The following drivel should not be attributed to rational atheists, or any of our skeptical friends who drive by the Areopagus from time to time. Y’all know you’re valued, so don’t take this personally. This is genuinely sophomoric thinking on display, which causes me to wonder why it’s trumpeted around the Internet so often. Believe it or not, the video claims 4 million views! I’ll provide some commentary on that as well, in good time. At any rate, here’s the supposed top ten questions that all intelligent Christians should answer. I’ve listed the questions below, along with a brief response for now. I’ll provide a post on each one in detail, though their desert is questionable…

Question #1: Why Won’t God Heal Amputees? (touted as “the most important question we can ask about God”)

Did you want him to contradict his own word? When He doesn’t want to, he doesn’t…and who says he doesn’t?

Question #2: Why are there so many starving children in our world?

Since there’s enough food in the world to feed everyone, perhaps we should locate blame with someone(s) other than God…just perhaps?

Question #3: Why does God demand the death of so many innocent people in the Bible?

There are no innocent people in the Bible. You would think that in any top ten list, all the questions would at least be logically coherent!

Question #4: Why does the Bible contain so much anti-scientific nonsense?

It doesn’t.

Question #5: Why is God such a huge proponent of slavery in the Bible?

He’s not.

Question #6: Why do bad things happen to good people?

They don’t. (see answer to question 3)

Question #7: Why didn’t any of Jesus’ miracles leave behind any evidence?

They did.

Question #8: How do we explain the fact that Jesus has never appeared to you?

Remember, don’t accuse the rational atheist of this stuff

Question #9: Why would Jesus want you to eat his body and drink his blood?

Isn’t the Bible clear about this? Just go read what it says…

Question #10: Why do Christians get divorced at the same rate as non-Christians?

Even one instance of this is troubling (not for the same reasons the question assumes), but does any real Christian have difficulty answering this question?

Yes, I told you they were weak, but they’re worth delving into for ancillary reasons, as I hope will be clear as we do so. See you soon…

Modesty.

“It isn’t my fault if he lusts because of what I’m wearing. If he knows he has a problem, then he shouldn’t look. He needs to take care of his own heart instead of worrying about what I do. I can wear whatever I want.”

Sola Scriptura

“You shall not commit adultery.”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

“Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;” (Proverbs 6:25)

“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
‘I the LORD search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.’” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

“Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Genesis 4:9)

2 Cor 3:1-18
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Romans 8:1-17
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Galatians 5:13-15
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

Ephesians 4:1-24
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

“(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Philippians 2:1-8
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Proverbs 3:34
“Toward the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he gives favor.”

1 Peter 5:5
“…Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 John 2:9-11
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Romans 13:8-14
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

1 Corinthians 8:7-13
“However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

Romans 14:13-21
“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

“Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.”

Proverbs 6:16-19
“There are six things that the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.”

Romans 15:1-7
“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

James 3:13-18
“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

1 Peter 1:13-19
“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Romans 12:1-2
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

“Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion.
The desire of the righteous ends only in good;
the expectation of the wicked in wrath.” (Proverbs 11:22-23)

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)

There are good reasons for this. Jill’s created an expansive world with characters you’ll care to root for and pull against; a world that rings true from the first page to the last, including its fantasy elements. 

But there’s more to it for me. Jill is able to compose complex scenes in a manner that I’ve rarely seen. I’m talking about big scenes with multiple characters engaged in intricate dialogues and intrigue, or battle scenes written so well they simply appear fully-formed in the mind’s eye of the reader. And keep and eye out for the banquet scene…it’s a work of art.

Again, congratulations, Jill. This one’s deserved.

Purchase By Darkness Hid here.

BTW- If you were not aware of this already, it means you’re not receiving the WhereTheMapEnds newsletter, hosted by The Areopagus’s own MS Quixote. Sign up for it here and receive an exclusive (and fun) free gift: “The Horrific But True Psychological Phases of Writing a Novel.”

So how should women dress? Like all Christians, women should clothe themselves in Christ’s righteousness and humility, desiring God’s beauty to shine through them.

“Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (1 Peter 3:1-4)

“…likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.” (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

While these verses appear in a context addressed to wives, the message remains clear to all women: clothe yourselves in Christ’s righteousness. But how does that goal manifest itself given current fashions and most women’s penchant for shopping?

