Currently Listening The Unveiling By Cry of the Afflicted A Scar Filled Sky see related

New

Hi.

I got a new guitar.

It's a platinum Gibson Les Paul Studio.

It's amazing.

I'm going to go play it now.

(by the way, the band Cry Of The Afflicted is really good, why is it that Canadian bands seem to rock?)

Shalom.

Currently Reading American Gods: A Novel By Neil Gaiman see related

I like chess. I'm not very good at it, but I like it.

I seem to be better at team chess, distracting the other team so that my teammate is free to sweep in and put them in position to be check-mated by randomly placed knight.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm more of a team player than a strategist.

I don't really have a point other than that.

Currently Listening Flame in All of Us By Thousand Foot Krutch What Do We Know see related

this is why i don't let my mind wander...

Hey look, I’m back again! 2 posts in the last week! I’m actually just posting because I’m trying to “keep up with the Jones’” in a way. See, Shane has come back to Xanga to give you guys his comic gold on his site, so I thought I would post my “wisdom” on here… or maybe not. I guess the real reason for my comeback is that this is my serious blog. This is where I feel it is more or less “safe” to address the issues that concern me, because I know that the people I know and trust read this, and I feel like being a little more serious now that I’m getting old. This post is going to be very disjointed because I’m going to just write what I’m thinking and I’m not going to censor it or hold back how I feel.

It seems like every day I realize just how little I know about life, especially this whole following Jesus thing. I haven’t really been doing either for that long, I mean I’m only 26 and I’ve followed Jesus seriously for about 9 years now (I’ve been a “Christian” most of my life, but I’m not sure that I consider “Christian” and “Follower Of Jesus” synonymous anymore). It’s kind of funny; I left Bible College because I wanted to find Jesus, which is why I thought I was going there in the first place. I didn’t run away from Bible College, which is what most ORU, Rhema, and Victory Church people say I did, which frustrates me to no end, how are they going to say that when they don’t even bother to  take time to get to know me? I honestly felt like G-d said that was enough, that I had learned what I needed to and that I should move on. Since I left that place, I’ve gone back once and was amazed at how fake people there seem in comparison to the people that I’ve met outside of that little bubble. They teach that, if you follow Jesus, nothing will ever go wrong and that you can make all of your problems go away by just reciting the proper verses. If that doesn’t work, you obviously just don’t have enough faith. When my mom was struggling with depression, she went to counseling at that place and was told by a member of the pastoral staff that if she “just had more faith” that everything would be fine. Where does the Bible say that? How did they get so calloused? Why would you tell someone that’s struggling with believing in G-d that they just need to have more faith? How is it that people like that get into positions of ministry? Okay, I’m obviously a little frustrated about all of that, but let’s move on.

Through all the crap that happened at that place, I was never mad at G-d. I never blamed Him for the way that His people act, and I still don’t. What frustrates me is the fact that the church is made up of broken people that are trying to find help, but often refuses to accept other broken people that don’t look like them. Why? Those people that get labeled as “freaks” by many church-goers are people that Jesus died for. He loves them every bit as much as He does the people that look, dress, and act “normal”. Where did we lose that idea? We are so damned concerned about the outward appearance of people that we refuse to share the life-changing words of Jesus with people that need them as much as we do. Who cares what someone looks like? Does it matter if they have tattoos and facial piercings? Do those things make them unlovable? That’s what we tell them by treating them the way that we do. When I sit and talk to people like that, most of the time they tell me about how much they hate the church. They say that they’re not accepted there and that they are told that if they change their appearance, then they would be welcomed there. WHY? WE are the ones that need to change our opinions of people, and welcome them with open arms (I’m not talking about embracing sin; I’m talking about loving people, like Jesus taught us to do). So what if they don’t conform to our stupid views of what a Christian should look like? I get so sick of these churches that are full of “Pleasant Valley Sunday” people* who won’t do the one thing that we’re called to by G-d, which is to love. Love everyone. Love till it hurts. Love the church-forsaken people of the world. As I type this, I realize that this is to me as much as, or more than, to anyone else.

Quite frankly, I don’t love the church. I can’t stand “Christians” and I don’t want to be associated with them in any way. I want to associate with real people that live real lives and that are trying to pursue relationship with the One True G-d. I’m sick of fake Christianity that says that everything’s okay, and that there are no problems in the world. I’m sick of a “faith” that withers when questions are asked. I don’t agree with the teaching that doubts are evil and if you have them you don’t “have enough faith”.

I thank G-d that BC doesn’t teach any of that crap, I love this place and the people here. I love the fact that it feels like questions are met with real answers, that doubts are viewed as the beginning of faith, not the death of it. I love that we reach out to the community, and that my “freak” friends feel almost at home there as I do. I think that the thing that I like the most is that we’re not a perfect church. I doubt that a single person on the pastoral staff would say that we are.

So here we are, all that I’ve managed to do so far is rant about what I dislike in the church, which is a group of imperfect people, making our best attempts at following a perfect G-d who loves all of us the same. That is why I say that I don’t have this following Jesus thing figured out. I can love people that haven’t realized they need Jesus, why is it so bloody hard for me to love those that have realized it? I fail so much at this love thing, and then get upset when others don’t love the people that are close to my heart. I’m a hypocrite. The good thing is that somehow G-d still has love for me too. That thought humbles and amazes me.

