DIY Pedal Board

Accomplished this weekend - DIY pedal board. I've already been mocked by teenagers who referred to it as "ghetto." I can't exactly argue.

ONE TEXT FILE TO RULE THEM ALL

Wow, it's been a year since I posted here and the only reason that I'm breaking my silent streak (other social media being much more interactive and fun) is that I am bursting with geeky pride over completing My System which I affectionately refer to as One Text File to Rule Them All.

I got the idea of working from a Big Ass Text File from this post on 43 folders. Being forced to use WordPerfect at work increased my desire to have most of my stuff in an almost completely incorruptible format, namely the humble plaintext txt or flat file as it is sometimes called.

Development

I used AutoHotKey to create a way to quickly input data from any of my computers, because the script and the text file (to rule them all) both reside in my DropBox folder. Run the script and it waits of me to press the key combination of Control+Spacebar which brings up this interface:

Whatever I type can be categorized into my stream-of-consciousness journal, placed in my knowledge database (bookmarks, quotes, etc), added to my wish list (book titles, software), added to my Do or Now lists (to do and next actions respectively), included in my list of half-baked ideas or saved to the text file and uploaded to Twitter automatically (the number at the bottom of the dialog counts your letters for tweeting purposes). When this window is up, you can use Ctrl+First letter shortcuts. I also have hotkeys set up to bring up each of these lists separately (Win+Letter) which can be accessed even if the dialog is not active.

To inactivate an item one must only open any of the lists and press Win+R (for remove). The text file will still contain this item, but it won't be sent to the sublists. I also put in a hotkey (Win+x) which clips whatever you have highlighted directly to the txt file with a datestamp and #clipped hashtag.

Now, no self-respecting programmer would be proud of this. It's a good thing that I am not a programmer and also possess no self respect.

Script provided below requires AutoHotKey and httpQUERY.ahk (in the same folder). Unless you give me your twitter username and password and I can create you a .exe - how much do you trust me?

; ONE TEXT FILE TO RULE THEM ALL

;

; Install - place httpQUERY.ahk in the same folder with this script. The ONE TEXT

FILE TO RULE THEM ALL

; and the temporary sub files will be in the same folder. Runs great in your

MyDropBox folder.

;

; Instructions:

; Ctrl-Space opens dialog

; Win-Space opens the One Text File

; Win-x copies (appends) to the one text file without switching screens (adds

#clipped hashtag)

; KEY below

;® Do Items Win+d opens a file of Do items

;¤ Now Items Win+n

;§ Wish Items Win+w

;© Half-Baked Items Win+h

;¶ Knowledge Items Win+k

;¦ Journal Item Win+j

;« Calendar Item Win+c

;µ Tweet Item Win+t

;¥ (reserved for future use)

;

; To inactivate (but not delete it from your OTF, highlight the datestamp and

press Win+r (for remove)

;

; Code to post to twitter from agdurrette:

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45459&highlight=twitter

#NoEnv

#Persistent

#SingleInstance, Force

SendMode Input

SetTitleMatchMode 2

SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%

#include %A_ScriptDir%\httpQuery.ahk

Gui, Add, Edit, x6 y10 w310 h20 gUpdateChar vData ,

Gui, Add, Button, x6 y40 w70 h30 default, &Journal

Gui, Add, Button, x6 y80 w70 h30, &Knowledge

Gui, Add, Button, x86 y40 w70 h30, &Calendar

Gui, Add, Button, x86 y80 w70 h30, &Tweet

Gui, Add, Button, x166 y40 w70 h30, &Wish

Gui, Add, Button, x166 y80 w70 h30, &HalfBaked

Gui, Add, Button, x246 y40 w70 h30, &Do

Gui, Add, Button, x246 y80 w70 h30, &Now

Gui, Add, Text, x6 y120 w200 h20 vCounter,

;This just provides a counter in the GUI of how many characters you have written

(useful for Twitter posts)

UpdateChar:

GuiControlGet, Status,, Data

stringlen cnt, Status

GuiControl Text, Counter, %cnt%

Return

;This posts a tweet to Twitter - change "username" and "password" to yours

Post:

{

URL := "http://username:password@twitter.com/statuses/update.xml?"