While Christ fulfilled the Law for us, we’re still called to not sin. A look at several of the Ten Commandments (two in this installment, one in the next) will guide woman in their quest for fashionable fulfillment.

You shall have no other Gods before me.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:19-24 explain all we need to know about fulfilling this commandment with regard to our practice of dress:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Do we shop more than we serve others? Do we spend more on clothing and maintenance of the clothing than we do in helping the less fortunate? Do we allot more time to reading advertisements and studying the latest fashions than we do reading Scripture and praying? Do we delight more in our new outfit we slip on before church than we do in our expectation of worshipping and learning from the day’s sermon?

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

We’re charged with living in the world but not being of the world. Psalm 73 provides us with an antidote for not succumbing to the tempting pleasures found in the world, the ones that make us desire what is not ours:

“Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
 
“But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.” (Psalm 73:1-17)

How easy it is to desire expensive garments and the luxuries that many women of the world accumulate. How easy it is to want to appear stylish, up-to-date, and hip. However, the Psalmist reminds us that these desires and pursuits prove meaningless when we focus on God. Psalm 73 reinforces Jesus’ word regarding laying up our treasures in Heaven. In His sanctuary, in His presence, we find eternal peace, a peace that the material items of this world will never provide.

“Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
 
“For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.” (Psalm 73:23-28)

The comforts of material items do not sustain us for more than a trivial period of time. God’s peace sustains us eternally. Furthermore, God promises to clothe us (Matthew 6:25-33), and He is faithful. We’ve no need to keep up with the Joanies and Junes in an effort to blend in with the world’s trends and standards.

“The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.” (Psalm 19:1-11)

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Patience, young Skywalkers. We apply the background of the first three entries in both the next and final installments. In the meantime, a read or reread Quixote’s discussion of beauty supports this entry, in particular the beatific vision. It conveys the truth about the beauty of God’s glory.

With that said, remember now the idea stated in the previous entry about Jesus’ inherent righteousness and subsequent lack of need to dress himself in regal garb.

“For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2)

The above verse prophesies about the Suffering Servant, Jesus. He did not arrive as the Israelites expected, resplendent in appearance, commanding subservience through a worldly, royal image.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Even though God chose David, about whom the book above in verse 12 describes as “…ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome,” God does not choose or benefit people based upon their outward appearance. The beauty of Jesus issues forth from His holiness. He was and is intrinsically clothed in righteousness, just as God commands and enables Christians to be clothed. Beauty originates in God, and the Lord bestows His beauty upon those who love Him.

In Ezekiel 16, God illustrates from where we derive our beauty. God adorned his covenant people, Israel, with a God-given beauty:

8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. 17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord GOD. 20 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.”

What a remarkable difference between the two paragraphs! The Israelites turned from God, trusting in themselves rather than in Him, forgetting to honor the source of their beauty and strength. In God’s eyes, they became prostitutes, sharing their God-given gifts to please themselves and the sinful world rather than using the gifts for God’s glory. Linking this account with the New Testament, the Israelites were walking by the flesh as described in Galatians 5:19-21:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

We are clothed and in our right minds now. May God help us to not forget the state in which He found us, the state from which He saved us, and the state into which He has adopted us His beautiful children!

In Chapter 14, Hosea shares a plea to return to the Lord:

“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take with you words
and return to the LORD;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from me comes your fruit.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.”

In this chapter, we again see God as the root of beauty, not man. We also see a call for understanding and discernment just as we did in Proverbs. Understanding and wisdom emerge from a fear of the Lord. It is obvious why we should keep our eyes and hearts focused on God. Consider the scribes, Pharisees, false teachers, and Satan for a moment:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:27-28

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Cor 11:13-15)

We should remain wary of external beauty since we see clearly that external beauty can deceive. I do not assert that we should shun our admiration of beauty altogether or that we should neglect good hygiene and a kempt appearance; however, authentic beauty that does not fade emerges from within due to the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, and this beauty is the kind that we should uphold as our standard.

When Moses returned from speaking with God, his face shone radiantly with God’s glory, so much so that the Israelites could not look upon him. Moses covered his face with a veil because the Israelites feared the glow of Almighty God.

God commands us to not cover our faces, to not hide our adoption into His kingdom. We’re to be light in a dark world, just as Jesus is the light—the beautiful, unsurpassed light of righteousness.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

“Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” (Philippians 2:14-16)

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:5-7)

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

May our eyes remain open to see God’s holy beauty. May our minds continue to absorb God’s word so that we can discern how to walk in the light. May our hearts desire the beauty of God’s light to shine through our actions.

