On Facebook and various other social media I’ve noticed people doing a countdown to Thanksgiving in which they post each day something they are thankful for. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is great. But I must admit to being a bit disgusted by this. These are the same people who ten minutes later are complaining.
Let me stop right here and be very clear. I am not on my high horse finding fault with others and trying to pass myself off as the paragon of thankfulness. I am not. Hence the reason I’m not participating in this. I have not cultivated a spirit of thankfulness within myself to the point where I feel I have any right to take part in this. It’s not that I’m not thankful, I simply don’t see myself as thankful enough.
It is this whole thankfulness countdown phenomena that pops up every November that got me to thinking about the fleeting nature of human thankfulness. I find that on average people tend to be thankful only when they are reminded that they should be. And I find that thankfulness doesn’t make it through even the smallest of disappointments. I read a Facebook status update in which an acquaintance expounded upon her thankfulness for her family and children and so on and so forth. A very Norman Rockwell moment indeed, full of eloquent loving language. Then report cards came home. Apparently the end result wasn’t what was expected. Suddenly her children were a burden, her family didn’t help out enough and, wonders of wonders, her family went from Norman Rockwell perfect to dysfunctional in about three sentences. Suddenly her kids and family were nothing but a burden she wanted to be away from. That theme lasted the rest of the day. But come the next morning she had to write her thankfulness post for the day and once again she was gushing. This time about being so thankful for her house. Too bad the water heater went out later that day…
This month of thankfulness seems rather forced and empty. It seems people mouth the words, but don’t actually live it. This made me examine myself. And I realize that, yes, there are things for which I am thankful, but there is far too much I take for granted. I could rationalize it away and say to myself, “Well, with all that has happened to me recently surely I need not blame myself.” Wrong. Life happens. If I use that as an excuse to forget the blessings I enjoy every day, then I should be careful lest I find those blessings suddenly absent from my life.
So back to square one I went. I don’t want to be an ungrateful brat. I don’t want to be fakely positive either. I want to be truly thankful for what I have but not in the way of those that are fakely Christian on Sunday but get drunk and beat their wife and kids every other day of the week.
I quickly realized that it’s very easy to let the negative overwhelm your thoughts and be the thing that drives you. I’ve been focusing too much on the negative. That makes me feel helpless, hopeless and overwhelmed. If I’m feeling helpless, hopeless and overwhelmed there is no room for positive thoughts. Obviously if there is no room for positive thoughts, I’m not going to be thankful.
My plan is simple. I’ve got to focus on the positive. And, truly, there are plenty of positive things in my life. The plan for this week is to simply replace a negative thought with a positive one. Simple enough. It recalibrates my thinking. I can be whiney because I’m sick at home with a fever. And, yes, that really isn’t fun. Or I could be thankful that I have a job to be sick at home from and be thankful for the extra time at home that allows me to catch up on my reading. I guess this is what my grandmother always meant about finding the silver lining in even the worst circumstances.
I wonder though, is this going to work when I’m forced to make a trip to Wal-Mart?
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Evolution
No need to be frightened. I am not going to attempt to sway anyone to my opinion. Nope. Today it’s a rant. A rant about fundies, as my friend Aiden calls them. And in fairness, it’s not only the fundies that do this, but they seem to be the ones most in your face about it.
Today I was half listening to the radio and someone on the radio was going on and on about evolution being taught in the public schools. It was obvious this person believes in intelligent design. Understand, I am in no way finding fault with this person. I, too, happen to believe in intelligent design. I’ll go so far as to say I believe in the Genesis account of our world’s creation at that. So, suffice to say I am not finding fault with this person’s views on how exactly it was that we came to be and how our world has come to be.
What struck me as terribly shortsighted was this woman’s railing against the teaching of evolution in our schools. She went on and on about how it went against her beliefs and how she was teaching her children the truth and she didn’t want them learning about evolution.
How shortsighted can you be? I want my child to learn about evolution. And any other theories out there. If you don’t allow your children to learn about other theories, how are they ever going to know that what you taught them is right? In order to know what you believe is right you have to be able to look at the world around you, compare your beliefs and draw your own conclusions. You can’t hide your children away in a box, tell them what to believe, and then when they turn eighteen, turn them loose and expect that they will have any type of true understanding about their religious beliefs. Further, you’ve just set your child up to be unable to defend his religious beliefs.
I would also hazard to say that if you feel the need to go on and on about evolution, humanism, etc being taught in the schools, then you probably doubt the job you’ve done to teach your child the way he should go. If you fear so greatly that your child will abandon your teachings, then I would say it is time to look in the mirror and ask yourself why this scares you. If you are honest with yourself, you would probably realize you feel you’ve failed in this area. Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t, but honest self-evaluation will make it clear where this fear is coming from, and that will give you the basis for addressing your own fears instead of trying to instill fear into your child in an effort to force him to blindly accept what you’ve taught him.
Of course that opens a whole new can of worms. I find that fundies and their cronies really get upset when a child is taught to question. They accuse the child of being disrespectful. How does that work? How does a child learn if he’s not permitted to question? All the great scientific advances have come from people who question. Dare I say that religious enlightenment comes from questioning? If Martin Luther hadn’t questioned and then posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg, where would we as believers be today? If Galileo had listened to the church and blindly accepted geocentrism, how far behind would we be today? Are you telling me that these two great minds are “bad” and “disrespectful”?
