Geoff's Miscellany

Miscellaneous Musings

Archives for October 2015

Music Monday: The Rolling Stones

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When I was younger I really like the song Paint it Black. I now almost never listen to the radio, but right after telling my wife that I liked it as a kid, it came on when I turned the radio on on a lark the next day. Then later that day it came on the radio at the gym. I listened to it when I did my heaviest set on dead lift.

I’m not certain about why I like the song. I think I gravitate toward negative and depressing thoughts, so I found a friend in Mick Jagger. Interestingly, I found out that my sarcastic, over confident, and paroxystic (new word based on paroxysm I guess) dancing style was similar to Jaggger’s after seeing a Stones video in high school. Amongs people who’ve seen it (I don’t dance in public any more), my dance moves are legend. A friend and I once stopped a hardcore show by dancing so intensely that the lead singer gave us a shout-out as all of the weaker, smaller, and less intense metal heads backed away from us in awe or a brief sense of rational self-preservation. Nobody was hurt.

Anyway, I hope this song helps you have a bright start to your day.

Be Wise For Yourself

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One of the most interesting features of the book of Proverbs is that despite the fact that the Proverbs themselves try to help the individual to be oriented toward others, the book appeals primarily to self-interest. This is very important. I’ll probably write more about it later (I still need to finish my series on the common topics). But when our self-interest is appealed to, our desire to survive, thrive, and experience happiness Christians often feel embarrassed or feel the need to correct the Bible with comments like, “Jesus offers these gifts, but really we should be self-less.” Check out the Prologue to Proverbs:

Proverbs 9:10-12 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (11) For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life. (12) If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

If you become a scoffer, ultimately that falls on you. But similarly, if you become wise, it falls on you. Therefore, become wise. Other people cannot do it for you and you cannot do it for other people. Other people and things can be motivations for gaining wisdom, of course. If you want to be wise in order to have a longer life, Proverbs offers that as well. But, again, it’s on you to become wise and there is no guarantee that it will help other people, that they will appreciate it, or that they will support you. Similarly, if you become a scoffer, there is no guarantee that anybody else will be hurt, but there is a guarantee that you’ll bear the result of scoffing because you’ve become a scoffer.

Here are some thoughts:

  1. Seek wisdom in order to have the good life for yourself.
  2. Part of wisdom is loving God and loving neighbor and wisdom will help you do these better and indeed, loving God and neighbor has a volitional (will) component and an affective (enjoyment) component.
  3. The motivation for loving God and neighbor is given in the Sermon on the Mount. If you participate in God’s kingdom, the benefits, if real, are staggering (Matthew 5:3-10).
  4. The motivation for glorifying God is obtaining glory (see Romans 3:23 and 5:1-5 and all of chapter 8). In other words, God doesn’t need us to glorify him, God calls us to glorify him because it benefits us.
  5. It is unwise to be selfish, but true wisdom is self-interested and still loving to others.