My main objection to TV and TV service is that the content wasn't interesting enough to me to be worth the costs. Push media aims for large audiences, so it's geared toward some flavor of normies. I'm an outlier. I do better with pull media, because I can avoid normie-curated content and find stuff I genuinely am interested in. But I can see why the medium of television is also a concern, regardless of what's on it. The lure of visual and audio sensation can be addictive, and those who use pull media can succumb to this, too.
If acting is sinful, does that make all fictional narrative sinful? Writing fictional stories/novels would have to be included in that category.
I think I had posters of Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden when I was a kid. I outgrew the posters-on-the-wall stage in my late teens, too.
The "pinch hitter" analogy to ancient scapegoats is a good one (even though I don't believe Christ fits that description). All that baseball from your formative years has stayed with you a little bit :-)
You're a highly skilled writer, whichever genres you choose to pursue :-)
I wouldn't call fiction or acting necessarily "bearing false witness." If an assassin tells you he intends to kill someone and asks if you know where to find his intended victim, you are under no moral obligation to witness to his demands; therefore, it isn't "bearing false witness" to refuse to tell him the information he desires, nor to tell him something that might dissuade him or otherwise make it more difficult for him to carry out evil against someone.
Fiction can be perfectly Christian. It's Biblical -- there's fiction in the Bible, including novellas and other chunks of not-literally-true narrative in the Old Testament -- and the idea of illustrating behavior and character by using a narrative is a wonderful thing! Jesus does it in His parables sometimes, too. I would say the parables of the Good Samaritan and Prodigal Son are clearly creative narratives, which is commonly called fiction in today's parlance. That these parables are "true" in important ways simply means that fiction can be true in important ways.
So, it's only bearing false witness if you try to convince your audience that fiction/acting is *not* fiction/acting.
It's true that "serious "Christians have been against lots of things; those "serious" Christians are often wrong, from the standpoint of the Gospel example and the Apostolic tradition that wrote and preached the New Testament. "Serious" Christians also support government and sometimes wars ;-)
I do see Christ as the sacrificial lamb. I don't see Christ as a scapegoat -- a pagan trope -- and I don't see God as the kind of person who would require/accept a scapegoat sacrifice. Jesus doesn't die in our place; if that were true, then that would mean none of us will ever die, or that some other person should've died on the cross instead of Jesus. The sacrifice my God makes is to endure persecution without repaying evil for evil. God could've annihilated all His persecutors but He didn't. To refrain from evil, and to suffer for the decision to do good in the face of people who wanted to do evil, is a sacrifice. That it cost Him His life makes it the ultimate sacrifice. But Jesus doesn't die as a ransom payment nor as a substitute for someone else who was supposed to die instead of Him. And everyone will eventually die, with or without Jesus being persecuted unto death.
I don't believe any of the paganism that folks have tried to insert into the Gospel narrative.
Yes, threads can get challenging, with alternating monologue. When people ask me about my beliefs, I tend to tell them, regardless of medium :-D
Yes, God doesn't bear false witness, which tells me that creative narrative isn't bearing false witness, since God does it more than once. As a Christian, I'm not obligated to tell people only static facts, nor do I sin if I engage in narrative. Proper witness is different from telling only facts.
Yes, I did bring up the term scapegoat, and I should've also included the goat that is sacrificed, since both goats were part of the larger ritual. But it's the scapegoat, while not slain, that receives the sins of the people projected on it. That's the goat that, essentially, "pinch hit" for people; the replacement, the substitute. As popular Christianity has gone and done, Jesus becomes both goats: People believe he's the scapegoat that takes all the sins onto Himself AND is the goat that is killed and offered to Yahweh. I don't believe either of those accurately apply to Jesus' persecution.
The slaingoat-scapegoat sacrifice is what Jesus is referring to when He reminds people that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. People's response to their own sinfulness was to kill one goat and project their sins onto the other one that got banished from their territory. But that's not a good response to one's own sinfulness; repentance, which involves learning mercy and showing mercy to others, is the proper response to one's own sinfulness. In that sense, humans desperately need a mediator AND a good example to teach them. The latter is vital in another way, too: Until the example arrived, people didn't fully realize that the mediator had been with them all along. It is essential to revelation that examples be given.
As a fellow writer, I rarely think my own writing is polished enough, so I hear where you're coming from by saying your writing here isn't polished. I still think your writing is excellent :-)
Meditation #17 By John Donne From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624), XVII:
Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris (Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.)
