, the GOP would not be able to come up with candidate capable of taking on the president; and third, the Tea Party — as a creature of the waning recession — would not have a lasting impact.

Today these beliefs look a little foolish. Though the economy is growing, it is doing so at a glacial pace — practically indiscernible from standing still — and the job market has not shown significant improvement. The small group of Tea Party Republicans in the House managed to hijack serious, sorely-needed bipartisan reform efforts by Obama and Speaker Boehner, sending the government on wild stunts that wasted our limited political resources with threats of government shutdowns. These fiascoes not only made our fiscal problems worse, they killed what little confidence concerned Americans have in their government, sending Obama and Congress's approval ratings through the floor.

One thing's for sure though, finding a viable Obama alternative in this climate has not been easy. I remember thinking the 2008 GOP primary field was cartoonish, but they don't begin to compare with this year's set of recession-fueled populists (who still look incomplete to me without Palin on the platform). There is one serious candidate in the race, Mitt Romney, whose poll numbers — which mean almost nothing at this point — continue to stick in the mid-20s. But the Right is so dissatisfied with his wishy-washy blandness that every few weeks they cycle through a new "front-runner" (read: tied with Romney). First it was Bachman, who believes the 9-9-9 plan is of the devil; then it was Perry, who would ax whole government agencies, he just can't remember which ones; and now it's Cain, who doesn't believe Muslims belong on the president's cabinet and wishes they would "leave us alone." My hunch is it's going to be Gingrich next.

I wouldn't need to revise my prediction if anyone but Romney were going to win the primary, but I'm convinced he is. Which is bad news for Obama. Without a screwball opponent, he is going to have to hope hard for some job recovery during the next year, and with Europe on the brink of throwing a giant wrench into the global gears, we're all losing confidence he will get it. His retreat from uniting the parties and attempt to rally his base and go on the attack has fallen on its face with the failure of his jobs plan (a common sense set of measures which should have been 2009's stimulus package, were it not disingenuously paid for). Obama is an incredible orator, but Romney is a better debater, and answering Romney's tough questions about what happened during the last two years is going to be difficult for Obama next Fall.

The unfortunate irony for Obama is he has excelled at the very things the presidency is well-equipped to do (foreign policy), but which voters care little about; and failed at things the presidency is ill-equipped to do (improve the economy), but which voters care very much about. I shudder to think what our military commitments would be had a McCain administration taken us through the Arab Spring, Libya, and the withdrawal from Iraq. Who knows how many fronts we would still be fighting on, and how many rebuilding efforts we would be committed to. When you throw in the discovery of Osama Bin Laden, the nuanced, cool-headed, hands-off Obama Doctrine has proved not-too-shabby for a one-term senator.

But of course the average voter couldn't care less. Seeing the Left as weak in the face of adversity, the center has moved right.

There is still time. The Right could decide it just can't bear Mitt and send Perry to the slaughter. Jobs could come back. But these possibilities seem remote in comparison with the likelihood of a Romney nomination and high unemployment a year from Tuesday ... which would be tough for anyone.

Image: Paul Chenoweth

In Support of HR270

2011-11-09T13:47:00.000-05:00

I've been able to find four House Resolutions (215, 225, 270, 485) to make "America the Beautiful" the national anthem of the United States instead of our current British drinking song. I'm sure there are more. I support every one of them.

The Big Find

2011-11-07T22:37:00.001-05:00

Last week Google decided to eliminate the sharing features of Google Reader in an attempt to force users into Google+, or more politely put, to consolidate its social offerings into one product.

For three years I have actively shared links I found interesting on Google Reader. Reading shared links from my small community of friends on Google Reader has become part of my daily life and one of the primary ways I am exposed to new and interesting ideas.

Unfortunately, Google+ is a poor substitute for the sharing tools Google Reader provided. Without RSS, I am forced to either clog all my friends' Google+ streams with links (I tend to share a lot) or personally cull a circle of friends who I think will want to read what I have to offer. There is no way for folks to subscribe or unsubscribe from my shared links as they please, or keep track of what they have and haven't read.

I want to keep my small sharing community alive. I want to keep sharing the interesting things I discover on the web with whoever would like to read them. But as they say, if you're not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold. Google isn't here to provide what I want, they're here to use my data to sell ads. So I've come up with an alternative: I've created a micro-blog called The Big Find.