POSTdata := "status="status

httpQUERY(buffer:="",URL,POSTdata)

}

Return

^Space::

GuiControl,,Data,

Gui, Show,,One Text File to Rule Them All

Sleep, 50

ControlFocus, Edit1, OTFTRTA

Return

#Space::

Run OTFTRTA.txt

ControlFocus,,OTFTRTA

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

; Used this for a moment to sumbit True to SQL

;#z::

;Send, True`n

;Return

;Destroys the old versions of the organized text output files and recreates them

with the most recent data

;I could do this by reading in variables, but this is easier to read and change in

the future

Refreshlists:

FileDelete, anything.txt

FileDelete, Do.txt

FileDelete, Now.txt

FileDelete, Journal.txt

FileDelete, Wish.txt

FileDelete, Calendar.txt

FileDelete, HalfBaked.txt

FileDelete, Knowledge.txt

FileDelete, Tweet.txt

FileDelete, Clipped.txt

;Make copies of the first one of these to create separate files for anything you

want with a hashtag

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, anything.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, #anything, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, clipped.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, #clipped, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Do.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ®, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Now.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ¤, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Journal.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ¦, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Knowledge.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ¶, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Calendar.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, «, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Tweet.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, µ, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Wish.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, §, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, HalfBaked.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ©, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Return

;This part clips what is highlighted to the OTFTRTA without changing screens. You

get a wee little beep

;as evidence that it worked.

#x::

clipboard=

Send, ^c

ClipWait, 2

if ErrorLevel

{

MsgBox, The attempt to copy text onto the clipboard failed.

return

}

fileappend ¦ %clipboard% %CurrentDateTime% #clipped`n, OTFTRTA.txt

SoundBeep 3000, 5

Gosub, Refreshlists

return

ButtonDo:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ® %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonCalendar:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, « %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonWish:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, § %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonNow:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¤ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonKnowledge:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, * %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonTweet:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, µ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gosub, Post

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonHalfBaked:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¶ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonJournal:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¦ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#w::

Run Wish.txt

ControlFocus,,Wish

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#d::

Run Do.txt

ControlFocus,,do

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#j::

Run journal.txt

ControlFocus,,Journal

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#n::

Run now.txt

ControlFocus,,Now

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#t::

Run tweet.txt

ControlFocus,,Tweet

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#c::

Run calendar.txt

ControlFocus,,Calendar

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#h::

Run halfbaked.txt

ControlFocus,,HalfBaked

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#k::

Run knowledge.txt

ControlFocus,,Knowledge

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#r::

Gosub, MakeOld

Return

MakeOld:

send ^c

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, MyTempFile.txt ; designate an output file

{

temp := ( A_Index = 1 ? "" : "`n" ) . A_LoopReadLine

IfInString, temp, %clipboard%

{

stringreplace,temp,temp,®,OldDo

stringreplace,temp,temp,¤,OldNow

stringreplace,temp,temp,§,OldWish

stringreplace,temp,temp,©,OldHalf

stringreplace,temp,temp,«,OldCal

stringreplace,temp,temp,¶,OldKnow

stringreplace,temp,temp,¦,OldJournal

stringreplace,temp,temp,µ,OldTweet

}

FileAppend, %temp%

}

FileMove, MyTempFile.txt, OTFTRTA.txt, 1 ; overwrite the source file.