 I’ll leave you with the words of Andrew Osenga - “we are the beggars at the foot of G-d’s door… and You have welcomed us in”.

*Get the reference? If not, please go listen to The Monkees.

Currently Listening Flame in All of Us By Thousand Foot Krutch New Drug see related

Why some worship music sucks.

Catchy title, huh?    

 I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I like the music I like, and why there are some that I just can’t stand. While it’s true that personal tastes vary from person to person, there is some music out there that is just plain bad. This post will probably offend some, and I know that there will be people that disagree with me, most notably Brian. I love that we like such drastically different types of music and welcome his feedback, if he still reads this thing. Having said that, let me rant for a little while about one of my pet peeves…

   First, I HATE the fact that there’s a whole Christian genre. I feel that in most cases, it’s just an excuse for a band that can’t make it in the mainstream market to put out some albums with production quality and lyrics that are sub-par, at best. There are some very notable exceptions to that, but in the “Christian Pop” genre, it’s almost universally true. The only time I feel that it’s acceptable to put something into “Christian” genre is when it’s worship music. There is no secular parallel for worship music. It is music specifically designed to be sang TO G-d and for the exhortation of believers.

  Growing up, and even recently, I kept wondering why I could really get into some songs during worship, while I just kept wishing that others would end. Shane and I joked around about the idea that we were just being “worship snobs” because we’ve been blessed to go to a church that has a great band. I went along with that reason for a while and did my best to change my thinking and realize the purpose behind the songs, and that they have to be written on a level that they can be played by some bands that may not have as much experience as others, and that they have to be able to be sung by people that can sing (like Shane) and people that can’t (like Me). This thought kept me from flat out saying that some songs sucked, but I still thought it.

   Now, I understand that I’m being exceptionally judgmental in saying that, and I understand that worship music is generally “4 chords and the Truth”, but let me ask you a question: If you had the opportunity to meet with the President and to sing a song to him, would you sing a song that was full of trite lyrics and banal chord progressions? Here we are, presented with the opportunity to meet with the King of the Universe, the Creator of all things, and we present Him with second rate songs that, half of the time, aren’t even scriptural? Why??? Can anyone explain that logic to me? Why is it that we accept mediocre songs as “worship” and say that we can’t judge them because they’re “from the heart”? I understand that worship is something deeper than words, chord progressions, and sound guy mistakes, but we should be putting forth our best efforts instead of a bunch of crap, shouldn’t we?

   Does G-d just deserve just the same old songs that we’ve been singing for hundreds of years, that we all know backwards and forwards, or does He deserve the very best that we can offer Him, including old and new songs? Why is it that some insist that modern music has no place in worship? Should we just stick to the hymns?  I often wonder if the people that say that realize that the very music that they want to sing was originally considered scandalous because it was written using the popular bar songs of its day. I’m not saying that we should throw the baby with the bath water and get rid of classic hymns; I’m just saying that we should worship G-d with new songs too. Doesn’t the book of Psalms say a few things about singing a new song to the Lord? Of course, as Andrew pointed out to me, the problem with singing new songs all the time is that no one can learn the songs, especially if the lyrics are displayed on a screen, in white, with a blizzard as the background, lol. There needs to be a balance of old and new, praise and worship, slow and fast. Speaking of which, that brings me to another pet peeve of mine…

  Who said that fast songs are always praise and slow songs are always worship? There are several songs that are “fast” that are incredibly worshipful (Third Day’s cover of Agnus Dei) and a lot of “slow” songs that are full of praise (“Praise Song”, also by Third Day comes to mind in that second category). Also, there are several songs that build to a crescendo and are simply amazing worship songs that you’re basically yelling during (such as “All I Need Is You” by Hillsong United). In my experience, there are times when a “slow” song just doesn’t work to convey the emotional response to G-d’s presence (I know that worship isn’t only about emotions, but didn’t G-d give us emotions to help express ourselves?). Conversely, it’s sometimes good to reflectively praise G-d for who He is and what He’s done in your life, so sometimes slower songs are great for praise. When did we fall into the rut of “worship” being 3 fast songs, 2 slow songs, then another fast song to wake people up? What would we do if we came to a worship service that had 5 fast songs that were all worship songs? What if there was only one song that was played over and over until we finally got it (seriously, try that with Third Day’s cover of Agnus Dei, it’s amazing). What if there were no songs, and instead we just sat in prayerful silence for half an hour? Would any of those expressions be any less worship than the others?

   My point is this, G-d deserves the best that we can give Him, not just some used up expressions that we don’t even mean half of the time. We should be actively engaged in worship, not just bystanders watching the band play and singing along by memory. Sure, it’s okay to have songs that you know and love, but make sure that you’re actively thinking about what you’re saying. Make your worship personal, as well as corporate. Pour your heart into worshipping to the One that gave you the very breath you use to thank Him for it. Isn’t it worth the effort?

Tatt 2