Micro-blogging (if you're unfamiliar) is sharing very small pieces of content, like links or pictures or videos, in blog form. Mine is located at:

bigfind.justinis.com

If you would like to read what I've found interesting lately you can stop by once in a while or subscribe to the RSS feed here (using Google Reader, for instance). You can also check out the Big Find box in the sidebar of this blog. Or, if you're of the Twitter persuasion, you can follow @justinis–all my shared links and blog posts will be sent there.

I would also encourage you to follow my small community of friends who are slowly making the move to micro-blogs to keep the party going:
Erin Smith
Alyssa Buckley
Cheryl Swit
(More will be added as they arrive; if you decide to join in, send me your link!)

Image: Vector Hugo

You Say You Want a Revolution

2011-11-04T00:54:00.000-04:00

I come to you this week just back from McPherson Square, where the Occupy movement's DC chapter has been parked for the last month, complete with tents and drum circles and a swarm of disenchanted (disenfranchised?) college kids. I went because had I read, as perhaps you have, the litany of reasons reporters have given for why these kids are out there: from student loans to income inequality to greed and corruption. I wanted to hear it for myself.

If your stomach can stand one more story about these protests amid the deluge, well here it is.

Walking around the park felt like stepping out of my DeLorean into what I can only imagine a 60s demonstration must have felt like. There were tents covered in signs protesting everything from war to greed to fracking. There were sidewalk chalk drawings promoting love and harmony. It had the feeling of a close community; one woman was living there with a toddler whose toys were strewn in the grass. There were tents for information, media, and a big one operating a full service kitchen with crates of donated food. It was more or less a whirring operation.

After sitting in on a General Assembly and a long conversation with good-natured protester named Michael (who has a full time job but spends his evenings on the square), it was obvious: nobody out there knew what they wanted. Nobody knew how to attain their ideals. Nobody knew what would need to take place in order for them to feel it was ok to pack up and head home. They were there to figure all that out. What they knew was this:

They're mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore.

They're not alone. If the political and economic climate of this country doesn't upset you you're not awake. Nearly four years ago a toxic bundle of politicians, bankers, firms, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, home buyers, and a healthy dose of collective delusion sank our retirement accounts and put too many of us out of work. Then came an unprecedented federal spending spree that financed corporate bonuses, put our country even more perilously in debt, and arguably did little to improve our situation. We've been struggling with near stagnant growth ever since, and the entire debacle has quickened the pace of the hollowing out of the middle class and the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. If anyone feels they have a real solution, we'd all love to see the plan.

I have little faith the Occupy movement will ever foster or even encourage workable solutions to our crisis. Its Achilles' heal is the very principle it is founded on: it must never imitate the inequality it decries. If 1% of the community must never be given sway over the rest, then unanimous consent is required for every action taken and every idea proposed. The Occupy movement is home to anarchists and socialists, libertarians and Democrats, folks who want to redeem the system from the inside and folks who want to rip it apart. Uniting people this disparate through unanimous consent is hopeless. Any charismatic leader who might unite the group under a common set of actions is doomed because the very principles of the movement preclude leaders. The Tea Party, a group with an equal amount of populist anger, was able to put like-minded people in office who affected national legislation (admittedly in an age group much more fond of voting); will the Occupiers fare so well? Winter is coming fast, and very soon eighteen degree temperatures may prove to be stronger foes than corporate fat cats.

Of course many praise the movement for starting a conversation about income inequality in America, but I have to wonder if they've opened a newspaper lately. To me the news has been a years-long barrage of questions about America's future, chief among them the future of the middle class (here's a whopper of an example). And I have to wonder if it's even the right conversation. Certainly the concentration of wealth in 1% of the American population has its consequences, but is it the ultimate source of our trouble? What of our crippled education system? What of rising health care costs? Immigration? The debt crisis? Militarism? And on a global scale, aren't nearly all of us the 1%? How then should we live?

But for all the pointlessness I perceive, I must admit these protests are distinctly American. They are a celebration of freedom speech, freedom of assembly, and redress of grievances. We should frown on efforts to squelch them. If this were Europe I suppose there would be looted businesses and cars burning in the streets.

Walking back to the Metro from McPherson square, one image stayed with me. It was of a homeless man, sitting on a bench with a warm plate of food cooked up by the Occupy DC food tent. The occupiers may never get the equality they seek but at the end of the day they will have spent months housing and feeding those at the very bottom of the 99%–and that's worth fighting for.

