8 comments

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  jurisnaturalist

  1 year ago

  I like the nit-picking. One of the most glorious attributes of good Christian doctrine is that it is internally consistent, and it is only by nit-picking that this truth is revealed. That said:
  1. My kids also can only bring store-bought food to share at school. it's a stupid rule that reveals how fear-motivated most people are in their decisions.
  2. Pagans don't have anything else to live for except consumerism. Let's not take that from them. Simultaneously, the church ought not to live like the pagans do. So, let's work not for change in public policy which discourages consumerism, instead let's work for change within the church which demonstrates our peculiar ethic and courage as opposed to fear.
  3. Finally, it is not the improvements in production allowed by economies of scale in some industries which are evil. Rather, where there are state protected legal privileges firms can grow beyond what would normally be an optimally efficient economy of scale to the detriment of smaller firms, and overall welfare.
  In other words - bigness is not badness necessarily, and we need to be careful to guard against a proclivity toward believing that in every situation. Instead, we need to recognize that the introduction of force - through activity of the state - is what creates an injustice through creation of legal privilege.
  Nathanael Snow
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  coldfire136

  1 year ago

  I would agree wholeheartedly with your post, Michael. Having done two years of choral music at the high school level, I remember how nit-picky my teacher would before choir festivals. Any group can sing through a song using the right notes. It takes a director to form it, mold it, and bring it to beauty. It reminds of Balthasar and his thoughts on biblical exegesis. He argued, unlike many modern biblical critics, that unity of the scripture was found in treating it like a score---with different parts having different functions to bring beauty to the whole piece. Thanks for your great thoughts.
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  Michael Cline

  1 year ago

  "Bigness is not badness necessarily..."
  
  I would totally agree Nathanael. My problem is not so much the corporations that get to benefit from our lack of creativity as demonstrate by the Catholic school rule, but the very lack of creativity as a whole. It's disappointing and robs the children and family structure of imagination. It's like the family picnic or church potluck where everyone brings Original Recipe KFC. Bland.
  
  Coldfire (It's Danny isn't it?), I haven't read much of Balthasar (shame on me). Sounds like N.T. Wright's narrative take (and many others) but with musical terminology. Am I right?
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  Michael Cline

  1 year ago

  nathanael, you open up an interesting discussion about the use of terms like "pagan" for me. Perhaps a post on that kind of rhetoric would be fun one of these days. Particularly that "pagans don't have anything else to live for except consumerism." Hmm...
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  somasoul

  1 year ago

  *Completely and totally off-topic*
  
  Mike,
  
  I saw this and thought of you
  
  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340869,00.html
  
  Looks like your marriage is safe, Mike. :)
  
  *End off-topic*
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  jurisnaturalist

  1 year ago

  For more on the use of "Pagan" see "The Mainspring of Human Progress" by Henry Grady Weaver, or "Discovery of Freedom" by Rose Wilder Lane - daughter of Laura Ingals Wilder.
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  markvans

  1 year ago

  That is hilarious, somasoul. While Mike is certainly a cute guy. I can attest to the fact that his wife is even cuter.
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  Michael Cline

  1 year ago

  I believe the football analogy for this phenomenon is what my friend called "out-punting my coverage."
  
  You might as well marry upward.
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