Gosub, refreshlists

return

;The following submit based on keystrokes (only if the OTFTRTA is open) with the

appropriate headers

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^d::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ® %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^n::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¤ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^w::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, § %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^h::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, © %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^k::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¶ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^j::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¦ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^c::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, « %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^t::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, µ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gosub, Post

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

Escape::

Gui, Hide

Return

on Twitter

I've been thinking about the medium of Twitter recently and this post on Jollyblogger got me thinking even more. Some folks are criticizing Twitter as the quintessential narcissistic tool, and I can certainly see the point there. Twitter can be just one more way to draw attention to the minute, insignificant details of my life, since the universe ceases to exist when I fall asleep and begins anew when I regain consciousness. I think that there are a couple of good things about Twitter. As to my existing friendships, sometimes there is nothing that seems email worthy to write to them, despite the fact that I value their friendship and love them. I do have a very strong desire to reclaim the art of the handwritten letter, but that's a different post entirely. For these friendships, the psychological benefit for me of Twitter is that it moves my friends out of the abstract and into the present, despite a separation by place. Especially when my friends tell me that they are thinking about something, they don't have to even tell me what they conclude, it provides me with data about their experience. I know that my friends exist, but I have to project on them thoughts and feelings, and especially if I haven't seen them in a while, this is generated by my previous experience of them, with little new data. I think a phrase like, "getting the kids out of the bath" does more to keep my connected to a friend than a thousand email forwards or even an abstractly written theological/philosophical exchange.

I agree with the Jollyblogger that the building blocks of relationships are the small phrases of everyday enjoyment uttered from one friend to the other. I think that reciprocity is the key here, though. I try to use my "@"s and "d"s regularly with all of my friends, because something as short as "that's neat" or "I wish I had some hot chocolate right now as well" goes a long way to building the relationship on both sides. Yeah, Twitter is probably a symptom of our ever-decreasing social attention span, but I rather like it.

My son (18months) just had a sip of my Dunkin Donuts coffee (black) and
asked for another.

Today begins the last week of my underemployment. I have accepted an almost full-time post-doctoral position at a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility. It is located right down the street from me, which is quite convenient. It should be some great experience.

I began this blog as an outlet to keep my sanity during my pre-doctoral internship. I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to this blog now that I'm a "post-doc." I hope to start posting more regularly now that I'll have a more regular work schedule.

If you're still a reader, thank you, and I hope to reward your vigilance soon.

This morning I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation. Thanks be to God!

Jesus knows what is in man

John 2:23-25

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Living in our context of "moralistic therapeutic deism" and being myself someone who works in a therapeutic context, I have to try to process this short passage through a lens other than that of group psychotherapy or share-time at a youth retreat. My mind immediately translates this verse as, "Jesus didn't share his feelings with others..."

Brother Martin jumps off from this verse to talk about an application for us, that we ought not to trust ourselves to any spiritual teacher, but bring all teaching back to the scripture. He says that he will concede that many of the saints were indeed holy, righteous men, but they were not to be followed at every point. So, Benedict was a holy man, but where his 'rule' is set up as a necessity, he is not to be followed. He lists a number of heroes and says essentially, where their faith was pointed at Christ, follow their example, but where they err, get off the train.

Accordingly, I ought not entrust myself to Dr. Martin himself, or to C. S. Lewis, or to J. I. Packer or N. T. Wright or anyone whom I am now or have ever been tempted to say, "This is it. This person understands the Gospel and will give it to me straight."

Changes

I've not entirely vanished from the earth, but I have been busy, as the update on the Dissertation-O-Meter will attest. I hope to be ready to defend my dissertation in the near future (maybe a month and a half or so?). Another change to the blog is an audio player of my pastor's sermons on the sidebar.

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These days I do most of my blogging at the Boar's Head Tavern, which is an ongoing eccumenical conversation. Don't worry, there is a better Lutheran than I at the bar representing our views. I'm not going to abandon this blog anytime soon, however. I established it to keep me sane during my pre-doctoral internship which is now over, but I may begin some post-doc work shortly and may need the outlet.

Why I make the sign on the cross.

My wife and I have taken to making the sign on the cross during various times during the divine service. For her, it's reflexive, having grown up Roman Catholic until only recently. I didn't make it to Confirmation in the RC, my parents deciding to join a non-denominational, Dispensational congregation.

