Pat Metheny Reveals that Only God Can Explain Music

Pat Metheny Reveals that Only God Can Explain Music

Well, he didn’t really do that, but he almost gets there as he’s trying to describe the mystery of being in such a musical zone that it boarders on the transcendent. He doesn’t exactly say that either, but what he describes is certainly akin to an other worldly experience. I yelled out loud as he struggled to explain this, “Pat, it’s God!” If you don’t know who Metheny is, he’s a guitarist and musical genius. I was exposed to his music in the early to mid-1980s, and he was a companion for decades. I don’t listen to much music anymore given my preference for learning, but when I saw this long interview of Pat by Rick Beato, it was something I couldn’t miss. It’s pretty technical stuff at times, as Beato has created quite a following exploring musical theory in popular music, but it’s an especially fascinating conversation for those of us who know that melody, harmony, and rhythm can only exist because God exists.
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Epistemology and Organic Food

Epistemology and Organic Food

Now that’s a real click bate title! I bet there’s never been one like it. What in the world does it mean? Well, I’m glad you asked. We all have heard of organic food, you know, stuff that’s natural and supposedly better for you than non-organic stuff. It supposedly doesn’t have pesticides or GMOs if it comes out of the ground, or isn’t given hormones or antibiotics if it’s fish, fowl, or mammal. For the latter, they’re supposed to be grass fed or cage free, and live their short lives not part of the big industrial machinery food industry. Most people know that. But what about epistemology? Far fewer have ever heard the word, let lone what it means. That’s a shame because it’s something they encounter every day of their lives whether they know it or not. That’s what it is, what we know, how we know, why we know, and the study thereof. Or think we do. But, what in the world does epistemology have to do with organic food? More than you might think. (more…)

And They Said It Wouldn’t Last: Happy 34th To My Bride!

And They Said It Wouldn’t Last: Happy 34th To My Bride!

Instead of giving my wife flowers or taking her out to a nice dinner for this the 34th anniversary of our marriage, I thought I’d give her a blog post. It’s easier, and less expensive. Not to mention that it will last longer. It’s this kind of thoughtfulness that has kept her putting up with me for all these years, or maybe it’s the mercy and grace born of the cross of Christ to which we dedicated our lives before we ever met. I’ll go with mercy and grace! Any successful marriage that stands the test of time needs plenty of both. When we were walking into church this morning, Sarah, that would be my bride, needed a reminder of how long we’ve been married (you lose track after a while), and when I said 34 years, she replied, “Holy crap!” I know! The swift passage of time is a cliché I’ve commented on many times on this blog, but no matter how many times you talk about it, it is still incomprehensible just how swift that passage really is for we mere mortals. Since this is a post about marriage and not time, I’ll stay focused on the former. (more…)

God Has Made It Possible to be an Intellectually Fulfilled Christian

God Has Made It Possible to be an Intellectually Fulfilled Christian

The subject of this post might sound slightly familiar. It comes from a statement on the other side of the metaphysical divide from world-famous atheist Richard Dawkins who said that, “Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.” What Darwin actually did was to give atheists an excuse to reject their Creator by denying he even exists. Atheists, however, are increasingly fighting a losing battle as scientific knowledge advances. Every day it becomes more difficult to deny that nature appears to have been designed and could be not a product of chance. Even Dawkins himself said nature has the appearance of design, but Darwin allows him to be blind to that design all the while claiming the mantel of “science.” And now we know in the age of COVID that “science” is often used as an ideological cudgel to silence anyone who disagrees with the standard narrative of our cultural elites. (more…)

The Cultural Caricature of Christians: Don’t Buy What the Secular Culture is Selling!

The Cultural Caricature of Christians: Don’t Buy What the Secular Culture is Selling!

One of my pet peeves is how easily Christians buy into the hostile secular cultural caricature of conservative Christians. What do I mean by that? The culture via its many powerful and ubiquitous means of communications communicates that Christians are generally unsavory characters. Then, being persuaded by the caricature not only do non-Christians believe it, but most Christians do too. So, in a book I recently read, Culture Apologetics, I found a perfect example of this lamentable trait among Christians. The book is great, but this is disappointing. I will quote the author to make my point.

The church is seen by many as an intolerant and judgmental community.

For Christianity to be desirable, we must narrow the gaps between how things are and how things ought to be.

According to Barna Research Group, the most common complain of those outside the faith . . . is that “Christians no longer represent what Jesus had in mind, that Christianity in our society is not what it was meant to be.” Christians today are known primarily by what they stand against instead of what they sand for. For the majority of people aged sixteen to twenty-nine, Christians are anti-homosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, too political, old-fashioned, insensitive, boring, unaccepting of other faiths, and confusing.

It is no secret that Christianity has a public relations problem.

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