And perhaps my biggest question is this: Do you trust God so little? Yes, we all have free will, but if you’ve taught your child well and brought him up as he should have been brought up, he is going to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting. He isn’t going to suddenly become a pagan heathen and start sacrificing virgins.
Perhaps instead of having a fit over the teaching of evolution in our schools and cowering within our church walls like rabbit hole Christians, we should arm our children with a strong foundation in our beliefs and encourage them to go boldly forward into academia and…dare I say it?….question. And when they come home, talk to them about what they are learning. It’s so simple!
Most of my talking with my son is done while we’re in the car. (We spend a lot of time in the car!) We often discuss politics, religion, values, morals and current world and national news while we’re driving. It’s non-confrontational and nobody gets their panties in a bunch because they feel like they are being signaled out and preached to. Following are his takes on the evolution issue:
While he was in private Christian school: “Yeah, so we’re going to have this “debate” about evolution in science tomorrow. It’s so stupid. I’m on the evolution side and Miss Loyd told us we aren’t even allowed to research evolution. She’s giving us what we’re allowed to say about evolution. What does she have to hide anyway? Why is she so afraid of us learning about evolution? She must think we can’t think for ourselves and turn into a bunch of devil worshippers just because we learned about evolution.”
After a year of public school: “We talked about evolution today. It really didn’t make a lot of sense. Seems like there are a lot of holes in the theory. And Murray is crazy. He thinks we’re recycled stars. Whatever. It’s no big deal.” Then he starts laughing and says, “I don’t know why those crazies at my old school were so worried about evolution. Any idiot can see evolution is wrong.”
Well be still my racing heart! They talked about evolution. Nobody tried to force them into believing it was the only possible answer. Nobody attacked their religion. And, wonder of wonders, my kid didn’t turn into an atheist. Imagine that!
Come on parents! Have some faith in your kids. Trust that you’ve done your job right and that you’ve nurtured their brain and fed their spirits. Let them venture forth into the world and learn. They’re coming home to you at night and that gives you plenty of opportunity to mull over what they’ve learned with them. You never know, you just might gain a new insight into your own beliefs in the process. Imagine that!
Today I was half listening to the radio and someone on the radio was going on and on about evolution being taught in the public schools. It was obvious this person believes in intelligent design. Understand, I am in no way finding fault with this person. I, too, happen to believe in intelligent design. I’ll go so far as to say I believe in the Genesis account of our world’s creation at that. So, suffice to say I am not finding fault with this person’s views on how exactly it was that we came to be and how our world has come to be.
What struck me as terribly shortsighted was this woman’s railing against the teaching of evolution in our schools. She went on and on about how it went against her beliefs and how she was teaching her children the truth and she didn’t want them learning about evolution.
How shortsighted can you be? I want my child to learn about evolution. And any other theories out there. If you don’t allow your children to learn about other theories, how are they ever going to know that what you taught them is right? In order to know what you believe is right you have to be able to look at the world around you, compare your beliefs and draw your own conclusions. You can’t hide your children away in a box, tell them what to believe, and then when they turn eighteen, turn them loose and expect that they will have any type of true understanding about their religious beliefs. Further, you’ve just set your child up to be unable to defend his religious beliefs.
I would also hazard to say that if you feel the need to go on and on about evolution, humanism, etc being taught in the schools, then you probably doubt the job you’ve done to teach your child the way he should go. If you fear so greatly that your child will abandon your teachings, then I would say it is time to look in the mirror and ask yourself why this scares you. If you are honest with yourself, you would probably realize you feel you’ve failed in this area. Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t, but honest self-evaluation will make it clear where this fear is coming from, and that will give you the basis for addressing your own fears instead of trying to instill fear into your child in an effort to force him to blindly accept what you’ve taught him.
Of course that opens a whole new can of worms. I find that fundies and their cronies really get upset when a child is taught to question. They accuse the child of being disrespectful. How does that work? How does a child learn if he’s not permitted to question? All the great scientific advances have come from people who question. Dare I say that religious enlightenment comes from questioning? If Martin Luther hadn’t questioned and then posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg, where would we as believers be today? If Galileo had listened to the church and blindly accepted geocentrism, how far behind would we be today? Are you telling me that these two great minds are “bad” and “disrespectful”?
And perhaps my biggest question is this: Do you trust God so little? Yes, we all have free will, but if you’ve taught your child well and brought him up as he should have been brought up, he is going to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting. He isn’t going to suddenly become a pagan heathen and start sacrificing virgins.
Perhaps instead of having a fit over the teaching of evolution in our schools and cowering within our church walls like rabbit hole Christians, we should arm our children with a strong foundation in our beliefs and encourage them to go boldly forward into academia and…dare I say it?….question. And when they come home, talk to them about what they are learning. It’s so simple!
Most of my talking with my son is done while we’re in the car. (We spend a lot of time in the car!) We often discuss politics, religion, values, morals and current world and national news while we’re driving. It’s non-confrontational and nobody gets their panties in a bunch because they feel like they are being signaled out and preached to. Following are his takes on the evolution issue:
While he was in private Christian school: “Yeah, so we’re going to have this “debate” about evolution in science tomorrow. It’s so stupid. I’m on the evolution side and Miss Loyd told us we aren’t even allowed to research evolution. She’s giving us what we’re allowed to say about evolution. What does she have to hide anyway? Why is she so afraid of us learning about evolution? She must think we can’t think for ourselves and turn into a bunch of devil worshippers just because we learned about evolution.”
