It is a sad day for Georgia Bulldog fans as UGA VI, the winningest mascot of the Georgia Bulldog football team has passed away from congestive heart failure. I am an Atlanta, GA native and have been a lifelong Georgia fan. Here, UGA is keeping cool while participating in blackout day.
Here are a couple of additional pictures I took while in Alaska recently. The first is Mt. Ranier as we were sailing out of Seattle. The second is a group of playful Sea Lions cavorting on a buoy in the waters bordering Alaska.
I’ve been unable to blog for the past few days as I’ve had the wonderful experience of spending a week cruising in Alaska. I’m back now and will hopefully be able to resume regular blogging. Here are a couple of photos I took while there. The first is the Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord. The second is one of many humpback whales we saw .
Last evening, I had the privilege of attending my first live performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. It was unforgettable. The oratorio, composed in 1741 and premiered on April 13, 1742 in Dublin, was performed by the Florida Orchestra and a number of choral groups. The only disappointment was that the first portion of the oratorio, that regarding the birth of Jesus was not performed. Parts II and III, covering the death and resurrection, were beautifully performed and moving. The text for the entire work is drawn directly from scripture. The libretto can be found here.
Handel completed Messiah in just 24 days. The story is told that he shut himself up in his room, eating and sleeping little, while he completed this work. On September 14, 1741, he emerged with the words:
I did think I did see Heaven before me and the great God Himself!
It is also told that Handel’s assistant walked in to Handel’s room after shouting to him for several minutes with no response. Handel, in tears, held up the score to the movement known as the Hallelujah Chorus, and said:
I have seen the face of God.
We stood, last evening, for the Hallelujah Chorus, as has been done almost universally at the performance of this piece. Tradition states that when the first few notes were played, King George II rose from his chair and stood. Protocol demands that when the King stands, all stand. Men have suggested that King George stood in accordance with the custom that one stands in the presence of royalty as a sign of respect. The Hallelujah Chorus clearly places Christ as the King of Kings. In standing, King George II accepted that he too is subject to the Lord of Lords.
It looks like our spam filter is no longer devouring every comment which it sees. I think it has been doing this for at least 2-3 months, although, we were not aware that this was the case. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting.
I want to apologize to the several people who’ve let me know that they have attempting to leave comments only to be blocked by our spam filter. You were not intentionally blocked. For a while we were getting so much spam that we altered our filter. Obviously, something has gone awry. I’ve let Jeremy know (He’s the brains behind running the website) and he is working on the problem. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on the posts. I hope we can resolve the problem soon.
Update: (March 11 @ 16:47) We’ve made some adjustments, but all comments are still being blocked. We’ll keep working on this. Thanks for your patience.
As some of this blog’s readers might know, my son, Jeremy, is an excellent classical guitarist. He trained on this instrument during his undergraduate days at Florida State where, besides majoring in philosophy, he also minored in music. None of you probably know that I am a beginning cellist (strongly emphasizing beginner status). I’m taking lessons and would be further along if I could only find more time to practice.
Anyway, Jeremy alerted me to some beautiful music performed by cellist Zhao Jing and guitarist Yasuji Ohagi. It has inspired me to try to practice more so that someday (when I’m 85?) I will play amazing duets with my son. The video is found here. Other pieces by the pair are also found on the page.
Today wrapped up the “Reasonable Faith in an Uncertain World” apologetics conference. It was a great day which began with Craig Hazen’s “To Everyone an Answer” in which he made the claim that Christianity is unique among world religions in that it invites investigation into its truth claims. It is testable in a sense that no other world religion can claim.
In the first breakout session, I attended Dan Wallace’s session on “Is What We Have Now What They Wrote Then?” Wallace is one of the premier experts in textual criticism and provided strong evidence for the reliability of the New Testament.
In the last morning breakout session, Paul Copan presented “The Incarnation of Christ in Philosophical Perspective” in which he explicated the difficulties of the divine Christ becoming a human being. After lunch, Copan then presented “Hell and the Goodness of God.” He showed how Hell is compatible with the teaching that God is good.