Perchance, he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which both piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled), which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is.
The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.
Yes, the short poem is part of a larger sermon. The poem, with it's "island" and "continent/clod"metaphors, was sufficient to address the figurative language. But there's much else to ponder from the full sermon!
Did any of your students enjoy Donne's "Meditation #17"?
I cut my cable about a decade ago, never had a cell phone. I'm not a huge sports fan although I truly enjoyed playing sports, (baseball, football and track) it's a been a while since I've watched any sports and once the NFL started honoring criminals I cut them out completely. By the way, there are ways to stream just about any sporting event that is bet on, the gambling sites host live mirrors of the events. You need an excellent pop up blocker and virus control. Although and the experience is rather subpar on the whole its is an option I have used when I really wanted to watch college football, which even when I had cable was often not showing the teams I was interested in.
As for metaphors, I don't think they change too many minds, but I'm positive they do help re-enforce beliefs. They are most effectively used with like minded people rather than when trying to convince someone who's not. I can't think of a single metaphor that's ever made me change my mind, but they have re-enforced my own opinions.
I don't have a mobile phone, either! That makes two of us :-D
I have used mobile devices at a previous job; it was a work phone only, and I didn't bring it anywhere that my work laptop wouldn't also be going.
Your analysis of metaphors reinforcing beliefs rather than changing minds can probably apply to other types of language. People who primarily want their existing biases validated will approve or reject both literal and figurative language based on that bias (though I imagine the figurative language might fool them for a bit :-D ).
I've had plenty of figurative language that I found insightful and that spurred me to reflect on my own beliefs and move/change when appropriate. The parables in the Gospels are big examples. And I'm always up for a good analogy (and equally disappointed in bad analogies).
Great to know you were a team-sport athlete! What position did you most enjoy -- or were best at -- playing in baseball? Football? Events in track?
I enjoyed baseball the most, played center field and loved stealing bases. I played corner, once in a while linebacker and receiver. Track was my best sport and the 440 was my best event in high school, the track coach allowed me to play baseball at the same time, I didn't practice with the track team, I had a key to the school so I could practice when I was done with Baseball. As far as I know I was the only kid who got a varsity letter in both at my school in the same year.
By the time I was in the military I figured out I should have run cross country, with the ten mile run being my best event, right around 60 minutes generally. Not that I was ever going to go pro at any of them and by my junior year of high school I actually dropped out of sports to join a band. The first band that I actually gigged with and got paid was a country band and I don't even like country but the band was really talented so it was fun. That was my senior year, I was a drummer then. First time I played drums was forth grade and I found out right away I could play along with anything instantly. One of these weird moments in life when you realize you have a hidden talent. Guitar I had to work at, same for singing.
Do you have a TV or streaming TV service? Do you watch it more, less, or about the same as you used to? I do have a TV. My service is with Direct TV. I can honestly say I only watch about 5 hours of TV a week. This is a lot less than in the past.
Do you like literal explanations? Do you like figurative expressions? I am a more figurative expression person. Sometime people who are always literal seem very stringent or cannot visualize what you are trying to say. So I have to become very literal in my communication. This is not comfortable for me!
Who’s your all-time favorite baseball player? Favorite player who’s still active? Did you ever get to see them in-person? I am no longer a big baseball fan. I try to get to one game a year
Anything else you want to mention or ask about? If Jesus had TV what would he watch?
Has less TV been good for you? For me, I don't really miss it. I think it's been to my overall benefit.
Being able to do literal and figurative communication, like you can, is helpful. I find most people do a mixture. Figurative language is basically pattern matching, which humans are good at. We pattern-match our own senses and make metaphors out of them so often! Nearly all of us say things like "what's your taste in music" or find some school subject "hard to crack" or refer to talking to someone on the phone as "keeping in touch."
If Jesus had TV, He likely wouldn't watch anything on His own; He already knows everything on it. I do think He might watch TV if He were with other people and they were watching it, and I bet Jesus would have lots of questions for the people who were watching TV, the same way He had plenty of questions for others who consumed information from word-of-mouth and other forms of media.
What team do you like to watch when you attend your annual baseball game?