After a year of public school: “We talked about evolution today. It really didn’t make a lot of sense. Seems like there are a lot of holes in the theory. And Murray is crazy. He thinks we’re recycled stars. Whatever. It’s no big deal.” Then he starts laughing and says, “I don’t know why those crazies at my old school were so worried about evolution. Any idiot can see evolution is wrong.”
Well be still my racing heart! They talked about evolution. Nobody tried to force them into believing it was the only possible answer. Nobody attacked their religion. And, wonder of wonders, my kid didn’t turn into an atheist. Imagine that!
Come on parents! Have some faith in your kids. Trust that you’ve done your job right and that you’ve nurtured their brain and fed their spirits. Let them venture forth into the world and learn. They’re coming home to you at night and that gives you plenty of opportunity to mull over what they’ve learned with them. You never know, you just might gain a new insight into your own beliefs in the process. Imagine that!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Time to Think
Having lost my officemate some months ago, I now have the peace and quiet I require to think. Not to mention I can listen to something other than puerile country music all day. Thus it has been with a sense of relief and quiet expectation that I've turned the radio dial from meaningless prattle about lost love and drinking binges to something a bit more mentally edifying. Thank you, Lord, for NPR, BBC and PRI! My brain is now recovering from the mush caused by the whole country music culture. I swear being forced to endure forty hours a week of country music and the inane DJs on the country music stations dropped my IQ by at least ten points!
The down side to all of this -- if, indeed, one could call it a down side -- is that I spend a lot of time thinking about what's going on in the world. As one would expect, doing so makes me much more mindful of what is going on right in my own backyard and causes me to be a bit more of the activist. I've come to the conclusion that most of the radio programming on other stations exists to lull people into a false sense of security so they won't think about what is going on around them and what needs to be changed.
Lately something that has really weighed heavily on my mind is the vast inequalities in the world. I understand that not everybody can live in a McMansion, drive a Benz and have a vacation home in the south of France, but surely everybody should have access to the very basics. Clean water comes to mind.
Along with these musings on the inequalities of the world, I also start to think about how those with the power often abuse those with no power. Of course, sometimes those with no power rise up and successfully advocate for themselves. Here I think of those protesters involved in the Arab Spring uprisings. But then I'm reminded of those who didn't meet with such stellar results. They didn't get the coverage that the protesters in Lybia got, but one cannot overlook their suffering. My heart goes out to the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran. While Lybia, Tunisia and Egypt have seen changes, the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran still suffer and die from the brutality of a government with complete control.
And then on January 2nd I learned that Gordon Hirabayashi died at the age of 93. Now I will grant you his story is not as bad as the stories of the people previously mentioned, but it does bring into sharp focus how even our own government abuses its power. Not that any of us find this surprising. However, I will admit that sometimes I forget when I focus on what is happening overseas.
I often wonder how our government can justify what has happened to Japanese-Americans. And why weren't German-Americans rounded up? Or Italian-Americans? Yes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but they had allies. They were not exactly engaged in the war all by themselves. I often think it was easy to signal out the Japanese-Americans. After all, they were pretty easy to spot. And it's easy enough to sell the idea of internment when it was the Japanese who actually did the bombing.
What bothers me the most is that the vast majority of the American population supported this! Yes, there were some that opposed the internment, but not very many. Though the reasons were different, this reminds me of how the Native Americans were relocated. Again, a complete lack of understanding and an easy to identify population without a voice had their rights trampled by a greedy, bigoted government.
I wonder: If this were to happen right now, how many would stand up and say, "Not on my watch!" How many people would actually risk their own comfortable existence to advocate for those who's rights are being violated? I would like to think I would be one of those people.
The down side to all of this -- if, indeed, one could call it a down side -- is that I spend a lot of time thinking about what's going on in the world. As one would expect, doing so makes me much more mindful of what is going on right in my own backyard and causes me to be a bit more of the activist. I've come to the conclusion that most of the radio programming on other stations exists to lull people into a false sense of security so they won't think about what is going on around them and what needs to be changed.
Lately something that has really weighed heavily on my mind is the vast inequalities in the world. I understand that not everybody can live in a McMansion, drive a Benz and have a vacation home in the south of France, but surely everybody should have access to the very basics. Clean water comes to mind.
Along with these musings on the inequalities of the world, I also start to think about how those with the power often abuse those with no power. Of course, sometimes those with no power rise up and successfully advocate for themselves. Here I think of those protesters involved in the Arab Spring uprisings. But then I'm reminded of those who didn't meet with such stellar results. They didn't get the coverage that the protesters in Lybia got, but one cannot overlook their suffering. My heart goes out to the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran. While Lybia, Tunisia and Egypt have seen changes, the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran still suffer and die from the brutality of a government with complete control.
And then on January 2nd I learned that Gordon Hirabayashi died at the age of 93. Now I will grant you his story is not as bad as the stories of the people previously mentioned, but it does bring into sharp focus how even our own government abuses its power. Not that any of us find this surprising. However, I will admit that sometimes I forget when I focus on what is happening overseas.
I often wonder how our government can justify what has happened to Japanese-Americans. And why weren't German-Americans rounded up? Or Italian-Americans? Yes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but they had allies. They were not exactly engaged in the war all by themselves. I often think it was easy to signal out the Japanese-Americans. After all, they were pretty easy to spot. And it's easy enough to sell the idea of internment when it was the Japanese who actually did the bombing.