In the final plenary session of the conference, Gary Habermas ably finished things up with a discussion of “The Resurrection of Jesus” in which he convincingly argued that one can establish the historicity of the resurrection accepting only those “minimal facts” which are accepted by 90 to 100% of all scholars (liberal and conservative).
With a full mind and a tired body, I make my way home to Lakeland tomorrow.
Today was the final day of the EPS/ETS annual conference. I spent the morning in a panel discussion based on Doug Geivett and James Spiegel’s new book, “Faith, Film and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen.” First, Geivett, of Biola University spoke on “Escaping into Reality: How The Truman Show Reveals Epistemological Conditions for Human Flourishing.” Then, David Hunt of Whittier College presented a paper called, “The Sleeper Awakes: Gnosis and Authenticity in The Matrix.” James Spiegel, of Taylor University, then presented his paper, “What Would Have Been and What Could Be: Counterfactuals in It’s a Wonderful Life and Run Lola Run.” Finally, “Rattle and Film: U2 and the Kingdom of God”, a paper by Douglas Blount of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was presented. This was an enjoyable session examining philosophical issues through film.
In the afternoon, I followed a sort of “aesthetics and culture” track. First, Joseph Wooddell of Criswell College presented a paper, “Christian Artists and Art Critics: The Apologetic Value of Evangelical Involvement.” Then, David Alan Reed of Bethel College presented, “The Logic of Aquinas’s Theory of the Beatific Vision.” Finally, a fellow Biola Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics student, Michele Armstrong presented her paper, “Beauty, Virtue, and Wisdom.”
Tonight at the “Reasonable Faith” Conference, James Sinclair offered a plenary session lecture called, “God, Science and the Cosmos.” The first part of his lecture provided additional support for the second premise of the Kalam Cosmological Argument (that the universe began to exist) from current scientific thought. In the second part, he offered a defense of the Cosmological Fine Tuning Argument.
In the breakout session, I attended Ben Witherington III’s “Knowing the History of Jesus” in which he presented Christ’s own Christology (or how he thought of himself). Jesus spoke continually of two things in regard to himself and his mission: “Son of Man” - an obvious reference to deity from Daniel 7, and “The Kingdom of God” again found to be given to the Son of Man in Daniel 7. He argued Christ had a “high” Christology of himself.
Tomorrow, I will attend several sessions at the “Reasonable Faith” conference. More after that.
Today was a full day and I am unable to provide as much information on each session as yesterday. But, the first session of the day at EPS/ETS was by Jay Richards, of the Acton, Institute, answering the question of “Is the ‘Spontaneous’ Market Order an Example of Design without a Designer?”. Next, J. P. Moreland offered a response to Phillip Clayton on the subject of “Substance Dualism and Individuals in the Mereological Hierarchy.” Then, Michael Rea, of Notre Dame, answered the question, “Were the Cappadocian Fathers Social Trinitarians?” After Rea, William Lane Craig responded, “No” to the question, “Is Uncertainty a Sound Foundation for Religious Tolerance.” In the afternoon, David Hunt offered a “Defense of Simple Foreknowledge.” Then, in a plenary session of the EPS, Michael Murray, of Franklin and Marshall, addressed the question of whether “Evolutionary and Cognitive Psycology” could adequately explain religion. Of course, there were many other sessions taking place simultaneously in other areas of the conference.
This evening, “Reasonable Faith in an Uncertain World” Apologetics Conference kicked off with an inspirational challenge by Lee Strobel. Afterwords, there were several breakout sessions including the one I attended in which J. P. Moreland discussed the “Argument from Consciousness”: A powerful argument for the existence of God. Briefly, Moreland presented arguments to show that conscious states cannot be identical to brain states. Physical matter cannot give rise to non-physical entities, and so consciousness is a recalictrant fact with which physicalism cannot deal. On the other hand, the Theist belief in God as a conscious being who created man in his own image does offer an explanation for consciousness.
Tommorow is another full day. Hopefully, I can offer another update tomorrow evening.