Now, our church doesn't have all the trappings of a "high church" - no crucifixes, no incense, no statuary. We certainly don't go the other way either. We have both common cup and (non-disposable) individual cups (which my pastor reverently washes). I've been to individual confession. No CCM, no wandering away from the structure of the Divine service, our pastor wears vestments, etc. You get the idea. Also, no one (to my knowledge) makes the sign of the cross. I try not to look around, but you don't see that massive movement that you can't help but notice at an RC Mass.

So why do I make the sign of the cross at the risk of giving offense or possibly confusing others in the congregation? First, for my wife. Since it's reflexive for her, and since I'm convinced that it is in the realm of 'things indifferent', I do so to make the connection between how we as Lutherans practice and how the Church has practiced for centuries. Also for my children. I want to show my kids that what we do here is just as reverent as what Grandma does at her church (but with pure doctrine).

Finally, I love my baptism*. I need to remind myself constantly that what is going on in front of me, is actually for me by virtue of my baptism into Christ. I can buy that it's for the guy in front of me, but I really have to remind myself that it's for me. The Absolution (for me). The Body of our Lord (for me). The most significant part of my life in Lutheranism is the discovery of the sacraments. It amazes me anew every Sunday that Christ would condescend to give himself to us in simple bread and wine. But it's true.

I love watching baptisms, Christ's work to forgive sins applied to little people who can't contribute squat to the process. I'm excited about the prospect of bringing my son to the fount soon (if he would hurry up and be born already). I'm just glad that I could convince my wife that the tradition in the RC of dressing boys in long flowing baptismal gowns is best left to the Catholics.

* The first one. I was re-baptized by immersion during high school, but I consider my baptism as having occurred on March 11, 1979 at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest.

Mystery Luther Quote

Alright. Somewhere along the line, I believe it was in an undergraduate course, I heard a quote attributed to Martin Luther regarding vocation. The gist of which was comparing the work of a monk to the vocation of a dung-shoveler. It would certainly not be out of character for Luther to use a scatological reference to make a point. Unfortunately, I'm not certain how to spell dung-shoveler in German, or I probably could have found the reference already. Does anyone know if this is a real Luther quote or if my source was full of it (heh, pun).

Gospel Hack

No, not a reference to my Bible quiz skills, rather I wanted to share a procedure to make your own individually "bound". text editions of the gospels, free of chapter and verse numbers and other extraneous material.

The reason for making such a document is to facilitate reading the gospels in a single sitting. Verse numbers are useful, but tend to interrupt me and the full force of those "And immediately..." and other transitions are lost.

1. Go to my favorite Bible translation's web page and click on "read it online"
2. Click the Options (Beta) link in the top right
3. Turn off headings, subheadings, verse numbers, chapter numbers, and footnotes.
4. Search for a segment of the text, there is a 500 verse limit for one view, so search in segments of about 10 chapters - "John 1-10, John 11-20, etc."
5. Copy text and paste into the word processor of your choice
6. Find someone with a printer that will print in booklet mode - you may want to adjust the line spacing so that you can make notes in your clean text version.
7. Print a cover on some card stock paper.
8. Find someone with a long reach stapler so that you can add some staples down the spine.

You're done.

Dissonance and Evil

So I haven't posted in quite a while because I was on a blog-fast over Lent, but now that Lent is over and I am so profoundly backlogged in my blog reading, it's hard to get back into it.

So, my three-year-old and I were listening to Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother in my car and at a particularly dissonant section she said, "Daddy, this sounds like my God book."
So, of course I had to ask about that. Turns out that it sounds like the snake in the garden to her. The very naughty snake.

No theological point here, rather a perceptual psychology observation. Apparently, by nearly four years old, dissonance sounds evil, without words or other cues as to what the song means.