What bothers me the most is that the vast majority of the American population supported this! Yes, there were some that opposed the internment, but not very many. Though the reasons were different, this reminds me of how the Native Americans were relocated. Again, a complete lack of understanding and an easy to identify population without a voice had their rights trampled by a greedy, bigoted government.
I wonder: If this were to happen right now, how many would stand up and say, "Not on my watch!" How many people would actually risk their own comfortable existence to advocate for those who's rights are being violated? I would like to think I would be one of those people.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Life Is A Verb
I tend to people watch. I don’t mean the people watching you might do at the mall -- although I admit to having indulged in that brand of people watching as well. The type of people watching I’m talking about here is the more in depth, ongoing type of observation made of those in your life on a regular/recurring basis. One thing that strikes me is that we don’t know how to live! Sure, we have moments, maybe even fairly large segments of time where we are at least content, if not happy. But on the whole we aren’t living. Not truly living.
Life is a verb. Life is meant to be lived purposefully. Instead of trudging through life simply enduring we should actively participate. Most of us live life as a noun. Nouns are usually things. Things don’t really do anything. They simply are there until acted upon by an outside force. That’s not how life was meant to be lived. And it surely isn’t how life is enjoyed.
I’ve found the most important aspect to living life as a verb is to be an active participant in your own life. For me, this required a profound shift in my thinking. I had to leave behind the mistaken notion that life was something that happed to me and only required a reactionary response. That required me to reprogram myself to acknowledge that the things that happened in my life were the results of my decisions and actions -- or lack thereof. In essence I had to take responsibility for my life. (A novel idea for many people unfortunately.)
Once I accepted my role in determining my future, I then had to decide what I would do as a result of my newly acquired knowledge. For me it wasn’t a difficult decision. I’m a take charge type of person. My answer was to take life by the horns and have a come to Jesus meeting with it. No longer was life a big scary monster that happened to me and I just had to accept it. Nope. I am the captain of that ship now and we’re going where I want to go.
A big part of taking charge was sitting down and taking inventory. I looked at every aspect of my life from religion to housekeeping. Yes, even housekeeping. I decided how the present condition of that particular aspect of my life made me feel. Then I asked myself if it was even something I wanted in my life at all. Especially if that particular aspect of my life made me feel inferior or evoked some other negative feeling. I’ll be honest, most of the things that made me feel bad were eliminated. In most cases it became obvious these things were aspects of my life other people felt needed to be there.
In addition to scrutinizing every aspect of my life, I also took a long hard look at the people in my life. Sad to say, I had to eliminate some of them as well. I simply did not want or need drama, spitefulness and hatefulness in my life. Those were not easy decisions to make, but I could not overlook the fact that after spending time with some people I left feeling worse than when I started out.
Since I’ve made these changes, I can say I actually have a much better outlook on life. I certainly feel more mentally balanced and so much of the stress I used to experience has melted away. That’s not to say everything is great and fine and we all live happily ever after, but things are at least on a more even keel. And I’ve freed myself up to more actively participate in my own life.
Life is a verb. Life is meant to be lived purposefully. Instead of trudging through life simply enduring we should actively participate. Most of us live life as a noun. Nouns are usually things. Things don’t really do anything. They simply are there until acted upon by an outside force. That’s not how life was meant to be lived. And it surely isn’t how life is enjoyed.
I’ve found the most important aspect to living life as a verb is to be an active participant in your own life. For me, this required a profound shift in my thinking. I had to leave behind the mistaken notion that life was something that happed to me and only required a reactionary response. That required me to reprogram myself to acknowledge that the things that happened in my life were the results of my decisions and actions -- or lack thereof. In essence I had to take responsibility for my life. (A novel idea for many people unfortunately.)
Once I accepted my role in determining my future, I then had to decide what I would do as a result of my newly acquired knowledge. For me it wasn’t a difficult decision. I’m a take charge type of person. My answer was to take life by the horns and have a come to Jesus meeting with it. No longer was life a big scary monster that happened to me and I just had to accept it. Nope. I am the captain of that ship now and we’re going where I want to go.
A big part of taking charge was sitting down and taking inventory. I looked at every aspect of my life from religion to housekeeping. Yes, even housekeeping. I decided how the present condition of that particular aspect of my life made me feel. Then I asked myself if it was even something I wanted in my life at all. Especially if that particular aspect of my life made me feel inferior or evoked some other negative feeling. I’ll be honest, most of the things that made me feel bad were eliminated. In most cases it became obvious these things were aspects of my life other people felt needed to be there.
In addition to scrutinizing every aspect of my life, I also took a long hard look at the people in my life. Sad to say, I had to eliminate some of them as well. I simply did not want or need drama, spitefulness and hatefulness in my life. Those were not easy decisions to make, but I could not overlook the fact that after spending time with some people I left feeling worse than when I started out.
Since I’ve made these changes, I can say I actually have a much better outlook on life. I certainly feel more mentally balanced and so much of the stress I used to experience has melted away. That’s not to say everything is great and fine and we all live happily ever after, but things are at least on a more even keel. And I’ve freed myself up to more actively participate in my own life.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Lyrical Debauchery
Music represents an intriguing dichotomy. On the one hand music can be the tie that binds. On the other hand music can be extremely divisive. Few issues seem to be more divisive than music. I find this to be especially true in Christian circles.
