Logocentric (adj).Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
I have always enjoyed the longer distance running and skiing. The Marathon in Summer Olympics and the 50km Mass Start in the Winter. My wife can't understand how I can watch the same race for several hours. But they are fascinating to me. I like the Downhill Slalom, Bobsled and Luge sports. Attending a Winter Olympics remains on my bucket list.
My favorite sporting events in the Winter Olympics are the Luge, Bobsled, Figure Skating and curling. Initially, I thought I would be bored with curling but I'm not. It's fascinating how they determine each glide's angle and potential score.
When my children were younger we built them a luge course, they loved it. We were lucky that winter to have lots of snow to build up the walls and with some help with pallets that we covered with snow, it kept them and the neighborhood kids busy until it warmed up and melted. I was a lot more at ease with the luge course than I was when they decided to try arial jumps off our house roof. Never a dull moment when you live in Maine.
I am reading ESV through the Bible this time. Like you, I've explored a bunch of translations. My church uses NIV but my women's Bible study group (part of the same church) varies based on what Bible study we're doing.
Hope you enjoy the Olympics! I agree that the every four year thing makes them feel more special.
I read the New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible. (NABRE) They include Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, which generally aren't included in other versions of the Bible. I would be curious to read an orthodox bible or the Ethiopian Bible as I hear they have differences as well.
As for the Olympics, I love the Winter Olympics. I'm just crossing my fingers I have time to watch!
In terms of the original texts the NASB has the best reputation among conservative scholars. It looks at more translations, has a sensible hierarchy of text selection and the best principles for approaching the translation task. It favors original texts when possible. The ESV and NKJV are on a similar level. The Net Bible gives the best overview of the discussions in its commentary. The NIV renders the original text to make it more readable. It is a more functional text which is why many churches use it but it is also less precise. Greek or Russian orthodox are more Septuagint orientated and there is a considerable amount of ethical or emotional rendering to the text.The disadvantage of the NASB is that it loses much of the Hebrew poetical style in its effort to be precise as this does not translate into the English
I'm very fortunate to have met some practicing and humble Christians. Truly humble people seek to serve, not attain power and influence. The actions of many Christians make me run the opposite way... as fast as I can.
In his book, Sit, Walk, Stand, Watchman Nee states: "Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others. We become preoccupied with what is and what is not right. We ask ourselves,' Have we been justly or unjustly treated?' and we think thus to vindicate our actions. But that is not our standard. The whole question for us is one of crossbearing".
Jeff, this is an excellent book. Perhaps one for your reading list?
Imagine Dragons feels like the latest popular band that people love to hate, in good(?) company with the likes of Coldplay, Maroon 5, and Nickelback. They are all incredibly popular bands and yet evoke a huge backlash for some reason. Personally, I think all of these bands are okay; there are some songs I really like and others that I'm not too wild about. And of course some that have been so overplayed that I used to like them and don't anymore. When a band has as many hits over as short a period of time as these guys do, I suppose it's inevitable that a certain subset of the population will either tire of them or resent the amount of attention they're getting.
Case in point, USA Today featured an article just yesterday by Maeve McDermott entitled, "I hated Imagine Dragons -- until their new album changed my mind," which starts with this amazing opening paragraph:
It happened slowly, Imagine Dragonsā transition from āthe annoying band in all the movie trailersā to āthe slightly-less-annoying band whose song I wonāt change on the radioā to āthe band whose album I may listen to, voluntarily.ā
I think I'm somewhere between "annoying band from movie trailers" and "song I won't change on the radio" depending on which song we're talking about. "Believer" isn't anywhere near the top of my favorite songs by Imagine Dragons and definitely falls into that "annoying song that's overplayed" category. My current favorites are "Friction" (featured in the Mission: Impossible Fallout trailer), "Demons," "It's Time," and "Levitate" (the last one was featured in Passengers a couple years back). What Imagine Dragons is great for, however, is inspiring cover versions by really talented artists. Where their stuff tends to be a little manufactured, there have been some excellent adaptations of their songs.
Here's Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix doing "Radioactive":
And here's Lulu Antariksa doing "It's Time":
And here's "Demons" by Kina Grannis and Tyler Ward:
While I may not be Imagine Dragons' biggest fan and have no intention of doing anything other than purchasing the occasional song on iTunes (or just listening to it on Amazon Music), I do appreciate how much they inspire all of these other artists to take their popular songs and do variants of them that really feature some amazing voices and musical talents. And seeing as how Imagine Dragons seems to manage to put out a new album every couple of years, there are probably going to be a fair number of new covers for the foreseeable future.
I think I'm somewhere between "annoying band from movie trailers" and "song I won't change on the radio" depending on which song we're talking about. "Believer" isn't anywhere near the top of my favorite songs by Imagine Dragons and definitely falls into that "annoying song that's overplayed" category. My current favorites are "Friction" (featured in the Mission: Impossible Fallout trailer), "Demons," "It's Time," and "Levitate" (the last one was featured in Passengers a couple years back). What Imagine Dragons is great for, however, is inspiring cover versions by really talented artists. Where their stuff tends to be a little manufactured, there have been some excellent adaptations of their songs.
Comment 