Theses on Sanctification

Theological Theses

1. Sanctification is a growing knowledge and conviction of my own failure to meet the demands of God’s holy and perfect Law that occurs throughout a person’s Christian life.
2. Along with knowing my sin more intimately, Sanctification is a growing trust on the merits of Christ alone for my salvation, and a growing despair of my own righteousness.
3. Sanctification is evident in a growing internal motivation to serve our neighbor boldly in the power of the Holy Spirit, who has prepared these truly good works for our benefit.
4. Service to neighbor in sanctification is not limited to “spiritual” activities or witnessing. #3 ought not to be understood as only a growing desire to verbally share our faith with others (though this does indeed occur) but a growing compassion for our neighbor, expressed through our various vocations.
5. Because of the above, sanctification is a decrease on focus on the self (in favor of focus on Christ and Neighbor).
6. Number 5 absolutely cannot be manufactured by trying hard, self-help, psychotherapy or other attempts at becoming a better person. In fact, these are antithetical to growth in sanctification as they direct one’s energy and attention to the self rather than the neighbor.
7. Focusing on reducing the number of sins one commits as evidence of sanctification is counterproductive (try not to think about pink elephants).
8. Sanctification does, however, involve active training. The confessions speak of fasting as “fine outward training” and Paul uses sports metaphors to describe the Christian life as requiring human effort. Life is not static.

Psychological theses

9. Much human behavior is automatic and not directly controlled by the conscious “will.” This can be seen most clearly in patients who have their behavior manipulated artificially (chemically or electrically) who then report post facto explanations for their behavior. The conscious mind often gives meaning to our behavior that is directed by the brain without conscious awareness. To use a computer metaphor, there are many processes going on behind the scenes when we operate a computer that are not accessible to the user. In the same way, the brain is processing information and directing behavior that is not in the conscious awareness.
10. Many use the fact that behavior is largely not consciously controlled to argue that free will is an illusion. The underlying processes of our brains are indeed largely genetically programmed, however, they are also open to change through experience and practice. Many behaviors (driving, riding a bike, grammar, etc.) become a largely automatic through practice. The brain conserves resources by automatizing functions that previously required effort.
11. Additionally, how we perceive the world is dependent upon our associations. This is not just the memory of events, but memory of how things work (procedural memory) which influence how we perceive events. When these differences vary systematically by culture, they are easier to see. For example, White and Black Americans have different cultural expectations about the physical distance between two people in a conversation. Violating these expectations (standing too close) will be reflexively attributed to the other person (this person is rude, aggressive, aloof, etc.) How we see the world is dependent upon our experience and upbringing.
12. Similarly, our perception of events will be determined by how we have been trained to think.

Integrative theses

13. Training the brains associations happens through repetition, not through force of will. Catechism, steeping the mind in scripture, liturgical prayer, hearing scripture read and expounded, all serve to train the brain well (Philippians 4:8).
14. Christians can use secular material, movies, music, books, etc. and through discernment, discover what is good in them, this ought not be the pattern of new Christians, children or the spiritually immature. Even the mature should be careful not to fill the mind excessively with ‘dark’ things. C. S. Lewis talked about reading one old book between every new book you read, or at least one old book for every 3 new books. Similarly here, we ought to be in the habit of refreshing our minds with what is good frequently.
15. Conversely, we can prepare ourselves to fall into sin through our consumption of media. Realistic video can be used to desensitize an individual from the natural revulsion to killing. Songs with explicit sexual content can normalize inappropriate sexual behavior and make lower one’s resistance to inappropriate behavior should a compromising situation present itself. We can train ourselves about what is “normal” and “appropriate.”
16. No amount of training, without the Holy Spirit, will result in Sanctification. It will result in civil righteousness and self-righteousness. Thus, learning to trust in the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf is equivalent to the process of being made holy, which, like Justification, is wholly God's work.