Often music is blamed for a myriad of ills. I find it interesting that religious leaders not only blame lyrics, but also the beat of the music. This is an intriguing concept to me. I can’t say that the beat of any music has ever done anything more than inspire me to dance. Yet to hear some religious leaders tell it, the beat of music has inspired everything from drug use to murder. I truly fail to comprehend this concept. I will allow that the lyrics may inspire the weaker minded among us to do things that are universally considered wrong, but I simply cannot see how the beat would do that same thing.
I’ve also often heard fundamental leaders say that music for worship can’t be of the contemporary genre. Why? Why is contemporary Christian music considered bad for worship? One argument I’ve heard often is that contemporary Christian music cannot pass the Philippians 4:8 test. According to these people, contemporary Christian music is not honest, just, pure, or lovely. They contend worship music hast to be 100+ year old hymns. Obviously I have an issue with this.
Music is continually evolving and changing. One hundred years ago those hymns were contemporary Christian music. Thus, those hymns are every bit as “bad” as current contemporary Christian music if we apply the reasoning equally across all time periods.
Don’t misunderstand me. I like the old hymns as much as the next fundamental Baptist. However, I also truly enjoy incorporating contemporary Christian music into my worship. I’ve been told this is because contemporary Christian music appeals to my emotions and that I’m wrong to follow my emotions because emotions lie to us and lead us astray.
Really? Really?!
Wow…
Let me try to wrap my mind about this…
Isn’t religion the marriage of a purposeful decision born of a conviction? Isn’t that conviction predicated on emotion? Does not worship of it’s very nature demand an emotional response? If your emotions are not involved in your worship is it worship at all? Our whole existence as humans is an emotional one. How could one separate such an integral part of our earthly lives from out spiritual lives?
When I go to worship I feel peace, well-being, contentment, happiness and sometimes even sadness, unease or guilt. Does this mean my worship is wrong? Perhaps my belief in and of itself is no more than my emotions leading me astray?
At it’s very core worship must involve our emotions. The love we profess for our God is an emotion. So, if emotions in worship are wrong, bad, lead you astray, etc that would mean our belief in God is bad, wrong, errant, etc. when we apply this logic. And, logically speaking, that makes no sense at all!
If we actually look at this logically, music has the ability to bridge even the largest of gulfs between people. Why not take advantage of that? All types of music can be beautiful, enjoyed and incorporated into worship. Simply because a certain style may not be your choice doesn’t mean people who use that style of music to worship are wrong.
Instead of infighting about the type of music to use in worship, wouldn’t it make more sense for us to be cooperative and go into our communities and put actions to the faith we profess? We don’t have to agree on music to work together, to take food to the homeless or labor with others to build a house for the needy. Let’s focus on the many needs of our communities and what we can do to meet those needs rather than bashing each other for the type of music we use in our respective houses of worship.
Often music is blamed for a myriad of ills. I find it interesting that religious leaders not only blame lyrics, but also the beat of the music. This is an intriguing concept to me. I can’t say that the beat of any music has ever done anything more than inspire me to dance. Yet to hear some religious leaders tell it, the beat of music has inspired everything from drug use to murder. I truly fail to comprehend this concept. I will allow that the lyrics may inspire the weaker minded among us to do things that are universally considered wrong, but I simply cannot see how the beat would do that same thing.
I’ve also often heard fundamental leaders say that music for worship can’t be of the contemporary genre. Why? Why is contemporary Christian music considered bad for worship? One argument I’ve heard often is that contemporary Christian music cannot pass the Philippians 4:8 test. According to these people, contemporary Christian music is not honest, just, pure, or lovely. They contend worship music hast to be 100+ year old hymns. Obviously I have an issue with this.
Music is continually evolving and changing. One hundred years ago those hymns were contemporary Christian music. Thus, those hymns are every bit as “bad” as current contemporary Christian music if we apply the reasoning equally across all time periods.
Don’t misunderstand me. I like the old hymns as much as the next fundamental Baptist. However, I also truly enjoy incorporating contemporary Christian music into my worship. I’ve been told this is because contemporary Christian music appeals to my emotions and that I’m wrong to follow my emotions because emotions lie to us and lead us astray.
Really? Really?!
Wow…
Let me try to wrap my mind about this…
Isn’t religion the marriage of a purposeful decision born of a conviction? Isn’t that conviction predicated on emotion? Does not worship of it’s very nature demand an emotional response? If your emotions are not involved in your worship is it worship at all? Our whole existence as humans is an emotional one. How could one separate such an integral part of our earthly lives from out spiritual lives?
When I go to worship I feel peace, well-being, contentment, happiness and sometimes even sadness, unease or guilt. Does this mean my worship is wrong? Perhaps my belief in and of itself is no more than my emotions leading me astray?
At it’s very core worship must involve our emotions. The love we profess for our God is an emotion. So, if emotions in worship are wrong, bad, lead you astray, etc that would mean our belief in God is bad, wrong, errant, etc. when we apply this logic. And, logically speaking, that makes no sense at all!
If we actually look at this logically, music has the ability to bridge even the largest of gulfs between people. Why not take advantage of that? All types of music can be beautiful, enjoyed and incorporated into worship. Simply because a certain style may not be your choice doesn’t mean people who use that style of music to worship are wrong.
Instead of infighting about the type of music to use in worship, wouldn’t it make more sense for us to be cooperative and go into our communities and put actions to the faith we profess? We don’t have to agree on music to work together, to take food to the homeless or labor with others to build a house for the needy. Let’s focus on the many needs of our communities and what we can do to meet those needs rather than bashing each other for the type of music we use in our respective houses of worship.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Why Can't I Be Both?