My main objection to TV and TV service is that the content wasn't interesting enough to me to be worth the costs. Push media aims for large audiences, so it's geared toward some flavor of normies. I'm an outlier. I do better with pull media, because I can avoid normie-curated content and find stuff I genuinely am interested in. But I can see why the medium of television is also a concern, regardless of what's on it. The lure of visual and audio sensation can be addictive, and those who use pull media can succumb to this, too.
If acting is sinful, does that make all fictional narrative sinful? Writing fictional stories/novels would have to be included in that category.
I think I had posters of Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden when I was a kid. I outgrew the posters-on-the-wall stage in my late teens, too.
The "pinch hitter" analogy to ancient scapegoats is a good one (even though I don't believe Christ fits that description). All that baseball from your formative years has stayed with you a little bit :-)
You're a highly skilled writer, whichever genres you choose to pursue :-)
I wouldn't call fiction or acting necessarily "bearing false witness." If an assassin tells you he intends to kill someone and asks if you know where to find his intended victim, you are under no moral obligation to witness to his demands; therefore, it isn't "bearing false witness" to refuse to tell him the information he desires, nor to tell him something that might dissuade him or otherwise make it more difficult for him to carry out evil against someone.
Fiction can be perfectly Christian. It's Biblical -- there's fiction in the Bible, including novellas and other chunks of not-literally-true narrative in the Old Testament -- and the idea of illustrating behavior and character by using a narrative is a wonderful thing! Jesus does it in His parables sometimes, too. I would say the parables of the Good Samaritan and Prodigal Son are clearly creative narratives, which is commonly called fiction in today's parlance. That these parables are "true" in important ways simply means that fiction can be true in important ways.
So, it's only bearing false witness if you try to convince your audience that fiction/acting is *not* fiction/acting.
It's true that "serious "Christians have been against lots of things; those "serious" Christians are often wrong, from the standpoint of the Gospel example and the Apostolic tradition that wrote and preached the New Testament. "Serious" Christians also support government and sometimes wars ;-)
I do see Christ as the sacrificial lamb. I don't see Christ as a scapegoat -- a pagan trope -- and I don't see God as the kind of person who would require/accept a scapegoat sacrifice. Jesus doesn't die in our place; if that were true, then that would mean none of us will ever die, or that some other person should've died on the cross instead of Jesus. The sacrifice my God makes is to endure persecution without repaying evil for evil. God could've annihilated all His persecutors but He didn't. To refrain from evil, and to suffer for the decision to do good in the face of people who wanted to do evil, is a sacrifice. That it cost Him His life makes it the ultimate sacrifice. But Jesus doesn't die as a ransom payment nor as a substitute for someone else who was supposed to die instead of Him. And everyone will eventually die, with or without Jesus being persecuted unto death.
I don't believe any of the paganism that folks have tried to insert into the Gospel narrative.
Yes, threads can get challenging, with alternating monologue. When people ask me about my beliefs, I tend to tell them, regardless of medium :-D
Yes, God doesn't bear false witness, which tells me that creative narrative isn't bearing false witness, since God does it more than once. As a Christian, I'm not obligated to tell people only static facts, nor do I sin if I engage in narrative. Proper witness is different from telling only facts.
Yes, I did bring up the term scapegoat, and I should've also included the goat that is sacrificed, since both goats were part of the larger ritual. But it's the scapegoat, while not slain, that receives the sins of the people projected on it. That's the goat that, essentially, "pinch hit" for people; the replacement, the substitute. As popular Christianity has gone and done, Jesus becomes both goats: People believe he's the scapegoat that takes all the sins onto Himself AND is the goat that is killed and offered to Yahweh. I don't believe either of those accurately apply to Jesus' persecution.
The slaingoat-scapegoat sacrifice is what Jesus is referring to when He reminds people that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. People's response to their own sinfulness was to kill one goat and project their sins onto the other one that got banished from their territory. But that's not a good response to one's own sinfulness; repentance, which involves learning mercy and showing mercy to others, is the proper response to one's own sinfulness. In that sense, humans desperately need a mediator AND a good example to teach them. The latter is vital in another way, too: Until the example arrived, people didn't fully realize that the mediator had been with them all along. It is essential to revelation that examples be given.
As a fellow writer, I rarely think my own writing is polished enough, so I hear where you're coming from by saying your writing here isn't polished. I still think your writing is excellent :-)
Meditation #17 By John Donne From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624), XVII:
Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris (Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.)
Perchance, he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which both piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled), which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is.
The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.
I used to teach Donne when I was teaching British Literature to seniors that couldn't care any less about British Literature.
