It's time for another episode of Everyday Philosophy! Yayyyy! Last week I talked to my sister, Charise, to hear her ideas on the ultimate questions. This time I'm interviewing one of my best friends, and my former college roommate, Nathaniel Rodbell. He's awesome; he's my bro, and together we make up #Sheathaniel! So today I'm going to be asking him for his thoughts on some of life's biggest questions. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily my own, but they're awesome and I respect them.

What do you believe in?

"Ooh, just in general?"

Yeah, just answer that as you will.

"Well, I believe in God as Triune... which means I'm a follower of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and I believe heavily that humans are made in the image of God—not perfect but made in His image—and that our purpose is to mirror that image... through Him, not on our own."

You believe people are made in the image of God. What does that mean?

"That means that when God formed the world, whatever the time—in His timing, so be it—essentially He created us to be creatures of goodness and beauty, and we are to carry out different works."

What sort of different works?

"By different works I mean—something I been thinking a lot about lately—I guess I mean our deeds... okay, tough question... I guess I mean everything we do with our hands and speak with our mouth should be positive and have beauty in it that would be inspiring to others, and to create things with our own hands and in service... I think as far as our service, it's our duty in life, like going to make disciples, to use our hands to spread creativity and positivity in the world, it's a life goal but also a command."

You keep saying “beauty”; what is beauty?

"Beauty—at least for me—what I see beauty as... I see it as the formation of, the ImagoDei—before He made us in His image, He knows that 'it is good.' It's anything produced, it varies from person to person, but ultimately is something that produces goodness, produces things that take our breath away in life... literally puts you in awe, even if you see its flaws; the artist might see its flaws but the observers might not, but regardless it is good."

So does that mean flaws are good?

"Honestly, in the ultimate sense I think flaws are good. I think that in the sense of God, having Him foreknow our flaws, He can use them to His purpose. Not taking advantage, but, like a marriage, you can understand that and so you can use it... I think that flaws are good 'cause in marriages and dances—like with us and God—He knows and understands our flaws, so He understands what we're good at and what we're not good at, and you have to understand that in order to make the dance work. In the short term flaws are bad, but in the grand scheme of things flaws are good. That sounds kinda poetic and 'what is life?'-y, but...

"And with that, with God and ourselves, like with dance partners it helps, the partner seeing things in the other that the other can't see to encourage things, so the failed partner only sees flaws, but the unflawed partner who is better at dancing sees in the flawed partner the things that can be improved. So I think flaws are good."

So is our relationship with God a partnership?

"Yes, in the sense that one person leads and the other follows."

So does God need us?

"Hmm... that's a good question. I don't think so. I'm using the art and dance analogy, but I think that the artist doesn't need to paint or draw something to be fulfilled or find happiness, but simply because they want to, and they want to express that to other people."

So is life about God's happiness?

"I don't think so. But I think that in the sense of art, art does make us happier about ourselves, not that God needs to feel happier about Himself, He's almighty so He doesn't have any self-esteem issues. But art helps us connect with each other and express how we're feelings—to get our emotions out—but also to connect with each other by sharing the beauty in the world."

What would you say is the definition of “art”? And how distinct is that from beauty?

"I think art is heavily... art is the process of taking our emotions and our views and doing something with that. It correlates, but it is distinct from beauty, but the release of emotions is good. If they're negative it can be bad or a good thing, at least for ourselves, but I would say art is beautiful if it is aligned with God and god's creation. So if it's portraying that in a good light it is inherently beautiful."

With your definition of that, would you say justice is art?

"Absolutely."

"So obviously morality is defined in terms of the Bible, correct?"

"Correct."

Then would you say that art is a moral matter?

"Yes. Art—in essence, not in words—is a verb; the expression of art is a verb. So from there, how we express art is a moral matter. Different expressions can lead to positive and negative moral decisions."

Is immoral art beautiful?

"I would say no. It remains art, but it's a degrading one... Can I say something I've been thinking lately?"

For the record or not?