Image: TimWilson

Introducing the Yes! Button

2011-10-25T00:31:00.000-04:00

As a blogger, it is incredibly encouraging to feel that something you have written is reaching people. Every comment I receive on this blog, even the negative ones, is an encouragement to me because I know someone felt like what I have to offer was worth their time to read. It's an honor, really.

In turn, I try to be the kind of blog reader I hope will visit my blog; someone who comments whenever I read a post I like, even if it's just to say I enjoyed it. But commenting isn't easy. Sometimes I just want to read a blog like I read a magazine, without feeling the need to respond. Often jumping through the hoops of posting a comment just to say "cool" isn't worth the time and effort.

So today I want to try something new, something I hope will make it dirt-simple for folks who read this blog to let me know what they like. It's called the Yes! button. It's at the bottom of every one of my posts, and it looks like this:

This button is a one-click way to tell me you read a post, and you liked it. That's it. The button doesn't share the post on Facebook, or tweet it, or "plus one" it, or email it, or tell your mom and Mark Zuckerberg that you read it. It's just a little tally that sends me some love.

So if you like a post you read here, it would be just awesome if you clicked "Yes!"—and even more awesome if you left a comment. Heck if you wanna go crazy you could go back to a past post you liked and click "Yes!" on that too. I leave it to you.

Image: Artotem

Do You Hear the People Sing?

2011-10-21T00:33:00.000-04:00

I used to say that experiencing a performance of Les Misérables was the closest I've ever felt to God. Last night Erin and I went to see the show here in DC and I can say without a doubt this is still true.

I know that sounds too strong. I know it's a musical, in the same category as Cats and Rent and Showboat for many people. But G.K. Chesterton said every good story is a retelling of the Gospel, and that is what Les Misérables is. A story of a broken man who is shown mercy and grace and given strength to spend his life showing mercy to others. A story of how mercy does not abolish the Law but fulfills it. A story which calls all of us to look down in compassion upon our fellow men and women, caught in the muck of a hellishly damaged world. A story of how as we do this, we hasten the day when the wretched of the earth will live in freedom with God, how violence will cease and chains will be broken and redemption will be made complete.

I hadn't seen the play since high school, and I gained so much understanding this time through. In the context of DC, I finally realized how important the political themes of the story are. Here is a play that could have been about the triumph of the oppressed over tyranny. Until today I thought Victor Hugo's novel was set against the French Revolution, but it's not. It covers the June Rebellion of 1832 (a century later), in which a group of students tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the French government. Though the play is sympathetic to these students, it is obvious that their efforts are futile. And so the play isn't ultimately about political freedom, it is about the ransom of the miserable, and how the hope, love, and mercy of God will ultimately redeem what the systems of angry men cannot.

And the music, the music, the music. I don't know if you've ever listened to something so awe-inspiring you felt you couldn't hold it inside you, but I will admit publicly that I cried nearly nonstop through the first act. I used to complain about the synth-heavy arrangements in the show bringing down the beautiful melodies and blistering vocals, but it has recently been re-orchestrated and the new score is breathtaking. I just couldn't handle it.

Les Misérables makes me remember. It reminds me that there is deep beauty in the story I believe. It reminds me that beyond the Christian kitsch and corpreligion, there are creative people who see magnificent art in the Gospel and the Gospel in art. It reminds me of the ancient interplay of justice and mercy, and the call to serve the least among us. It reminds me who I am.

Image: daliborlev

The World is Just Awesome

2011-10-14T10:56:00.000-04:00

Watch in HD

Watch in HD

Why I Miss Steve Jobs

2011-10-11T00:15:00.000-04:00

George Harrison died when I was 18. I remember I was in the car with my dad when I heard it on the radio, and for a number of reasons it didn't have a remarkable emotional effect on me. I was young. I didn't know the Beatles or their music as well as I do now. I didn't understand how great an artist had just disappeared.

The emotional response I lacked then I felt this week when I read Steve Jobs had died. You'd be right to think this is odd. Jobs was not a respectable figure on all accounts. He terrorized, humiliated, overburdened, and sometimes expected the impossible of his employees. He denied being the father of his first child for years, leaving her and her mother penniless while he raked in millions. He did little to improve conditions at the Asian factories where Apple products are made. He had a colossal ego, preached elitism and consumerism, and gave little to charity. To an arguable degree, he stole some of the ideas he is famous for from their creators. He was in many ways infamous.

