Sam Bowman is a master poaster, surpassed perhaps only by dril and (of course) the Donald. I am a mere mortal, unable to poast at anything close to his level, but I think it falls upon all of us to acknowledge our debts to the greats. And so here I am, simultaneously paying homage and getting in on a trend by making my own version of the classic
For the icon, presumably there are other art that serves the same function with less psychological risk. I agree that iconographic art is higher quality relative to price (you're basically subsidized by the makers' piety), but a print of the Hudson School would also be a good conversation piece, incentivize you to learn history, and the only psychological risk is that you fall in love with America's natural beauty (as you should).
I wholeheartedly agree with the DeBoer piece, though. Instrumentalizing religion means you don't think the metaphysical claims are important, which *really* means you think they're not true. If God is the Author of Creation, the metaphysical undergirding of reality, then that is the most important thing. Finding the claims not even worth arguing is the most damning indictment of religion I can think of
Things I recommend you buy and use, Peter edition
For the icon, presumably there are other art that serves the same function with less psychological risk. I agree that iconographic art is higher quality relative to price (you're basically subsidized by the makers' piety), but a print of the Hudson School would also be a good conversation piece, incentivize you to learn history, and the only psychological risk is that you fall in love with America's natural beauty (as you should).
I wholeheartedly agree with the DeBoer piece, though. Instrumentalizing religion means you don't think the metaphysical claims are important, which *really* means you think they're not true. If God is the Author of Creation, the metaphysical undergirding of reality, then that is the most important thing. Finding the claims not even worth arguing is the most damning indictment of religion I can think of
Lao Gan Ma is so good, we also really like fermented black beans (recipes from Fuchsia Dunlop)