Proverbs 31:30

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

How are Christians to be clothed?
The Bible tells us that we should be clothed in righteousness.
This righteousness comes by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Luke 24:49, Jesus tells the disciples: “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

In Acts 1:4-5, Jesus’ words again: “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Holy Spirit empowers and equips believers to live a righteous, God-pleasing life. The Holy Spirit clothes us in righteousness, filling and developing within us the fruit of the Spirit:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)

While walking in the Spirit requires a synergistic cooperation on the part of the believer, the Holy Spirit gradually sanctifies us, changes us from one degree of glory to the next, and guides us to strive to live a life worthy of our Savior.

Consider the account of Legion and the pigs from Mark 5, which demonstrates the power of Jesus to heal sinful, lost man. After Jesus drove out the unclean spirits, people from the region of the Gerasenes observed the once demon-possessed man subsequently clothed and in his right mind. Quixote’s pastor spoke about this healing in a sermon once, referring to “clothed and his right mind” repeatedly. How lost we are—out of our minds and naked—without Jesus! Yet Jesus clothes us with righteousness and corrects our thoughts and actions.

A portion of the account of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16: 19-26) provides us with a morsel about beauty to chew and digest:

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’”

While Jesus did not tell the story in order to teach us how to dress ourselves physically, I find it interesting that the rich man who in his earthly life did not know Jesus’ righteousness, clothed himself in purple and fine linen. Juxtapose that with this account in Mark 15:16-20 of the abuse Jesus endured prior to his crucifixion:

“And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.”

Ponder for a minute the similarity between the rich man’s luxurious clothing and the soldiers mocking Jesus while dressing Him in purple, a symbol of royalty. A truth stands out. Jesus had no need of purple robes and fine attire, no need to dress himself in the current style of a royal leader. His holiness adorned Him everywhere He travelled, even when He prayed alone. He naturally clothed himself in righteousness for He could dress no other way. Remember this thought if you read the next entry concerning the concept of righteous beauty…

How else are Christians to be clothed? The Bible tells us that we should be clothed in humility. Obedience that results from gratitude and reverence produces humility within us.

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5)

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10)

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” (Proverbs 8:12-13)

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” (1 Peter 3:8)

Jesus modeled humility throughout His life. We read Jesus’ words about humility as he answers the disciples’ question in Matthew 18:1-4:

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

He also fulfilled prophecy which included a humble state, the Messiah arriving on a donkey:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)

We humble ourselves with the Holy Spirit’s assistance out of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

Even though humility does not come naturally for us due to our pride, we should strive to become more and more like Jesus in this respect.

The practice of clothing ourselves in righteousness and humility finds its personal origin on the inside (thank you, Holy Spirit) and manifests itself on the outside. The demonstration of righteousness and humility in our daily lives illustrates what should be the Christian’s ultimate goal: to love God and others as better than ourselves. We love because God—righteous, humble Jesus—first loved us.

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

“It isn’t my fault if he lusts because of what I’m wearing. If he knows he has a problem with lust, then he shouldn’t look. He needs to take care of his own heart instead of worrying about what I do. I can wear whatever I want.”

This paraphrase expresses the opinion of a large, vocal percentage of Christian women that I’ve encountered over the past couple of years on a Christian forum that I frequent. The topic of appropriate attire for Christian women resurfaces from time to time, and a heated debate always ensues. Inevitably, the gist of the opinion cited above serves as the closing remark of numerous women, offended that others would admonish them for their choice in clothing and/or would attempt to stymie their freedom in Christ. While these women do make a valid point with respect to the responsibility of men, which I will touch upon in a later blog entry, the reasoning of their thinking overall does not line up with Scripture.

Before we delve further into the topic of appropriate female attire, we should first establish a Biblical background for this subject.

Let us start with the wisdom contained in Proverbs. From the beginning in Proverbs 1:1-7, the book puts forth the purpose of its contents:

Since we—hopefully—do not wish to be fools, let us learn more from God’s Word:

Wisdom and prudence inextricably link themselves together. By acquiring knowledge, which we find in and through God, one may exercise discretion.