Yet he was someone who inspired me. I think it started watching Pirates of Silicon Valley my freshman year in high school, being introduced to the small gang of kids who saw the future in the late seventies. The story of how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built and sold the first usable personal computer from Jobs' parents' garage was the stuff of dreams for a kid like me. It's one of the reasons I'm an electrical engineer today.

I think Jobs' most enduring legacy isn't the iPod or the iPhone or even Apple itself; it's the vision he had thirty years ago that one day there would be a computer (or three) in every home, that these amazing machines held the ability to change the world in the hands of ordinary people. In 1985 Jobs told Playboy, "The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people—as remarkable as the telephone." Five years before its creation and ten before its fruition, Jobs foresaw the internet.

Of course it wasn't just his ability to stay five to ten years ahead of everyone in his industry that inspired me. It was also his ability to reshape entire markets (smartphones, digital music players, digital music, tablet computers) by injecting his brilliant understanding of simplicity and design. It was his industry-changing understanding of the purple cow, the idea that it is better to create a remarkable product for a specific group of people than a bland product for everyone, and product design should therefore drive marketing and not the reverse.

And then there's the idea that making legal purchases convenient can beat piracy, the idea that people would love computer-generated films if story was king, the idea that "real artists ship," the idea that branding should be about convincing customers that they are the kind of person that buys your product, the idea that it's not the customer's job to know what they want, the idea that succeeding in business means learning to focus and say no, the idea that ease of use is more important than feature count, the idea of a non-threatening computer store, the idea of using software and content to sell hardware... Jobs was a man of ideas. Enormous ideas. And ideas inspire me; they're what this blog is all about.

Sure there were duds: Lisa, Apple TV, and MobileMe to name a few. But taken altogether, Jobs was able to sort the good from the bad well enough to create the most lucrative technology company in the world. Certainly he wasn't the same kind of innovator as Thomas Edison or Henry Ford (his gifts were insight and leadership rather than engineering), but when we look back on the impact of the personal computer over last thirty years, I think it's obvious his influence was just as significant.

Near Atlanta, gathering dust in my parents' basement, is an Apple IIe a family friend gave me when I was in high school. It's one of my favorite belongings. One day I will have my own garage or basement, and that computer will sit there as a reminder that revolutionary ideas come from such places. That art and technology are not at war. That the entrepreneurial spirit is the American spirit. That great thinkers are complex people. That the information age is still in its infancy. But mostly, it will remind me why I chose to work in this field full of visionaries and madmen in the first place.

More on Steve Jobs: New York Times | Wired
Image: Jonathan Mak

Gungor – "God is not a White Man"

2011-10-02T13:19:00.001-04:00

I was recently introduced to Gungor in my search for worship music that breaks the mold, which they unquestionably do. This video gets too happy hippy for me by the end, but there is some extraordinary truth in there too.

Here's Michael Gungor on the Gungor view of worship:

"If leading worship is just about bringing a group of people into a room so we can get goosebumps and sing songs together, there's not much value in that. But if leading worship is a means to an end, that we leave this place as a different kind of people, as part of a new humanity that God wants to create—the people that are caring for the widows and orphans, that aren't bound by the systems of this world but becoming free, becoming fully engaged in our world—then that matters."

Songkick Review: Find Your Music in Your City

2011-09-25T19:16:00.001-04:00

Living in a big city for the last two years, I have more than once had the misfortune of missing a show by one of my favorite bands just minutes from my apartment because I didn't know it was happening. This week it occurred to me that surely someone out there is running a free online service that will email me whenever my favorite artists are playing in my city, in a noble effort to spare concert-lovers like me this crushing disappointment.

Sure enough there are a bunch of sites like this, the most popular of which are Songkick and Bandsintown. I read some reviews and decided to hop on Songkick, since it boasted a cleaner interface and a mobile app. Once I signed up I learned that Songkick provides a small program which will scan your iTunes library and upload all the artists therein, saving you the tedious task of selecting them one-by-one online. In minutes I had a list of upcoming concerts in DC (as well as Baltimore and Charlottesville, which are easily drivable) by my favorite bands. There were at least five coming up in the next month that I had no idea about!

At this point, Songkick was more than worth the time it took to sign up and set up, but if you want to go further Songkick also integrates with Facebook, allowing you to announce to your Facebook friends when you're attending a concert and see if any of your friends are planning to go as well. Even if you're one of those folks (like me) who are looking for less Facebook in your life rather than more, you have to admit that's pretty cool.

