Filed under: Notes
As I reflect the incidents of 9/11, I can only think of Billy Joel.
“We didn’t start the fire. It’s always been burning since the world’s been turning.”
Oh, entropy. What a concept.
Filed under: Notes | Tags: contemporary, holy, hymn, modern, music, sacred, unintelligent, worship
Oh, the many times I’ve heard this term since I’ve come to Belmont.
Obviously, it is referring to modern praise and worship music.
The “hardcore musicians” hate it because they think that it is unintelligent, or because they might just believe different things.
The “hardcore hymn people” hate it because they believe that Hymns are more sacred things than contemporary music. Guitars and drums can make a song unholy.
First off, I have no argument against the people who don’t like this music because their religious beliefs are something other than Christianity, or because they just aren’t really into it. That is all personal taste.
As for worship music being unintelligent, I would have to say that the lyrics in most worship songs are simple. And they are for a reason. The writers aren’t looking to provoke thought with their lyrics, (although many, many Christian artists do) they are writing to connect with God. What’s a better way to worship than coming right out and saying it?
And as for the hymn people, I just don’t understand you. I loooooooove hymns. Love them. Some of the lyrics blow me away. So do lyrics in contemporary music. I can’t see any reason why you would hate contemporary worship music other than the fact that you are just uber-traditional.
Let me explain: don’t you think at one time, when these people were writing some of the hymns in the hymnals, people then were saying, “what is this modern praise music?” Those artists were no more inspired than the artists of today! Just because they lived in an earlier period than we do, doesn’t mean that they are in any way better connected to God! And some of these hymns might have been written sooner than you think. “The Old Rugged Cross” was only written in the 1920’s. And as for the guitars and drums, look at some of the sub-notes in the book of Psalms. I think you might be surprised at the kind of instruments they played when those tunes were written.
Yup… that’s about it….
Have a blessed day!
Blake
Filed under: Notes
Shakespeare said it best.
We all play our different parts. We are thrown onto the stage as we are born, learning to run the pace our part requires, filling our duties as important roles that make up the world’s cast.
We occasionally miss lines, queues, and even entrances, but the show must go on! We will have to deal with our mistakes later!
We won’t always follow the script perfectly, but if we stay true to it’s outline, we will be okay in the end. After all, someOne wrote the script with our best intentions in mind! The Writer only wants to see His script come out right.
And when the show is over, and if you’ve played your part to the best of your abilities, you’ll most likely still receive flowers even after you’ve left the stage! They’ll be talking about you for a while!
But everyone messes up sometime. In fact, only one person has ever performed an encore, and thank goodness! We were in the same play as he was, and his performance earned us perfect ratings! He really saved the show!
The script says that I’m still developing my character, so it will be a little while before it’s clear what my character’s true motives are. I think I’ll try for a lead role.
But whatever my role, I’ll play my best, because it will be so much more rewarding whenever I go home after I take my final bow.
Filed under: Notes | Tags: christian, Christianity, faith, God, logic, logical
We spend way too much time trying to find God logically. We test him with our theories and inspect him scrutinizing eyes.
The problem is, God isn’t really logical. He doesn’t work in ways that we think are logical, anyway. He sent his only Son, whom He loved, (in the same way any father would love his son) down to die innocently for us because we were guilty. That’s not exactly logical by our standards.
So if we look for God using logic, we will be disappointed. That’s why it’s called faith! We have to let go of our suspicions and admit that we need Him. That’s ultimately the problem.
If you’re trying to find God logically, you don’t need Him enough.
Filed under: Notes | Tags: adding to the noise, christian, God, silence, still
I hear people always talking about technological advances, and their effects on our society. Many say that in most ways, it is corrupting us, and others claim it hardly hinders us. Now, this is a very broad subject, but I can definitely take sides in a certain sub-category. It’s something I actually find very scary. It is a fear that has been present forever, but has definitely increased in the past 100 years. We are scared of silence.