Proverbs 3:13-18 highly esteems the acquisition and application of these qualities:

Shortly following those verses, the Proverb in verses 21-22 continues to press upon us the importance of acquiring and applying wisdom and discretion:

We know that God grants these gifts to those who ask for them, for God wishes His children to possess, employ, and draw comfort from them.

James 1:5 also asserts that we derive wisdom from God:

Further, Philippians 1:8-10 reinforces the idea that God’s children should develop and apply knowledge and discernment in their lives:

We will add to this foundation in subsequent entries before we undertake the issue of appropriate female attire.

It’s commonly thought that beauty resides in the realm of subjectivity, and that its children–art, music, literature, and the like–are created in the subjective image of their mother. This notion is exacerbated by the relativistic age in which we live, whereby nearly any notion is relativized and subjectivized. But is it true that beauty is subjective? I think not.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.      Romans 1:18-23

Paul argues that God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–are clearly known through the creation. He further argues that sinful men did not glorify him as God; instead, they exchanged the glory of God. Here’s the question at hand, then: is not the glory of God beautiful?

Of course it is. It’s entailed in the beatific vision. Is, then, the glory of God a subjective beauty? Heaven forbid. Though all earth pass away, the glory of God will remain beautiful, were there no one there to see it.

Beauty, then, is anything but subjective. Beauty in the natural world derives from God as certainly as logic, moral values and duties, and anything else that requires grounding. Moreover, we as humans made in the image of God, are endowed with the capability of apprehending beauty, just as we possess the ability to recognize its converse. I don’t think this will be that difficult to demonstrate, either for beauty proper, or in its children.

First, there’s an objective standard by which we can judge the children of beauty. It’s not at all problematic to distinguish between the child’s stick figure and the Mona Lisa. It’s not difficult to distinguish between a Pavarotti and the guy behind you in church who is tone deaf.

Secondly, it is not at all difficult to apprehend beauty from non-beauty in our own experience of the natural world. We discern rather easily between a tar covered, polluted, brown water dirty beach, and the pristine, blue water, white beaches of paradise. We naturally distinguish between the odor of a Great Dane dung pile and the rose petal growing next to it. One has beauty, the other does not, until we become flies, that is.

All in all, beauty is objective. The confusion arises when we conflate beauty with our personal likes and dislikes, and when we forget to account for the ravages of sin, that can so alter one’s dislikes that they exchange the objective beauty of God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Subjectivity arises with validity in my personal tastes: I like Dostoevsky, but not Dickens. I like Matisse, but not Picasso. I like oboes, but not tubas. In none of these situations must we deny the inherent beauty of the work or sound, even though we subjectively prefer one over the other. We can acknowledge their objective beauty, while not preferring them subjectively. But in no cases are we allowed to acknowledge the works of the devil as beautiful, though at times we may subjectively prefer them.

Soli Deo Gloria

Fast Tube by Casper

Mr. Johnson is a low church musician, yet his musical ability should satisfy even the most high church among us. He’s on anyone’s list of the world’s greatest living guitarists. Shema and I saw him last year–I first saw him in the 80′s– and he was top-notch, a true musical pioneer who refused to play his hits and rather played all new music, with few exceptions. This angered a few in the crowd around us, but I thought it spoke well of him.

Regardless, did you notice the astounding range of tone in the clip above generated by one musician limited to one setup? Let’s dispense with the standard joke, first.

Do you know how to shut a guitarist up?  Give him sheet music

There’s some truth to it, actually. At the street level-gasp!-guitarists play by ear, by chord, by scale, and by tone. Tone is a beautiful thing, and one some pianists, for example, often don’t pay much attention to, in terms of striving to constantly search out new tones, by virtue of the inherent tonal limitations of their instrument. [EDITOR's NOTE: TA's genteel and mannerly good friend CD is not one of these pianist types referred to above. I recently heard a beautiful and soulful guitar piece of hers in addition to her piano work.]  Here’s what I mean:

I currently have five guitars: a Gibson Les Paul Studio, an 80′s model Guild solidbody, a Fender Stratacoustic, an Ibanez RG, and a Peavy double neck, 12 on top, 6 on bottom. This, disregarding all other factors, creates a tonal treasure chest with only the quick switch of a quarter-inch cord. Each guitar has its own reach, its own sound, its own character. But that’s only where it begins. Take the Les Paul, for instance. It has three settings, that corresponds to different combinations of the two pickups. That is colored by four volume and tone knobs that each range from 0-10. So, if my math is correct…forget it, I’m not going to do the math. Suffice it to say there are an astounding permutation of settings on only one instrument. The combinations, all of which directly affect tone, are staggering.