I’m trying to wrap my mind around this concept that I can’t be Christian and goth. Apparently you have to choose between the two. I find this to be a patently absurd idea. I truly cannot comprehend how an aesthetic disqualifies you. I’ve come to the conclusion that the pompous windbags spouting this drivel haven’t even taken the time to learn, even in the most general terms, what being goth really is, nor have they truly gotten to know me and what I stand for.
So what does gothic mean when the word refers to a person or group of people? Frankly, this is where it gets confusing because there are things that many goths like that are not really “gothic” in the strictest sense, say for example, industrial or classical music. Likewise there are things that are gothic that many goths actually don’t care for. Such as vampires and an unhealthy fascination with the morbid. Then to confuse the issue further, there are things that are not gothic that people consider gothic. Unfortunately, violent tendencies toward others and oneself would be a very good example of this. Then you have those that think goth is defined only in terms of music. This couldn’t be more wrong. Goth is a lifestyle. Yes, goths tend to share similar musical tastes, but it is not only the music that defines us as a group. Nor is it fashion lest someone decides to jump on that bandwagon.
I think the biggest thing to remember is that there is no Council sitting around deciding what is gothic and what is not. Even the people who identify as goth have diverse definitions of what goth really is. So, if the people actually involved in the lifestyle don’t have hard and fast rules as to what it means to be goth, what makes those outside of the lifestyle think they are capable of labeling and judging us?
I found this on a website quite some time ago. I wish I could remember what site it was so I could properly credit it. Regardless, I wish to share it:
This is probably the hardest question any goth could try and answer, one may as well ask 'what is society?' as it has so many facets it defies any definitive explanation. Goth in its simplest form, is a subculture. A group of people who feel comfortable within each others company. There is no specific thing that defines what you need to do or be to fit into the goth scene. People in the goth scene all have different musical tastes, follow different religions, have different occupations, hobbies, and fashion sense.
So maybe we could find an answer if we back things up and ask why people choose to identify as gothic. Truthfully, that is likely the easiest question to answer. Goths tend to be tolerant free thinkers. We do not simply accept the whole “this is how it is” thought process. We are not sheep to be led mindlessly about never questioning the one leading us. We tend to gather information, be it through listening and discourse, or study. Once we have gathered our information we then make our decision based on our own values and morals and not those values and morals society says we should have. Sometimes our conclusions do not dovetail with how society thinks it should be. So we’re spurned by “normal” society because we dare to buck the status quo. Eventually we meet up with others like ourselves and we band together.
Once that happens we then get to fight the gothic sterotype. You know the one I mean. The one that says we’re all 23 or younger; we all listen to Marilyn Manson, who by the way is NOT gothic; we all cut on ourselves or in some other way self mutilate; we’re all Satanists or part of some kind of cult; we’re all obsessed with vampires and death; and last, but by no means least, we all dye our hair black, wear black clothing and death makeup. Yeah, across the board that stereotype is WRONG.
The goth scene encompasses a wide variety of people. And really, that’s what those outside of the scene need to remember. First and foremost, there are people in their 30s and 40s still active in the goth scene. There are *le gasp* parents involved in the goth scene. (Someone pass the smelling salts please. I just heard a few of my readers hit the floor.) The goth scene embraces a wide variety of musical tastes, not all of them gothic. And, as with any segment of society, sure there are those who may self mutilate or not have the strongest grasp on reality, but really this is hardly a hallmark of only the goth scene. Additionally, we are not all Satanists. I happen to be Baptist. Others are Catholic, some are pagan, a few are atheists -- you get the idea. There are religions of all types present in the goth scene. And we don’t all think we are vampires nor do we dwell on death constantly. Many of us are volunteers. We give of our time and of ourselves to make the world we live in a better place. Neither do we all have piercings, weirdly styled black hair, closets full of nothing but black clothes and makeup baskets containing only white foundation, black lipstick and dark black liquid eyeliner. Most of us have jobs. Thus we wear business clothing on a daily basis. It is not our clothing that makes us goth; it is our mindset. It’s how we look at the world and how we evaluate the things around us; it is how we react to these things that make us who we are.
And before you read past that last paragraph thinking that it’s only retail store clerks or fast food workers in this lifestyle, I would suggest you open your eyes and look at your doctor, lawyer or accountant. Or maybe your network administrator at work. Or, heaven forbid you ever need him, but the firefighter that pulls you out of your burning house. Goths come from all walks of life and all professions. You know that real nice librarian that helped your kid find a book for her book report? Yeah, he was goth too.
Also, to be sure I’ve very clear: We don’t all dress like medieval vampires. I happen to have been around the goth scene practically since the beginning and I’m what is now considered a loligoth. Although admittedly I also have heavy EGA tendencies. There are so many fashions within the goth scene. Please don’t limit us to the stereotype.
Now that we’ve established what a goth is, let’s return to the original question. Does being a goth automatically disqualify me from being a Christian? From what I’m seeing -- no. But to hear others tell it…. Well you know how they’re telling it. What I get from them is that something I do/identify with means I can’t be a Christian. That’s the same as me looking at them and saying because I saw them drinking Friday night, spending time with their gay friend Saturday, and saw them mowing their lawn Sunday morning instead of being in church, they are no longer qualified to be Christians.