Without Christ, we are empty people. Many can testify that they feel something missing in their lives, or did feel something missing before finding faith. Humans have forever sought ways to discover the mysteries of life and death; ways to fill the void death causes within the human soul. They have found things, but not all things are wholesome.
To understand our situation, we have to realize why we need silence. The answer is this: when we are still, we can know who God is. He even commands us in His Word to “Be still and know that [He] is God.” Now I know that He also commands us at times to sing praises, and while there is a time for that, there also should be time for stillness. It’s how we can know that God is who He says He is.
Now, with us being the empty people we are, we fill the void with noise. Even while I sit here and type inside this small hotel room, I am being forced to listen to music because silence is too awkward. It’s scary. I also came face to face with this fact last night as I sat in my seat on an overnight bus. I could not get one wink of sleep because the movie was blasting through the speakers, and certain people were yelling. However, I waited until everyone had finally fallen asleep, and then turned the movie off. It was then that people started to wake up and demand that the movie remained on.
That made perfect sense. (sarcasm) It actually made me realize how very backwards things are. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we extinguish noise and embrace silence?
So why are things the other way?
Well, I don’t think that the silence itself is what we are frightened of, but instead, the things we attribute to silence. Things have reversed because (a)we are scared of what we’ll find in the silence, or (b)we don’t want to put the effort in.
Like I said before, we find God in the silence, but a lot of the time we don’t want to enter into that closeness with God, because listening to music or wasting time watching TV is much easier than repenting. It is easier than facing the burdens and hardships of life that we are so scared of, and it is much easier than thinking and creating. I think that if we aren’t careful, artistic expression and creative/philosophical thought will take a big plunge because we won’t take the time in quiet just to ponder. Plain pondering can be VERY healthy, especially in a relationship with our Holy Father. So, while noise is usually easier than the stillness, it is never more fulfilling.
Once again, Jon Foreman said it best in his song, “Adding to the Noise”. The lyrics are quite self-explanatory, saying, “If we’re adding to the noise, turn off this song.” He’s telling his audience that he doesn’t want his music used as noise. If we’re drowning God out with his song, he wants us to turn it off!
Call me naive, but I am incredibly sick of political arguments that bring up Christianity and take it out of context. Heck, I’m just sick of political arguments in the first place. No one can run this country and be loved by all so DEAL WITH IT!
Anyway, I’ve already strayed from the tangent I started on. Okay, religion and politics:
It always happens, because politics have so much to do with morals, and morals have so much to do with religion. What I can’t stand are the people who call Christians uneducated and say, “You don’t understand what you’re saying about the Bible. If you commit a crime, you can be forgiven, so why do you care?”
Okay, first of all, you call us uneducated, when that comment about the Bible is pretty freaking uneducated in itself. Just because we have forgiveness doesn’t mean we can take advantage of that Grace and commit the crimes on purpose! Faith without works is what? DEAD. THAT’S what the Bible says. Maybe you should read it before you quote it.
And most Christians seem to act in the same way! Before we can truly argue with someone, we have to know what they believe, and we have to know the TRUTH about what they believe. Making innaccurate and exaggerated claims about others’ viewpoints in an argument is just plain immature. Know the TRUTH.
Oh yeah, and aren’t we supposed to stand for God’s goodness and obedience? Then don’t make fools of yourselves by letting your language and actions get out of hand.
On top of that, I can’t stand the people who play the devil’s advocate with politics because they like/dislike religion. FORM YOUR OPINION AND VOTE LIKEWISE! Don’t vote for someone just because they are “liberal and liberals are naturally anti-religion” because you don’t like religion! For one, I can have liberal viewpoints and still be Christian. Does the bible say, “Thou shalt be a conservative republican”? Use your beliefs and morals to form an opinion, but don’t change it just because they might share something in common with “the enemy”.
And, if you’re reading this, looking for words I’ve misspelled so that you can call me an uneducated hypocrite, or finding some point that contradicts with some other point, I want to say I’m sorry for failing to make a final draft of my note here. If you’re working that hard to come up with an argument, then you’re arguing for the wrong reasons.
If you finished this, 2 kudos for you!
Blake
