It’s late at night. The silent snow has been falling all day, blanketing the world in a thick blanket of glistening white snow. Before sleep arrives to end the day, the deep rumble of a snow plow’s engine breaks the silence. As it approaches, the deep scraping sound of the plow blade against the road and the rattle of chains adds to the cacophany heard as the snow is being cleared from the road. As the plow finally passes the window, one more noise is produced which cannot quite be heard over the rumble, scraping and rattles: the sound of cinders and salt being spread to ensure traction in spite of the remaining snow and ice.

When I saw that “Digital Salt” was the topic of Vox Apologia II my first thought was, “Oh boy! What the heck am I gonna do about that?” Should I joke about using a scanner, or better yet, a transporter to send salt through the internet? Should I discuss all the uses for salt? Its place in history? Its place in our language? Its chemical makeup? Those are all (mostly) good ideas, but I think I’ll leave them to someone else who will probably handle them with more aplomb than I.

In John 8:32 Jesus said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If knowing the truth sets a person free, then those who do not know the truth are not free. They’re in bondage. So how can Christians help others know the truth so that they can also be free?

The key to knowing what is true and what is false is quite simply the ability to distinguish one from the other — otherwise known as judgement. The key skill for reaching sound judgements is critical thinking, i.e., the ability to evaluate evidence and use reason to reach an appropriate conclusion.

Several days ago, I stated that postmodernism is the snow and ice of critical thinking. Postmodernism is the idea that there is no absolute truth. What a person believes is considered to be more important than what the facts are, therefore any evidence which contradicts a belief is discarded as “tainted,” “biased” or otherwise unreliable.

A car’s tires need to have contact with the road in order to push the car towards its destination. When there is snow and ice on the road, it becomes extremely difficult for a car to go from point A to point B. Just getting the car moving can be difficult. Stopping at appropriate points can be very difficult. And unless real care is taken, the car can slide into a ditch or worse.

Facts are the solid objects we need to have contact with in order to propel our thinking towards truth. If a fact is disregarded, a person’s thoughts can go sliding in the wrong direction, or may not begin moving at all. It’s also possible for a person to reach the correct conclusion, but without facts, that conclusion is based more on chance than reason, and they may find themselves sliding past the correct stopping point.

One of the properties of salt is its ability to lower the freezing point of water, thus allowing ice to melt. That property is why snow plows spread salt after they pass. By melting the remaining ice and snow, the salt allows the car tires to make contact with the road surface, gain traction, and accurately propel the car to its intended destination. If temperatures are too cold though, the salt has no more effect than simple stones.

As the “salt of the earth,” I believe Christians are given the ability to melt away the snow and ice coming between those who are lost or in bondage and the truth which can free them; but only up to a point. If we take the analogy of the snow plow further, we could say that God is the snow plow. He has to first plow the road, then put us where we can be effective. (Putting salt on an unplowed road is ineffective due to salt’s limits in how much frozen water it can effect.) And in some cases, we will encounter people who are too cold for the salt to cause any melting.

I think I’ve effectively beaten this particular salt analogy to death. Yet I haven’t even looked at the digital part of the topic yet. When I took a look at the passage where Jesus calls Christians salt, I was fascinated by the context:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

(Matt. 5:11-16, NIV)

It’s interesting that those Jesus calls “the salt of the earth” are facing opposition and persecution for following Christ. That is certainly happening on the internet. This seems like a thought worth exploring; perhaps some other time.

Jesus is still speaking to the same group of people as He continues on to call them “the light of the world.” The conclusion is that those who are “salty” are also to be working to spread the light of God’s love and truth as far as they can. Jesus doesn’t mention the means for spreading the light, merely that it should be broadcast far and wide.

The recent presidential election showed that the internet has become a powerful method of spreading the truth. (It’s also just as powerful at spreading deception.) Large numbers of low profile individuals with specific and varied skills are able to work together to determine the truth of a matter by examining evidence and applying critical thinking.

