I have to be careful how I word this, so here goes.

Maybe men and women can do pretty much everything the opposite sex can but, generally speaking, maybe we aren’t inclined to because at our root nature we really do differ. So maybe, when we see less women DJs and less men tailors, it’s not so much a problem as much as it is the way things are.

I’m not saying any one sex is better or worse than the other, but it’s kind of stupid to ignore the fact that men and women are better or worse at certain things. Is it too late to acknowledge that publicly without coming under fire?

It’s very late right now and my evening ended very unexpectedly. So what you all should do is go here and listen to Terry Mattingly bash CCM to death. It’s a highly enjoyable experience.

Also, his discussion about U2 may have lessened my annoyance with Bono’s stage antics. Well done.

I’ve been listening to the podcast of all the talks from Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Music. Tonight while sweating my face off on the treadmill at the gym I listened to this talk by David Dark.

Dark has been on my radar for a few years. Basically ever since I heard recordings of talks he gave at the last FFM two years ago. He usually covers a particular topic, but one so broad that it ends up, in my fragmented mind, being a collection of thoughts on a variety of subjects that all relate to each other in a big way.

This talk, titled Survival of the Freshest: How to Detect and Channel Cosmic Plainspeak in the Written, Overheard and Sung, speaks about the idea of questioning everything and finding Truth in what we like because, as he says, “Talking about what I like is all I can do.”

I’m still processing it because, like I said, he’s all over the map. Everything from the religion of Radiohead to an unhealthy, fear-based view of Christianity that drives religious and moral motivations from the wrong direction. Go listen to it.

I, for one, will be putting Dark’s new book The Sacredness of Questioning Everything on my to-read list right away.

Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a big fan of western Christian culture. I never cease to be amazed at its countless attempts at creating “Christian” clones of “secular” things so that all good churchgoers can keep the sinful things of the world at arms’ length while still enjoying what mainstream culture has to offer, albeit rather cleaned up.

Seeing how that’s about all the personal commentary I can muster after midnight on a day where I worked far too much, here are some fun quotes from talks I heard from Calvin College’s 2007 Festival of Faith and Music that relate to what I’m talking about. Enjoy:

Has forming Christian pop culture solved the problem? You’re less safe when you think you’re safe.

Ken Heffner

This reminds me of the warning I give to kids I know that are about to attend Christian universities: Don’t let your guard down.

The church creates a subculture and refuses to compete. But the church wants desperately to fit in. The church is a teenager.

Michael Kaufmann

The irony is not lost on me. A culture is created with the purpose of protecting its people from the world. Then, in an attempt to market said culture, they try to prove to newcomers and inquirers that they’re just like everyone else.

Unfortunately the church has adopted a grid that limits creativity & imagination, disregards values such as authenticity and originality and instead champions notions of excellence and perfectionism.

Michael Kaufmann

This directly relates to a major theme in Francis Schaeffer’s short book, Art and the Bible, which I’ve talked about before. Maybe I’ll discuss that theme at greater length later when my brain is in better working order.

So there you go. A few quotes for you to ponder and play with. Thoughts?