But that’s not all, because the manner in which the instrument is played directly affects the tone as well. Did you notice in the clip that Mr. Johnson sometimes picks with the pick, sometimes uses the pads of his fingers, sometimes uses his fingernails, sometimes uses both pick harmonics and finger harmonics, sometimes uses the palm of his right hand for muting, sometimes forms the notes differently with his left hand, all with different pressures and intensities at the point of attack on the strings?

But that’s not all. Did you notice the array of amplifiers behind him? They’ll all have a seemingly infinite range of settings, as well as their own inherent tone that differs from all other amplifiers. How about the rack at his feet? There’s a wealth of tone generating devices there I won’t go into. The point should be overdone by now. The guitarist is unique among all instrumentalists in his ability to generate tone. True, the synth has a similar capability, but the synth operates with digital sampling, which is a problem we will address in a later post. At any rate, the synth is not generating tone, it’s reproducing digitally sampled tones. Rest assured, we at The Areopagus did not miss CD’s following statement from her first post: I like tribal music, Bach, 20^th century composers, and digital ambiance. Hey kids, if you’re needing an example of oxymoron for your English class, here it is: digital ambiance. We intend to hold CD’s feet to the fire for validating the great digital wasteland. [EDITOR's NOTE: Disregard that last statement, please. As part of this series, TA has intended from the start to argue forcefully, yet very politely, genteel, and mannerly, that the digital revolution--the extremely mathematical digital revolution--has had deleterious effects on music in several ways. We believe CD must mean something very different by the phrase digital ambiance than we understand by it. We're confident she'll correct us.]

So, if you add all the combinations of tone available to the guitarist, it’s a staggering thought. But, so what? Well, here’s what. Tone can be expressed mathematically, much like color can, but it cannot be explained mathematically. Thus, we will enter tone in as our second line of evidence that demonstrates that music is not explainable by mathematics.

Here’s what I mean. What does the phrase light at a wavelength of 475 nanometres mean to you? If you answered blue, good for you. But what if I ask, what is blue like? An answer such as blue is like a 475 nm wavelength of light is woefully inadequate. It tells me nothing, except a mathematical equivalent for my perception of blue. But I’m not asking for a mathematical equivalent, I’m asking you what blue is like. How does it strike you? How does it make you feel? What’s your experience of blue?

And it’s the same for tone. What’s tone like? If you offer me a mathematical equivalent for tone in response to that question, I’ll inform you, regrettably, that you’ve missed the whole point of music. Tone is king, and math doesn’t explain it, nor can it.

The only things that explain tone are statements like the following:

It’s the way a Fender Strat sounds through a Marshall. It’s the way a flute sounds. It’s the way a harpsichord sounds. Ad nauseum. It’s tone, man. You got it, or you don’t. The only remaining question, as in part II, is whether we add tone through our perception, God adds it as some weird form of occasionalism, or whether tone is a property of the music itself.

With tone, though I believe we were successful with mood, I think this question will be more easily demonstrated. Tone, unlike mood, possesses an expressable [note that we feel mood is as well, but it's limited to the mathematics of interval intrinsic to differing musics, not in the soundwaves themselves as tone may be] mathematical correspondence to the physical properties of the music created by the instrument, or even a human voice. Hence, tone enters our minds in accordance with a corresponding physical description, in the same manner as blue enters our minds as described by light at a wavelength of 475 nanometers. Yet, blue is not light at a wavelength of 475 nanometers, and tone is not whatever mathematical equivalence is ascribed to it.

Ironically, then, I believe this mathematical correspondence will create all sorts of undesired philosophic problems for S>S if the attempt is made to maintain that music is indeed mathematical. In my view, tone will enter the mind perhaps as some sort of quale, like blueness, with a direct mathematical equivalent, yet it will not be reducible to physical causation. It will be, as argued in part II, music functioning precisely as God designed it: we will encounter the beauty of good tone just as we encounter the beauty of color in a sunset.