Yes, the short poem is part of a larger sermon. The poem, with it's "island" and "continent/clod"metaphors, was sufficient to address the figurative language. But there's much else to ponder from the full sermon!
Did any of your students enjoy Donne's "Meditation #17"?
I think some of them did. Enlightenment is rather easy since we are still so entrenched in that paradigm of thought.
Maybe the enlightenment for those students was rather easy because they had a good teacher ;-)
Well, I'm never going to admit to that.
I cut my cable about a decade ago, never had a cell phone. I'm not a huge sports fan although I truly enjoyed playing sports, (baseball, football and track) it's a been a while since I've watched any sports and once the NFL started honoring criminals I cut them out completely. By the way, there are ways to stream just about any sporting event that is bet on, the gambling sites host live mirrors of the events. You need an excellent pop up blocker and virus control. Although and the experience is rather subpar on the whole its is an option I have used when I really wanted to watch college football, which even when I had cable was often not showing the teams I was interested in.
As for metaphors, I don't think they change too many minds, but I'm positive they do help re-enforce beliefs. They are most effectively used with like minded people rather than when trying to convince someone who's not. I can't think of a single metaphor that's ever made me change my mind, but they have re-enforced my own opinions.
I don't have a mobile phone, either! That makes two of us :-D
I have used mobile devices at a previous job; it was a work phone only, and I didn't bring it anywhere that my work laptop wouldn't also be going.
Your analysis of metaphors reinforcing beliefs rather than changing minds can probably apply to other types of language. People who primarily want their existing biases validated will approve or reject both literal and figurative language based on that bias (though I imagine the figurative language might fool them for a bit :-D ).
I've had plenty of figurative language that I found insightful and that spurred me to reflect on my own beliefs and move/change when appropriate. The parables in the Gospels are big examples. And I'm always up for a good analogy (and equally disappointed in bad analogies).
Great to know you were a team-sport athlete! What position did you most enjoy -- or were best at -- playing in baseball? Football? Events in track?
I enjoyed baseball the most, played center field and loved stealing bases. I played corner, once in a while linebacker and receiver. Track was my best sport and the 440 was my best event in high school, the track coach allowed me to play baseball at the same time, I didn't practice with the track team, I had a key to the school so I could practice when I was done with Baseball. As far as I know I was the only kid who got a varsity letter in both at my school in the same year.
By the time I was in the military I figured out I should have run cross country, with the ten mile run being my best event, right around 60 minutes generally. Not that I was ever going to go pro at any of them and by my junior year of high school I actually dropped out of sports to join a band. The first band that I actually gigged with and got paid was a country band and I don't even like country but the band was really talented so it was fun. That was my senior year, I was a drummer then. First time I played drums was forth grade and I found out right away I could play along with anything instantly. One of these weird moments in life when you realize you have a hidden talent. Guitar I had to work at, same for singing.
Center field, eh? Then the John Fogerty song near the end of the article is for you! :-D
Do you have a TV or streaming TV service? Do you watch it more, less, or about the same as you used to? I do have a TV. My service is with Direct TV. I can honestly say I only watch about 5 hours of TV a week. This is a lot less than in the past.
Do you like literal explanations? Do you like figurative expressions? I am a more figurative expression person. Sometime people who are always literal seem very stringent or cannot visualize what you are trying to say. So I have to become very literal in my communication. This is not comfortable for me!
Who’s your all-time favorite baseball player? Favorite player who’s still active? Did you ever get to see them in-person? I am no longer a big baseball fan. I try to get to one game a year
Anything else you want to mention or ask about? If Jesus had TV what would he watch?
Has less TV been good for you? For me, I don't really miss it. I think it's been to my overall benefit.
Being able to do literal and figurative communication, like you can, is helpful. I find most people do a mixture. Figurative language is basically pattern matching, which humans are good at. We pattern-match our own senses and make metaphors out of them so often! Nearly all of us say things like "what's your taste in music" or find some school subject "hard to crack" or refer to talking to someone on the phone as "keeping in touch."
If Jesus had TV, He likely wouldn't watch anything on His own; He already knows everything on it. I do think He might watch TV if He were with other people and they were watching it, and I bet Jesus would have lots of questions for the people who were watching TV, the same way He had plenty of questions for others who consumed information from word-of-mouth and other forms of media.
What team do you like to watch when you attend your annual baseball game?