I’m not sure what Bible they are reading, but my Bible doesn’t say anything like that at all. My Bible says: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It doesn’t say that the Goths have sinned and come short of the glory of God. From what I’m reading in my Bible, it says that the only thing that keeps you from being a Christian is not believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and not calling on Him to save you.
So help me out here. If I believe Jesus died for my sins and I’ve asked Him to save my soul and I truly believe that He can do that, how am I not a Christian?! The very definition of Christian is Christ follower. That is why His name is the root of the label by which we are called!
Oh, wait….
I’m starting to understand. People’s preconceived notions -- their JUDGING -- have decided I’m not a Christian. They are falling back on the goth stereotype and just assuming all I think about is death and evil. They are just assuming I don’t believe in God or Jesus. Yeah, I think the Bible has something to say about judging others. Something along the lines of only God knows a person’s heart.
Understand I’m not saying I’m a perfect Christian. I am so far from it! But that doesn’t mean I’m not a Christian. It doesn’t mean that I don’t give God the credit for all the blessings in my life. I know who is in control and I know who is the Savior of my soul. So, don’t tell me that because I identify with a certain group I’m not a Christian. Instead of judging, just accept people for who they are. Hmmm….and once again we are back to the main thing that binds goths together -- TOLERANCE.
So what does gothic mean when the word refers to a person or group of people? Frankly, this is where it gets confusing because there are things that many goths like that are not really “gothic” in the strictest sense, say for example, industrial or classical music. Likewise there are things that are gothic that many goths actually don’t care for. Such as vampires and an unhealthy fascination with the morbid. Then to confuse the issue further, there are things that are not gothic that people consider gothic. Unfortunately, violent tendencies toward others and oneself would be a very good example of this. Then you have those that think goth is defined only in terms of music. This couldn’t be more wrong. Goth is a lifestyle. Yes, goths tend to share similar musical tastes, but it is not only the music that defines us as a group. Nor is it fashion lest someone decides to jump on that bandwagon.
I think the biggest thing to remember is that there is no Council sitting around deciding what is gothic and what is not. Even the people who identify as goth have diverse definitions of what goth really is. So, if the people actually involved in the lifestyle don’t have hard and fast rules as to what it means to be goth, what makes those outside of the lifestyle think they are capable of labeling and judging us?
I found this on a website quite some time ago. I wish I could remember what site it was so I could properly credit it. Regardless, I wish to share it:
This is probably the hardest question any goth could try and answer, one may as well ask 'what is society?' as it has so many facets it defies any definitive explanation. Goth in its simplest form, is a subculture. A group of people who feel comfortable within each others company. There is no specific thing that defines what you need to do or be to fit into the goth scene. People in the goth scene all have different musical tastes, follow different religions, have different occupations, hobbies, and fashion sense.
So maybe we could find an answer if we back things up and ask why people choose to identify as gothic. Truthfully, that is likely the easiest question to answer. Goths tend to be tolerant free thinkers. We do not simply accept the whole “this is how it is” thought process. We are not sheep to be led mindlessly about never questioning the one leading us. We tend to gather information, be it through listening and discourse, or study. Once we have gathered our information we then make our decision based on our own values and morals and not those values and morals society says we should have. Sometimes our conclusions do not dovetail with how society thinks it should be. So we’re spurned by “normal” society because we dare to buck the status quo. Eventually we meet up with others like ourselves and we band together.
Once that happens we then get to fight the gothic sterotype. You know the one I mean. The one that says we’re all 23 or younger; we all listen to Marilyn Manson, who by the way is NOT gothic; we all cut on ourselves or in some other way self mutilate; we’re all Satanists or part of some kind of cult; we’re all obsessed with vampires and death; and last, but by no means least, we all dye our hair black, wear black clothing and death makeup. Yeah, across the board that stereotype is WRONG.
The goth scene encompasses a wide variety of people. And really, that’s what those outside of the scene need to remember. First and foremost, there are people in their 30s and 40s still active in the goth scene. There are *le gasp* parents involved in the goth scene. (Someone pass the smelling salts please. I just heard a few of my readers hit the floor.) The goth scene embraces a wide variety of musical tastes, not all of them gothic. And, as with any segment of society, sure there are those who may self mutilate or not have the strongest grasp on reality, but really this is hardly a hallmark of only the goth scene. Additionally, we are not all Satanists. I happen to be Baptist. Others are Catholic, some are pagan, a few are atheists -- you get the idea. There are religions of all types present in the goth scene. And we don’t all think we are vampires nor do we dwell on death constantly. Many of us are volunteers. We give of our time and of ourselves to make the world we live in a better place. Neither do we all have piercings, weirdly styled black hair, closets full of nothing but black clothes and makeup baskets containing only white foundation, black lipstick and dark black liquid eyeliner. Most of us have jobs. Thus we wear business clothing on a daily basis. It is not our clothing that makes us goth; it is our mindset. It’s how we look at the world and how we evaluate the things around us; it is how we react to these things that make us who we are.
And before you read past that last paragraph thinking that it’s only retail store clerks or fast food workers in this lifestyle, I would suggest you open your eyes and look at your doctor, lawyer or accountant. Or maybe your network administrator at work. Or, heaven forbid you ever need him, but the firefighter that pulls you out of your burning house. Goths come from all walks of life and all professions. You know that real nice librarian that helped your kid find a book for her book report? Yeah, he was goth too.
Also, to be sure I’ve very clear: We don’t all dress like medieval vampires. I happen to have been around the goth scene practically since the beginning and I’m what is now considered a loligoth. Although admittedly I also have heavy EGA tendencies. There are so many fashions within the goth scene. Please don’t limit us to the stereotype.