To avoid naturalism, S>S’s view seems to require that the spiritual component of humans adds something to the music in order to interpret the experience. All fine and good, as that is exactly what TA’s does, except for a crucial difference. TA’s has the spiritual experience correlated to the physical phenomena; S>S seems to require either some weird form of occasionalism on the part of God or the human spirit to account for the consistency of experience, or a denial that we all experience blueness and tone in the same manner–IOW, that where in the same instance where I hear a raunchy, distorted tone, you hear the textured tone of a french horn, despite each of us apprehending the identical mathematical soundwave signature.

With the mathematical equivalence of tone not in doubt, it seems most plausible that normal, rational observers would experience the same mathematically descripted physical properties in similar manners throughout all times and places. Otherwise, we’ve embraced a near total skepticism. Since the property of tone thusly derives from the music, and since the mathematical descriptor of this extremely important musical property, tone, cannot wholly account for our experience, and certainly not the beauty of it, we conclude that music is not primarily mathematics. 

In closing, we might also briefly add that the mathematics of the sort capable of describing tone are not pragmatically accessible to musicians when they are performing in the same manner intervals are, if they are accessible at all. Theoretically, a musician might be able beforehand to chart out all the variance of tone within a musical piece (think of the nightmare an orchestra would create), but practically, the mathematics involved here seem beyond any practical value with the exception of those who work at Digitech, and the like.

Next we’ll look at rhythm.

CD’s come to our hapless engineer’s defense…you remember, the one that said everything could be explained by mathematics. Now, CD’s a clever person, intelligent, and one the very best writers around. No kidding. Despite her valiant effort, however, our hapless engineer is still, well, hapless to explain everything through mathematics. The proffered formula is:

Unfortunately, we haven’t explained anything with this formula. It’s really no different than saying X=X. We’ve designated a symbol, a mathematical symbol no doubt, to represent everything and then simply claimed that it equals itself. If I were to state in English  everything equals everything, you would no doubt agree, but still want to know what everything means or is. You would want an explanation, in other words. I’m still waiting for a demonstration of explanation of everything through mathematics. And I’ll wait forever, because not even God can explain everything through mathematics. To demonstrate this, let’s reduce the request from everything to a subset of everything: love for instance. Or laughter. Or the beauty of a sunset. Or music. Or to really be a philosophic pain, God himself. Any takers?

Secondly, the idea that coolness is a property of music was utilized to make and have fun, not to be a formal part of the argument. It worked, too. You go to Youtube and search for the worst musical memories of the past. It’s great fun. Nevertheless, I’m not certain it’s not an interesting argument. There’s certainly an objective correlation in the real world. Consider the following: the term cool is generally thought to have arisen in the 1930′s in conjunction with the American jazz scene. Though the specifics are arguable, the general historical fact is not. Thus, we have objective evidence of a term and a movement correlated with specific musical forms: jazz, blues, R&B, etc. This would tend to argue against the relativity of coolness, as CD has suggested. She’s within her rights to consider whatever she wants as cool, but to do so she’s relativising the definition of the term, not identifying a relativism inherent within the word itself, which has objective grounding within a historical context. Granted, there are a hundred factors at play within the historical context, so this is probably a book’s worth of study and not a blog argument.

We also have objective evidence of other musical forms that pre-existed jazz, blues, R&B, etc., for centuries. Fact is, classical music simply never engendered coolness as a movement. These guys understand that. But notice the interesting thing the guy on the left says at the 30 second mark: the interesting thing is that Luther has not changed the notes, just the rhythm’s a little different, so it’s exactly the way Bach wrote it, with a little swing to it..isn’t that nice?

The difference is obvious, even down to the foot tapping at the 145 mark, the dixieland blaring of the horns, the movements and body language of the horn players, and the runs at the end. Now, here’s the interesting thing, as mentioned in the video. The notes haven’t changed. If we insist on considering coolness as part of the argument from here on out, this probably represents the best launching pad from which to proceed.

Music is a sound. It’s the vibration of air particles at various frequencies and wavelengths. However, it’s not unordered, random sound, nor is it strictly repetitive sound, so its physics fail to sum it. It is a sound with intelligent design behind it. At the same time, it’s not a transmitter of specific information, such as the phrase, “this is cool.”