Happy Excommunication Day

On this day in 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

Big News (40 Tons)

A new 40 ton functional MRI machine has been unveiled at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Unlike previous fMRI machines that provide a picture of blood-flow to various brain regions, this fMRI can apparantly provide a picture of individual neurons firing. Other fMRI images also have a huge time-lag problem, not so this one. I'm excited about this technology, to be sure. It also appears not to require the injection of radioactive material, such as in a SPECT scan. Read the piece from the Chicago Tribune via PsycPORT. At the end of the article there is a short discussion about the ethical concerns, especially if the technology is misused. The thing to remeber is that, even if we can see individual neurons firing, we can't read the mind directly. For example, I show you a picture of a cow. Your occipital lobe would light up as the brain processes the image. Some part of the cortex would "recognize" the cow - but there are a number of ways that the cow can be recognized. If you are a farmer, you may recognize by breed or other characteristics that are different if you happen to be a meat processor (you would notice other things about the picture). There is a "spreading activation" from the picture of the cow that would be different for each person. For example, I noticed that my daughter was watching the movie "the Barnyard" the other day. If you showed me a picture of a cow right now, I would remember that and start thinking about my daughter and my mother-in-law (in whose house she was watching it) and what day it was, etc. If you were watching my brain, and I didn't tell you about this, you would be confused. By the way, spreading activation is uncontrolable and I might not even be able to tell you what "thoughts" (nodes) are activated when you show me a picture. I don't think that anyone will ever be able to "read you mind" with such a technology, unless you spent a huge amount of time in the machine having it "learn" your particular brain.

Martin Luther King Jr. on Vocation

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pasuse and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

Martin Luther King Jr. - Quoted on p. 363 of Krumboltz, J. D. & Chan, A. (2005). Professional Issues in Vocational Psychology, from Walsh W. B. & Savickas, M. L. (2005) Handbook of Vocational Psychology, 3rd edition.

German Christmas Carol Service

We went to a German Christmas Carol service tonight. It felt like I was in a psychoanalytic lecture, Freud this and Freud that...

TNIV - Variant reading in Mark

I was going to give the TNIV a chance, so I began to read in Mark. I got as far as verse 41 of chapter 1 where I read, "Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" So, I consulted my Greek New Testament (published 1994). The authors categorized this textual variant as a {B} meaning that the variant included in the text ("Jesus was moved with compassion..." - which is how nearly every other translation renders the verse) is "almost certain." The texts that support "indignant" were few and didn't seem to be more ancient than those that support the dominant translation.

"Indignant" would seem to be the kind of word that a monk might change to protect Jesus' reputation, but the weight of the textual evidence would seem to lean toward the traditional reading. So, does anyone have a more recent edition of the Nestle-Aland that would clear up why the editors went with this reading? Apparently, since my copy of the Greek New Testament was published, new papyri manuscripts have been included in the text (numbers 98 through 116) [2001 printing].

This is exactly the kind of thing I shouldn't worry about while I'm working on my dissertation...

Dutch Santa Claus

Humorist David Sedaris talks about how the Dutch understand St. Nicholas. Click this link, scroll down one episode to the one titled "Them." Click the link then fast-forward to 25 minutes in (unless you want to listen to the whole episode of This American Life). The Sedaris piece is 7 minutes long and very worth the trouble.
{Note: not dirty but a reference to other Dutch practices at the end}

Stream of Consciousness Blues

My 3-year-old daughter and I recorded a blues song last night. I think with her natural phrasing and dynamics, I could get her signed to the Fat Possum label. We have to work on her lyrics. On second thought, general incomprehensibility has made millions for others...

Listen through to the end (only a minute, thirty-eight seconds of your life squandered). I wish other musicians knew when they have said enough.

God's Self-Deception

This morning, as I headed for Dunkin Donuts for the best coffee on earth, I happened to flip to EWTN radio. I was startled to hear Luther's famous snow-covered dung analogy being discussed. The host of the show commented that it sounded to her that if God looked at us and saw Christ's righteousness rather than our sinfulness, that He would be deceiving Himself. Wow. How utterly foreign this is to the gospel.

I love the snow-covered dung analogy, especially since the alternative is so unlovely.