So if you want a simple, easy way to to never miss another concert, go for it!

The Great American Ponzi Scheme?

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

My Social Security statement came in the mail a little while ago. It always says pretty much the same thing: "Social Security is this really great program the helps when you retire, and, uh, see the thing is it's kinda not doing so hot, so you might wanna save some extra money just in case, I mean we're not sayin' we're just sayin'." It goes on to explain that people are living longer and the birthrate is declining, thus the ratio of workers to beneficiaries is falling, and by the time I'm 54 a quarter of the money I've put into the system will have been given to someone else.

As widely understood and accepted as the impending doom of this program is (my dad has been telling me since I was a teenager to plan on getting zip from it in benefits), every time I read my statement this sentence grabs me:

The Social Security taxes you now pay go into the Social Security Trust Funds and are used to pay benefits to current beneficiaries. The Social Security Board of Trustees now estimates that based on current law, in 2037, the Trust Funds will be depleted.

Funds from new entrants into the system are used to pay current beneficiaries. Thanks to a certain high-profile criminal and a certain Texas governor, we all know what this sounds like: a Ponzi scheme.

Is this a fair characterization? Social Security defenders argue that unlike a Ponzi scheme, no one is being misled, the system is transparent and run by the government, funds are invested, you can never run out of "investors" (taxpayers), and there's no fraud being perpetrated.

So which is it? Flagship government retirement program or evil Ponzi scheme? My answer: who cares? You can make the argument on both sides but at the end of the day, the majority of the American people show no interest in chucking the program, and fixing it to provide funds for retirees for decades to come is not all that difficult. A modest reduction in benefits and increase in revenues, the kind of thing Reagan accomplished in the 80's, would fix the system long term. Allowing young folks like me to place a portion of their benefits in private accounts, as past Conservatives such as Bush and McCain have proposed (with much slander from the left), would be a great idea too but it's not required.

Of course it will take some political courage (the kind Congress seldom shows), but the way forward is clear and achievable. Last year the economic crisis caused Social Security's payouts to exceed its revenue four years earlier than expected. We need to tone down the rhetoric and get the job done because ultimately, Social Security could almost be considered a distraction compared to our much bigger problems: Medicare and Medicaid.

When the baby boomers retire in twenty years or so, the number of seniors drawing Medicare benefits will be double what is now. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2082, Medicare spending will roughly equal the amount spent by the entire federal government today (as a percentage of GDP). Medicare beneficiaries today get out of the system approximately three times what they pay into it (by comparison, Social Security beneficiaries today get out roughly 10% less than what they pay in). The primary reason for this is skyrocketing health care costs. Obama's Affordable Care Act did a little to curb these costs for Medicare in the future, but not nearly enough. If we have any hope of avoiding an enormous budget crisis in our lifetimes, we are going to have to go further to find a way to fix our health care system and fundamentally reform Medicare (by both raising taxes and cutting benefits)—and if 2010's health care fiasco is any indication, it won't be easy.

Sources not yet linked: U.S. Budget and Economy
Image: Social Security Online

Republican Rival Roundup

2011-09-14T10:27:00.000-04:00

I'm back. The last eight weeks were a welcome break from politics, and the Republican primary gearing up is a welcome distraction from the country's frustrating, polarized debt crisis. I watched my first GOP debate last week, and I wanted to share a few thoughts on the current lineup (which I think is who we're stuck with, unless Palin plunges in before the end of the month).

Newt Gingrich – For some reason, probably having to do with meeting him in the 8th grade when he was my congressman, I appreciate Newt. He brings an intellectual perspective to the conversation, drawing on his keen understanding of American government. But his high-toned Conservative rhetoric about American political history so seldom gives way to his actual aspirations that in the debate I found myself forgetting he is actually in the race for president, rather than just commenting on it. It doesn't matter though. Even if he could make his case he wouldn't be able to leave behind his terribly-run campaign, his flip-flops on Libya and the Ryan budget plan, his statements about homosexuality and Obama's supposed anti-Colonial ideology, or even his bill at Tiffany's. And that's just the last year. With statements like, "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."—this guy is just unelectable.

Ron Paul – My feelings haven't changed; I could never vote for Ronnie P, but gosh I love the guy. He's honest, principled, and dependable (or should I say 'predictable'). I even found myself nodding my head when he argued we should eliminate the liberty-killing TSA and let airlines handle their own security. But the next minute he's talking about how a fence on the Mexican border could be used not to keep illegal immigrants out, but Americans in, in the coming apocalypse. Good grief.