So, I’m in general agreement with this statement. I’d like to alter the word information, however. Music does in fact transmit mood; we may argue how specific this mood is, but it seems to me that mood is definitely transmitted by music, or, better stated, mood often occurs in the confluence of music and our perception of it. Consider the following two videos, not chosen for religious relevance, though the clip is one of the best:

Fast Tube by Casper

and…

Fast Tube by Casper

I know there are some extra variables involved and some significant differences between the two clips. But…did you feel the difference? Where does this difference arise from? Is it a property of the music itself? Do we as observers lend something to the music? Does God add something? This question should prove critical as we proceed. In fact, S>S seems to indicate so, in a very genteel and mannerly manner:

The ultimate question is one of that ineffable entity, beauty, and its presence in a world which, in its naturalistic quantifications, does not account for any such thing. However, I intend to demonstrate that to claim certain qualitative properties as essential to music is in fact a naturalistic expression…

With this in mind, let’s try another set. This time try to ignore the pictures. Actually, try closing your eyes…

Fast Tube by Casper

Sort of eerie, huh?

And this one (yes, I know you had to open your eyes for a moment):

Fast Tube by Casper

I’m going to assume we all acknowledge the difference in mood that occurs when we listen to different musics. So, the question is, why? I have three potential candidates that should represent a fair range of possibilities. If there’s another good candidate, let me know:

1. The mood is created by God in our minds according to some sort of occasionalism. I don’t expect to encounter any occasionalists, so let’s move on.

2. We as humans add something to the music itself through our perception of it. In some sense, this most assuredly must be the case, but will be able to account for the correlation of our moods so consistently to different types of music? We could posit cultural and learned influences, but it seems evident to me that people of all tribes and nations in all eras will not be dancing joyfully to the eerie clip above. I can’t prove that, but it seems intuitively the case, much more so than the notion that that clip could inspire frolicking, dancing, and joy. It’s the sort of thing we might attribute to devils.

And in the absence of any good reason to think there might exist a sane, rational, and sober human culture that would dance and frolic to morose, slow dirges and become saddened by upbeat, bright tunes played in major scales, option two does not seem plausible. [EDITOR'S NOTE: lawyers never ask questions they don't know the answer to, and arguers never assert things they don't know or believe strongly to be true. If I know CD, she's got some weird culture socked away that does this very thing. Well, so be it...just some advice in case you're engaged in a non-genteel, non-mannerly argument.] Note the weirdness that ensues when happy music is played behind videos of deranged clowns;–a staple of the horror flick–a sort of vertigo sets in. Why? Because it’s not natural. The music has been altered with conflicted visual cues that contradict what the music indicates by its essence.

3. There is an inherent property of music that is the best explanation for the phenomenon of mood. There is designed into the intervals, chords, scales, and I’d argue the rhythms, a property that affects us in certain ways, not much differently than the manner in which the wavelength of red strikes our perception. The flatted third and sixth (in context with the correct key, mind you) creates the minorish mood because it is minorish. The blue notes are blue notes because they were created that way; here they stand, they can do no other. It was created to be that way, and when we experience it properly, we act in accordance with God’s design for us.

Interestingly, there are mathematical expressions for intervals, chords, scales, and rhythms. The salient point is that the mathematics do not cause mood. Math is a descriptor of a physical reality created by God, much in the same way that red can be represented mathematically as a wavelength.

Now, we escape naturalism easily enough. God created music as it is to affect us as it does. No naturalistic dead-end there.

Another benefit of this view is that it answers the age-old question of which musics are good, and which musics are evil. Accordingly, none of them are evil. Even the eerie piece above seems to have an appropriate place in describing evil, say behind the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness perhaps, or maybe for portions of Revelation. And, well, if there are pieces that are highly sexual, and there are, you can answer for yourself if there are appropriate places for those. What we know for sure is that they’re not proper in the teen-age Sunday meeting hall. It’s lyrics that do the dirty work, through specific information, if I may cite a top-notch blog. And, of course, our sinful application of the wrong musical forms to the wrong situations.

It seems to me, lastly, that option three indeed offers us the best avenue to a non-naturalistic view of music. If we add the mood through our perception, it may perhaps be accounted for by a quirk of our neural firing, or a merely human conception of the physical universe that is not quite adjusted correctly, though we would still face the consistency challenge. But if three is correct, and the property arises from within the intervals, it appears plausible that it be a property that is extra-physical; one that cannot be adequately accounted for by physical means. Non-specific information on the medium, so to speak…

At any rate, option three appears to be the most promising at first blush to me. Next time, let’s look at tone, that most beautiful and inexplicable property of music.