If we are to carry out our function as “the salt of the earth” and “light of the world,” it is necessary to make use of all the means of communication at our disposal. The Internet is only the most recent such tool. Fortunately, it can be highly effective, allowing the ability to delve into the details of facts and evidence necessary to identify the truth. This ability to dig into any topic far beyond any other communications medium is what accounts for its growing influence and popularity in today’s society.

What will people find as they look to the internet for information to base their lives on? More of the same godless worldview dominating today’s society? Certainly. If they are truly searching for the truth, they must also be able to find it online. As more and more people turn to the internet as their means of obtaining news and information we must become the salt and light of the digital world as well as the physical world, just as Jesus commands.

(Note: There is one missing idea from this essay. That is an exploration of how we can actually cause postmodernistic thinking to melt away. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please add them to the comments about this article.)

In chapter 15, Luke records Jesus’ answer to complaints about the kind of people he was spending time with:

Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” And He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?”

(Luke 15:1-4, NASB)

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”

(Luke 15:8, NASB)

And He said, “A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.”

(Luke 15:11-13, NASB)

As this chapter opens, Jesus has been teaching a large crowd. The Pharisees notice that a bunch of unsavory characters have gotten close to Jesus so they can hear him better. It was common practice in those days for the “scum of the earth” to be shunned. No one reputable was to have anything to do with them, let alone eat with them. The Pharisees were the most “reputable” group of their day; kind of like Congressmen and Senators today.

So they begin to complain. “Look at him! He hangs out with prostitutes, IRS agents, homosexuals, child molesters, terrorist and even spammers! He even goes out to dinner with them! No reputable person would be caught dead even being seen with such reprobates, yet he encourages them! He must be scum too.” Okay, so it wasn’t those exact words or categories, but that’s the modern equivalent of their complaints. Their complaints were basically true. He did spend time with such people. Only their conclusion was wrong.

Jesus responds with a three part parable. Part 1 is the lost sheep. Part 2 is the woman with the lost coin. Part 3 is the story of the prodigal son. All three parts are an example of a fortiori reasoning.

In parts 1 and 2, Jesus begins by asking a question; an example of anthypophora reasoning. In each case, he is asking his listeners what they would do if they lost something which they considered valuable.

First he asked the men what they would do if they discovered that 1 of their 100 sheep was missing. To a shepherd of that time sheep were his livelihood. Without them, he would starve. Shepherds would also commonly watch sheep owned by other families in the region. He pointed out that any shepherd who was missing a sheep would leave the 99 who were safely penned up for the night. They would go out to the open pasture which was very dangerous at night due to wild animals, robbers and hazards such as cliffs and holes which were very difficult to see in the dark. In short, any shepherd would risk his life to find a missing sheep because only a fool would casually dismiss a missing sheep.

Then he asked the women about losing a silver coin. There were two basic reasons why losing such a coin would be disastrous to a woman.

First, a silver coin was the equivalent of one or two days’ wages. Imagine how hard you would search if you misplaced the cash equivalent of two days’ wages!

The second level of value to a woman is that in those days, a woman wasn’t given a ring when they married. Her husband would give her a string of 10 silver coins which she would wear in her hair. Losing one of those coins would be the equivalent of misplacing her wedding ring. Furthermore, it was the custom in those days for a man to temporarily take one or more of those coins from his wife if she displeased him — subject only to the husband’s discretion. (Burning a piece of toast was sufficient cause for some husbands to remove a woman’s marriage coin.) So losing a coin could subject a woman to ridicule and gossip from other women.

As in the first part, the woman in Jesus’s story also goes to a great deal of trouble and expense to find the coin. Houses of the time usually had dirt floors, making such a search very difficult. Furthermore, the oil used for lamps was very expensive, so the lamps would only be lit in an emergency.