Happy St. Nicholas Day

I've always had a connection to St. Nicholas of Myra, since his saint day coincides with my birthday. I like him even more after I found out that he smacked Arius at the Council of Nicaea. Check out this brief biography, this account of his transformation into Santa, and this liturgical commemoration which includes new hymn lyrics that tactfully mention the slapping incident ("The heretic he scorned" heh).

Documentary on "Church Growth"

NO JOB FOR YOU!

After making it to the top 3, interviewing for 5 hours, and waiting a month to find out, I have received official news that I did not get the full-time job for which I was hoping. I have been working on my dissertation and hopefully I will be able to adjust the "Dissertation-O-Meter" rather dramatically in the near future.

Lutheran Carnival XXXVI

Now hosted at the Markel Family blog.

Code Name: "Pinocchio"

Glory be to God, He has given us a second child, at present only 15mm tall. My daughter (3) is using the code name "Pinocchio" for this child, just as she was code named "Snicker-Doodle" for her gestation. Prayers are appreciated.

Prayer Before Class

I'd like your thoughts. I'm about to begin teaching (undergraduate level) and I want a prayer with which to begin every class that includes vocational elements. I would like some feedback about theology, flow, language, etc.

O God and Father of our Lord and Teacher, Jesus Christ, grant us diligence and attention to our vocations as students and teacher that our knowledge and wisdom may increase to the blessing of our neighbor, through the same, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

I wanted the idea of Christ the Teacher as the attribute of God that leads to the Petition. I don't know whether it comes through cleanly enough.

More thoughts on the Baylor Religion Survey

Baylor has not answered my polite request for details about which items loaded on the dimensions of Belief in God's Anger and Belief in God's Engagement. The raw data is not available on the American Religious Data Archive either. So, I will post a couple more observations about the initial report of the results, American Piety in the 21st Century.

According to the random sample of 1,721 individuals, Evangelicals make up 33.6% of the population. Let's take a look at how the authors group folks:

The authors define Evangelical Protestant as:

"Protestant groups that emphasize the authority of the Bible, salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, personal piety, and the need to share the "Good News" of Jesus Christ with others (i.e., to evangelize). A long list of theologically conservative denominations define this tradition, such as Anabaptist, Assemblies of God, Bible Church, Brethren, Christian Church, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Christian Reformed, Church of Christ, Church of God, Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Mennonite, Pentecostal, Presbyterian Church in America, Seventh-day Adventist, and Southern Baptist."

Further, they define Mainline Protestant as follows:

"Historic Protestant denominations that are more accommodating of mainstream culture, including American Baptist, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Episcopal/Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Quaker, Reformed Church of America, United Methodist, and United Church of Christ."

According to this breakdown we in the LCMS have more in common with Pentecostals than with the ELCA. Rather than grouping the denominations a priori
based on supposed theological conservativeness, it would be interesting to do a cluster analysis to see if denominations do indeed fall into these groupings. Interestingly, those who are grouped as Evangelical Protestants identified themselves as "Bible Believing" (68%) much more frequently than they described themselves as "Evangelical" (32%). [Note: these categories were not mutually exclusive, you said yes or no to whether or not each describes your beliefs.] Only 27% of people categorized as Evangelical Protestants endorsed "Theologically Conservative" as a descriptor of their religious identity, despite the fact that the authors use "theologically conservative" to define the denominations included in this category.

When Evangelicals are asked which term best describes them, only 3.1% say "Evangelical", 7.6% say "Mainline Christian", 41.8% say "Born Again" and 27.3% say "Bible Believing." In fact, a larger percentage of Mainline Protestants say that "Evangelical" best describes them (4.6%) than do Evangelicals (3.1%). Clearly the a priori categorization does not jive with people's self-description. There are interesting differences observed between these groups on other variables (political and other beliefs), but it would be interesting to see how the data itself groups these denominations. Not a single Black Protestant self-categorized as "Evangelical".