Now that we’ve established what a goth is, let’s return to the original question. Does being a goth automatically disqualify me from being a Christian? From what I’m seeing -- no. But to hear others tell it…. Well you know how they’re telling it. What I get from them is that something I do/identify with means I can’t be a Christian. That’s the same as me looking at them and saying because I saw them drinking Friday night, spending time with their gay friend Saturday, and saw them mowing their lawn Sunday morning instead of being in church, they are no longer qualified to be Christians.
I’m not sure what Bible they are reading, but my Bible doesn’t say anything like that at all. My Bible says: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It doesn’t say that the Goths have sinned and come short of the glory of God. From what I’m reading in my Bible, it says that the only thing that keeps you from being a Christian is not believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and not calling on Him to save you.
So help me out here. If I believe Jesus died for my sins and I’ve asked Him to save my soul and I truly believe that He can do that, how am I not a Christian?! The very definition of Christian is Christ follower. That is why His name is the root of the label by which we are called!
Oh, wait….
I’m starting to understand. People’s preconceived notions -- their JUDGING -- have decided I’m not a Christian. They are falling back on the goth stereotype and just assuming all I think about is death and evil. They are just assuming I don’t believe in God or Jesus. Yeah, I think the Bible has something to say about judging others. Something along the lines of only God knows a person’s heart.
Understand I’m not saying I’m a perfect Christian. I am so far from it! But that doesn’t mean I’m not a Christian. It doesn’t mean that I don’t give God the credit for all the blessings in my life. I know who is in control and I know who is the Savior of my soul. So, don’t tell me that because I identify with a certain group I’m not a Christian. Instead of judging, just accept people for who they are. Hmmm….and once again we are back to the main thing that binds goths together -- TOLERANCE.
Monday, August 1, 2011
A Morning in the Life of...
Several of you have asked what a typical day is like for me, where I go in a typical day, etc. Honestly, I can't imagine that you would find this interesting, but, OK, I'll show you. The only catch is, I can't show my work or say where I work. But other than that, you'll see a typical day.
Well not a full day. I'm just doing the morning. Trust me, there isn't much for the morning. I do *not* do mornings. If my day started at 3pm I'd be very happy.
So, this morning when I went out the sky was looking pretty cool. It had something to do with the impending rain. And, I have little doubt, it looked cool to me because I am rarely truly awake enough at 7am to even pay attention to the sky, much less appreciate its beauty.
I have a 15 minute drive to work. Some days I stop at McDonald's for oatmeal and a large sweet tea. Not sure why I try to get something healthy like oatmeal and then get a 44oz drink that has so much sugar in it it's like drinking syrup. But yeah, that's breakfast a few times a week. Do I really need to take a pic of McDonald's? I think not. Y'all know what it looks like.
So I drag my butt into my office. Barely awake. Functioning on only the most basic of levels. Skin burning from the sun. Oh wait, no....I'm not supposed to mention that!
Right...moving right along....
I plop down at my desk and unlock it and begin my morning ritual of staring out the window for the next hour or two. This is what I see:
Window #1
That is Veteran's Park that you see off in the distance. It has flagpoles for every state in the Union. Unfortunately they don't fly said flags every day. It would be really cool if they did though. And around 1100am a guy comes and plays his bagpipes every day. I always open my window so I can hear him better.
Window#2
It's hard to tell in this pic, but that's bamboo. Yep, bamboo. It makes me happy. Very happy. It reminds me of Japan. But I love the moss that fell from the oak trees into the bamboo. It combines two things that are so very me. The bamboo for Japan and the moss for the South.
So, that's my morning. I don't do much in the morning. I'm barely coherent in the morning. It's just wrong for a person to be required to be awake at that hour!
Well not a full day. I'm just doing the morning. Trust me, there isn't much for the morning. I do *not* do mornings. If my day started at 3pm I'd be very happy.
So, this morning when I went out the sky was looking pretty cool. It had something to do with the impending rain. And, I have little doubt, it looked cool to me because I am rarely truly awake enough at 7am to even pay attention to the sky, much less appreciate its beauty.
I have a 15 minute drive to work. Some days I stop at McDonald's for oatmeal and a large sweet tea. Not sure why I try to get something healthy like oatmeal and then get a 44oz drink that has so much sugar in it it's like drinking syrup. But yeah, that's breakfast a few times a week. Do I really need to take a pic of McDonald's? I think not. Y'all know what it looks like.
So I drag my butt into my office. Barely awake. Functioning on only the most basic of levels. Skin burning from the sun. Oh wait, no....I'm not supposed to mention that!
Right...moving right along....
I plop down at my desk and unlock it and begin my morning ritual of staring out the window for the next hour or two. This is what I see:
Window #1
That is Veteran's Park that you see off in the distance. It has flagpoles for every state in the Union. Unfortunately they don't fly said flags every day. It would be really cool if they did though. And around 1100am a guy comes and plays his bagpipes every day. I always open my window so I can hear him better.
Window#2
It's hard to tell in this pic, but that's bamboo. Yep, bamboo. It makes me happy. Very happy. It reminds me of Japan. But I love the moss that fell from the oak trees into the bamboo. It combines two things that are so very me. The bamboo for Japan and the moss for the South.
So, that's my morning. I don't do much in the morning. I'm barely coherent in the morning. It's just wrong for a person to be required to be awake at that hour!
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