Jesus then continues on to tell the story of the prodigal son. The father in this story has two sons. One son demands his inheritance, then wastes it all and puts his life into the toilet. After he realizes how stupid he has been, he returns to his father who promptly throws a huge party. When the faithful son complains, the father replies with:

“And he said to him, ‘My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

(Luke 15:31-32, NASB)

The clear a fortiori logic for these three parts is that if a person will make extreme efforts for a lesser item like a sheep or a coin, then lost people certainly deserve extreme efforts to rescue them — including spending extravagant amounts of time with them rather than sending them away. Meanwhile, those who are not lost do not need such efforts.

This entry has been posted to the ‘Jesus the Logician’ Project.

I find the art of making movies fascinating. I’m one of those weird people who likes to watch the special features on how a movie was made; sometimes before I actually watch the movie itself! There are many different styles, skills and techniques involved. One of the most difficult types of movie to make well is hand drawn animation.

The animators of those movies spend hours and hours drawing characters one frame at a time. (One second of film requires 24 frames.)

The animators face many challenges in making the character “work” correctly. They’re drawing a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional character. Each frame must relate correctly to the previous frame to create the illusion of smooth motion. Mouth movements must match the timing of the actor’s pre-recorded voices. Facial expressions must match the character’s emotions. Body movements must appear relatively natural. Even character designs must bear some similarity to real life creatures they are supposed to represent.

When animation is done well, the viewing experience is almost magical for the audience, transporting them into the world of the story. But if done poorly, the animation can become a distraction from the story and can ruin the viewing experience.

Animators have developed a wide variety of techniques over the years to aid them in their quest for high quality animation. They look at and draw people of all shapes and sizes. If they’re drawing animals, they visit a zoo or some other place where they can actually see the animals and how they move. They video tape those animals and people. When a character is designed, the designers create a three dimensional model — called a maquette — of the character. It is common for actors to be video taped as they record their lines. When figuring out how a character’s body needs to move, animators often shoot video of themselves acting out the part.

At the animator’s desk, you will usually see the maquette sitting in a prominent location. You will also see a mirror which the animator uses to check his own expressions. As the animator is drawing you will see them flipping back and forth between the frame they’re drawing and the previous couple of frames; sometimes as often as two or three times for each frame.

All of these techniques share one thing in common. They are all references the animators look at extensively to make sure their drawings look right. They study those reference materials constantly, checking them if there is even the slightest question of how something should look. Though I don’t know for sure, when you consider the hours spent studying character designs, video tape, and test sketches it appears that animators actually spend significantly more time checking their references than actually drawing.

This was the image that came to mind after considering 2 Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

(2Cor. 3:18, NASB)

The concept of the passage of scripture preceding this verse is that before we turn to the Lord, we unable to understand Him. But thanks to the sacrifice of Christ, that veil of misunderstanding is removed when we turn to Him. As Christians, we can now see and understand His character.

Just as those animators need to constantly refer back to their reference materials, we also have the opportunity and need to refer back to the ultimate in reference materials: God‘s image in the mirror of scripture. I wonder what this world would be like if those of us with “unveiled faces” spent as much time looking at the image of God as animators spend looking at their references.

German Attack On Homeschoolers Continues

Officials in Germany have been attempting to destroy the homeschooling movement, going so far as jailing parents and threatening to take their children away. “Germany continues targeting homeschoolers: Group of Baptist families face possible loss of children to state”

The ‘Philly 5’ Get a Win

Things seem to be looking up for the ‘Philly 5’. A judge hearing the case of the 4 adults arrested in Philadelphia for speaking out in favor of God’s laws at a pro-homosexual rally has lifted a bail restriction. Furthermore…

Besides ruling on the bail restriction, Dembe viewed the videotape of the OutFest protest and said she could not see any criminal activity being committed.

More here: “’Philly 5’ win 1 in court: Judge lifts bail restriction on Christians who protested homosexual event”

Why Practice Apologetics

Tim Challies has written yet another excellent article. This time he addresses good and bad reasons to engage in apologetics and debates. (No, my name is not Fan Boy.) There is another good reason to engage in apologetics which is not mentioned by Tim and James White: Taking the time to find answers to questions about christianity leads to personal growth. As Solomon said:

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.

