Anyone who knows New York’s J-Train immediately understands a few key proverbs: One, the J-Train is best ridden during the day; Two, the J-Train through Brooklyn is not a very safe ride; Three, the J-Train is best avoided. In my old high school another proverb might be added to the list but it sounded more like an ancient curse: damned are those who go to school in the shadow of the J-Train.
Category: history
I’ve spent some time banging around some thoughts on Psalm 110, what it meant in its Jewish culture and how it was used by the early believers. To think about that I had to first spend some time thinking about the origins.
In Politics, certain subjects took on a political endangering quality. Social Security has been labeled the Third Rail of American Politics specifically because it’s so charged and touching it meant death for a person’s political career. In the same way certain subjects do the same for professional careers, conversations and churches. For churches in particular, the third rail is Music: time for me to waltz on it.
You go into any Church during their service, listen to the music and note your first reaction. I don’t mean the piety of your reaction, like the part that you say “Praise God!” I mean the part of your reaction where you decide that the specific sound you’re hearing is a Good Expression of True Worship. That reaction will clue you in on what you’re approach to music in church is.
Is there a right approach to music or is it just a matter of taste? Does Music have a place in Christian worship or is it more a distraction that what it’s worth?
Evolution is a funny word that gets bandied about. Saying it in different context evokes different responses, sometimes laughter and sometimes justified anger. In fact, I’ve been in conversations where a person is using evolution in one sense and me in a completely different sense and both of us have gotten riled up until we pinned down our terms.
Every Halloween Christians argue about what they should do on Halloween (I dealt with that here). Every Christmas and Easter another group of Christians points out the pagan origins of those holidays and level a similar charge. But rarely has the same point been raised about Thanksgiving. “It’s a time to thank God for all He has done” are the usual words while any pagan relationship to the holiday is ignored. My main premise with this post is not to validate or deny the celebration of the day but rather to show how far spread certain practices and celebrations are across religions and how that’s not surprising in the least.