"It can be for the record. As an artist myself... okay let me think... I'll give an example: I think pornography is a degrading art. I think there's inherently—I'll just say that—I have more thoughts on that, but I'll just say that."

A little bit of a change of track, but what is love?

"What is love? Love is—you said it's a little bit of a change of track, but continuing with the art motif—love is essentially when two artists express together, when they find harmony in their work."

So can love be “one way”?

"Yes. I think so."

How does that work with “expressing together” and “harmony”?

"I think if love is one-sided, then if you put that on a canvas you would see one side attempting to establish balance but the other side in chaos, as if it were running away from the canvas itself."

Could you explain that non-metaphorically?

"I think that its possible for, say, a parent to love a child, but the child can be disobedient and run away. This can be on the record, it's a little lengthy, but a few weeks ago I was at a Bible study and we were talking about a trend in 1 Samuel of obedient fathers having disobedient sons and vice versa."

Is love a verb?

"Yes."

So what does it look like, in practice, to actively love?

"In practice, I think to actively love is to be attentive to the thoughts and feelings of God and humanity. Whether that would be actively listening to a friend, or discerning what a homeless person would need, like if you came across a homeless person... what they need... taking the time to listen to them, if they need water, if they need clothing, even if it isn't in your power to help them, to listen to them and take the time to appreciate them. That's an example."

What should we do about people who don't do these things, if, as you've suggested, all of these tie to morality and right and wrong.

"I think that we should love them still, but then we shouldn't let those who don't know how to love correct the ones who do. In my experience, it's really easy for someone who is bitter to 'correct' someone who is not bitter."

So if someone “doesn't know how to love,” as you put it, but refuses to learn how to love (so to speak), how should we react, if someone is bitter, or in a broader sense, wrong... basically, how is justice implemented by us in the face of evil?

"I think it's appropriate that if you're loving yourself but someone else isn't, then you should respect that—or more strongly—you should love that person still, but you should accept that that other person isn't going to love you still, and you should walk away from that situation."

So is there any place for hurt or self-sacrifice in love?

"Yes."

Let me increase the scale. 'cause you're talking individually right now... and it seems so cliché, but how would this apply in the face of the Holocaust or Hitler?

"Honestly, even Hitler deserves love, but you have to understand that he has made his decision."

What does it mean, “he has made his decision”?

"If we're talking about the Holocaust, then humanly speaking Hitler deserves love but he made the decision to commit the atrocities he did, so justice needs to come swiftly."

And what would our place in that justice look like?

"I think justice comes in the form of consequence with redemption."

Does there always have to be redemption?

"No, because redemption is dependent... I'm going to leave it at that: no, there doesn't always have to be redemption.

"If Hitler chooses to receive another man's love, then it's his decision to receive redemption... if a bitter person rejects the love you have already extended and there's no reconciliation available, then you need to step away."

Alright, so I'm going to wrap up: what is the importance of asking these questions of yourself and knowing their answers? For people at large, or you individually, or both?

"I think its important because its enables us to take a stance on what we believe in. Can I give an example, going off the Holocaust thing?"

Yes.

"I think if human beings do not ponder things such as morality and art and beauty and goodness and God, then things such as the liberation of concentration camps in the 40s—or in our current age, or the freeing of slaves in the past—wouldn't happen. So I think pondering important things, those previous statements, results in good for humanity."

I think that'll rap it up unless you have any final thoughts

"Not really. Well I guess one last thing I would say is that justice and love promote—expressed by one person or a group of people—promote other people to express similar things."

So basically, when we do good it empowers others to do good.S

"Yeah, and there are a lot of modern examples of that."

Alright! Thank you for your time!

"No problem! Sorry I gave vague answers to big questions..."

And so is concluded this week's "episode" of Everyday Philosophy!

(Note: As much as reasonably possible I have tried to transliterate the responses exactly as spoken. In some cases, with the express permission of the interviewee, I have removed stutters or ums or interruptions that had no bearing on the meaning.)