(Prov. 3:13-18, NIV)

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out.

(Prov. 18:15, NIV)

Lawyer Irony

Two founders of a group named American for Legal Reform were standing in line outside a courthouse. While they were waiting, they were amusing themselves by telling lawyer jokes. A particularly thin-skinned lawyer in the line had them arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, thus proving why lawyer jokes are so popular. Details here and here.

During the primaries in Pennsylvania, I posted a plea in this thread begging conservatives to ignore party politics and vote for Pat Toomey over Arlen Specter:

This particular race is producing incredibly strange results. Somehow Specter has managed to gain endorsements from every “official” Republican representative, in spite of the fact that he frequently votes against the interests of those very representatives. For example:

Specter is solidly pro-abortion. Yet the former county commissioner of Lancaster County, Jim Huber, recorded a radio spot supporting Specter; in spite of the fact that he sits on the board of a local pro-life organization.

It has been mentioned over and over again on this board that Supreme Court justices will be the big battleground over the next several years. If Specter is reelected, he will become the chairman of the Justice committee in charge of deciding who the Senate will even get to vote on. Since Specter lead the opposition against Robert Bork and voted in favor of Bill Clinton during his impeachment, it seems likely that Specter will oppose any Constitutionally sound judges who may be nominated by Bush; yet Bush is endorsing him anyway.

Yesterday I talked with a friend with close ties to a representative in Harrisburg. The representative’s opinion is that Rick Santorum would prefer to endorse Pat Toomey (Pat would almost certainly agree with Rick Santorum on almost every vote.) but that there is some reason why he is forced to endorse Specter.

This whole issue appears to be party politics of the worst sort. The man who is at best lukewarm to the positions espoused by the party—and is often an obstacle to those positions—is being supported wholeheartedly by that party for no apparent reason beyond the fact that he’s the incumbent and that he has power. Meanwhile, his opponent is also an incumbent, just in a different house of Congress, he has consistently held the party line, yet he is being given the cold shoulder by the same party he wholeheartedly supports.

Here’s a few things Specter has done:

- He voted against adding an AWB renewal to the Protection of Commerce Act; a good thing.

- He voted for the original AWB; a very bad (and illegal) thing.

- He was a member of the Warren Commission which investigated the JFK assassination and gave us the laughable “Magic Bullet” theory.

- He voted for the so called “Incumbent Protection Act.”

- Citizens Against Government Waste has named Specter Porker of the Year for 2003.

If you support our Constition at all—including the 2nd Amendment—and can vote in the Republican primary, please go out and vote for Pat Toomey. Our Constitutional Republic cannot survive many more years of men like Arlan Specter.

After Specter narrowly squeaked out a win in the primary due to those endorsements, I posted this message:

This is what you get when you vote for the guy who “can” win, not the guy who should win. We now have no chance of getting someone in the Senate who will confirm judges who obey the Constitution.

If Republican leaders had actually endorsed the candidate who most closely matched the party’s platforms instead of basing their endorsements on the cult of personality or seniority or power or whatever the heck it was, the most likely outcome would have been a complete landslide in favor of constitutional principles. Today our country has taken another major injury because Republican leaders put politics before principles. I am completely disgusted.

The general principle is that placing party politics above principles always produces damage. In his Farewell Address, George Washington wrote:

“All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

“However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

As brilliant as he was, Washington’s writing style was incredibly dense. If you didn’t understand what he wrote the first time, go back and keep reading it until it makes sense.

And for those who don’t have that much patience, here’s an executive summary: “Party politics are incredibly dangerous because they place control of who can be elected into the hands of a few men who are leading the parties, undermining the ability of The People to vote for the best person for the job.”

(Note: These last two paragraphs and the quote from George Washington were originally posted here. Warning, that commentary thread contains vulgarity.)

To add to the executive summary; Washington points out that putting men into power in such a corrupt fasion inevitably leads to the destruction of the system of government which allows it to happen.

I really hate to say this, but I was right. (I would really have preferred to be proven wrong.)