Michelle Bachman – I can't decide who is crazier, Michelle Bachman, or people who think Michelle Bachman has a shot at becoming president. The latter definitely annoy me more (although I suppose the group includes Michelle Bachman). Seriously, promising $2 a gallon gasoline if she is elected president? What's next, chocolate milk in the water fountains and all-day recess? If I have to hear one more time about how she wasted our time and money sponsoring a hopeless bill to repeal the recent health care legislation, I'm gonna look crazier then she did on the cover of Newsweek. Thank heavens Rick Perry has decimated what little following she had. Moving on...

Rick Perry – My initial reaction to Perry's candidacy was that he couldn't win because he was too similar to George W. Bush in the public consciousness. Now I think it's more his ideas. Sticking to your claim that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme is no way to win general elections. But I think the media is right, it's down to Perry or Romney at this point, and my guess is the Obama campaign is crossing their fingers hoping for Perry. The man is high on charisma and Tea Party cred, low on substance. But sometimes that's what it takes to win the GOP nomination. (By the way, the applause when Brian Williams mentioned that Perry had signed the order to execute 234 death row inmates was the most harrowing moment of the debate for me. How awful to applaud such things.)

Rick Santorum – Cricket... cricket...

Herman Cain – Herman Cain is the token crazy guy in a race that's already overflowing with crazies. Normally he would just provide comic relief, but as it is I wonder if the country really is going insane.

John Huntsman – Ever since I read "Running for Grownup," a New York Magazine profile about the only two rational, qualified, pragmatic, mature, and measured candidates in the race (Huntsman and Romney), I have wondered why his poll numbers are so low. Now I know. He is a terrible communicator. His answers floated all over the map, half-hitting five talking points in answer to one question. If he has a message, beats me what it is. But this probably won't matter at the end of the day. Though I love him for it, Huntsman simply isn't Conservative enough for a party nomination that has been hijacked by the Tea Party. His stance against meaningless tax pledges, his belief in evolution and man-made climate change, his former job as Obama's (gasp!) ambassador to China, his support for increased legal immigration and civil unions and the EPA and... well, you get the picture.

(One interesting note: Santorum was the only candidate in the Reagan Library debate to support interventionist foreign policy. Every other Republican candidate is in favor of drawing down our military efforts and not entering new ones—a stark contrast from the '04 and '08 elections. It's interesting how the economy shapes political ideology on both sides of the aisle.)

Mitt Romney – My money's on Romney as the GOP's last best hope of beating Obama. The experience of having been around the block in '08 is showing, in my opinion. He seems more focused, more substantive, more solid, and more wise than he did four years ago. He refuses to bow to the Tea Party's every whim. He has a message, "the economy needs help and I can fix it," and he has an actual plan (in writing, I might add) to do so. He is able to place himself above the fray. After each candidate had a chance to take a swing at Rick Perry over his executive order to inoculate young girls against cervical cancer in Texas, Romney showed mercy and grace, saying everyone has things they would do differently if they had a second chance. At the same time, he emerged victorious in a spat with Perry over the Texas and Massachusetts economies, which is not an easy thing to do against a charmer like Perry (just ask Jon Stewart). He's not perfect (why he's sticking to his "businesses are people" line in the most populist cultural climate in decades I'll never know), but if there is a GOP candidate who can beat Obama next November, it's Romney or nobody.

But my guess is still nobody. The reason the candidates are so cooky this time around is because this is simply a bad year for a Republican looking to become president. I will admit that as the economy has grown slower than anyone expected and fears of a double-dip recession have increased (especially with Europe teetering on the the brink of crisis), my confidence that Obama will win next November has lessened. Economic crisis is the kryptonite of incumbent presidents (see Carter and H.W.) and we've certainly mired in a terrible one. I do not think Obama's jobs plan is going to have a drastic effect and I'm losing confidence that we're going to see a significant recovery in jobs or housing in one year. A Republican winning Anthony Weiner's vacated seat yesterday didn't bode well either. Still, Obama has a trophy case of legislative accomplishments, a boat-load of money, a not-horrendous approval rating, and a cast of cuckoo Conservative candidates on his side. I'm not hedging my bets just yet.

But I am getting excited.

Image: DonkeyHotey