Other categories were examined: Black Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Other and Unaffiliated. The "Other" category includes both smaller Christian groups (Orthodox [n=7]) as well as non-Christian groups (Mormon [n=22], Christian Science [n=2], Muslim [n=3], etc.) This "garbage can" category comprised only 4.9% of the sample, so obviously no conclusions can be drawn from it.

34% of Catholics define themselves as "Mainline Christian" indicating a fundamentally different definition from that of the author's. Also, only 5% of Catholics define themselves as "Born Again" - clearly reflecting a reaction against the popular definition of the term, rather than an ancient understanding of rebirth in baptism.

Attitudes toward the Scriptures were measured with the following question: "Which one statement comes closest to your personal beliefs about the Bible?"

1. The Bible means exactly what it says. It should be taken literally, word-for-word, on all subjects.
2. The Bible is perfectly true, but it should not be taken literally, word-for-word. We must interpret its meaning.
3. The Bible contains some human error.
4. The Bible is an ancient book of history and legends.
5. I don’t know

So, which do you endorse? I'd endorse something between numbers 1 and 2. Number 2 seems to lose it at "we must interpret its meaning" and doesn't talk about genre. The authors contrast the first response with the fourth, but it is unclear what they did with the second and third response options. Again, I'll know more when they release the raw data.


A Potpourri of other interesting things:

• 9.6% of Jewish people endorse "Jesus is the Son of God" - Given that the Jewish sample was 47 people, this constitutes just four and a half people (there must have been some Jewish people who were excluded from calculation). Is this a "all people are sons and daughters of God" or are these Jewish Christians? Must have raw data...
  
• Not a single person under the age of 30 reports having read Dianetics.
  
• Evangelicals spend the most on religious stuff.
• Not a single African American respondent purported to be an atheist.
• "Region of the country is significantly related to the four types of God. Easterners disproportionately tend towards belief in a Critical God. Southerners tend towards an Authoritarian God. Midwesterners tend towards a Benevolent God and West Coasters tend towards belief in a Distant God." (p. 28) - However, I don't know that this would be true after controlling for denomination. Denominations tend to be regional, although there could be a zeitgeist effect from the dominant denominatinos leaking into others in the area.
• "Nearly one fifth of Americans thought that God does favor the United States in worldly affairs." (p. 39)
• A question about reading habits included only these response options: Any book in the Left Behind series, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, Any book about Dianetics, God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren, Any book by James Dobson (Focus on the Family)
• Similarly, the question about viewing habits included only the following: The Passion of the Christ, This Is Your Day with Benny Hinn, Joan of Arcadia, Any VeggieTales movies or videos, 7th Heaven and Touched by an Angel

Reformation Day Pumpkins

Can you name all of the "Reformers" carved in pumpkins below?
(Black and white templates of numbers 2-5 available upon request for your Reformation Day party needs.)

I'm all for beer metaphors.

From Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controberial Force in the Catholic Church by John L. Allen, Jr. (2005 - Doubleday: NY)

If you want a guiding metaphor for Opus Dei, the spiritual organization founded in Spain in 1928 by Saint Josemaria Escriva that has become the most controversial force in Roman Catholicism, think of it as a Guinness Extra Stout of the Catholic Church. It's a stong brew, definitely an acquired taste, and clearly not for everyone.(p.1)

"Skip a bit, brother"

In an era when the beer market is crowded with "diet" this and "lite" that, Guinness Extra Stout cuts the other way. It makes no apologies for either its many calories or its high alcohol content. It packs a frothy, bitter taste that has been compared by some wags to drinking motor oil with a head. Precisely because it resists faddishness, it enjoys a cult following among purists who respect it because it never wavers. Of course, if you think it tastes awful, its consistency may not be its greatest selling point. Yet while Extra Stout may never dominate the market, it will always have a loyal constituency.

He then goes on to talk about how Vatican II was an attempt to brew a Lite version of Catholicism and that Opus Dei offers a "robustly classical alternative" (p. 2).