Posted March 4, 2010 by Charles
Yesterday I threw in an old CD (CD? what is this, ‘05?) with some Relient K on it and remembered why I like them so much.
I had a discussion a couple of weeks ago with a classmate about Christian music. One of the things we talked about was the difference between groups that spoke explicitly about Jesus and clear religious themes in their music, and those who didn’t hide their faith, but used different subject matter. When it comes to popular music I prefer the latter (though there are obvious advantages to the former in worship).
Relient K was one of the examples that came up, because my classmate remembered their early stuff, saying there was a lot of explicit Christian imagery and subject matter. I didn’t listen to them until MMHMM, and it didn’t have that same flavor. That doesn’t stop them from having some great theology and understanding for real life:
“…And this life sentence that I’m serving
I admit that I’m every bit deserving.
But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.” (“Be My Escape”)
“I am a hostage of my own humanity,
Self-detained and forced to live in this mess I’ve made.
And all I’m asking is for you to do what you can with me,
But I can’t ask you to give what you already gave.” (“Be My Escape”)
“And today I’ll trust you with the confidence of a many who’s never known defeat.
Then tomorrow upon hearing what I did, I will stare at you in disbelief.
Oh inconsistent me.
Crying out for consistency.” (“Let It All Out”)
Posted April 9, 2009 by Charles
I think the greatest gift God gave me is a love of learning.
Most of the time I don’t even care what the subject is (though I do have my limits), I just want to know stuff about it. Where did curling come from? What’s a flashmob? What’s the origin of the word “separate”? I just like to learn stuff.
As a result I’ve spent the last year and a half making a living doing something about as far removed from my college education as could be. I became curious about how people made websites look so good, so I found out (and I’ve still got a lot of finding to do). Intellectual curiosity has had other, more profound effects on my life, and my family.
My wife received the same gift as I did, which means that trips to Borders or Half Price Books are like trips to Six Flags for a lot of people, and Google is our family’s closest friend. With these gifts we’ve made quite a few discoveries that have changed the way we live. And plenty that haven’t, but were just as much fun.
In the early 80’s a child received 8 recommended vaccines. Did you know that today that number is 36? I would bet that you didn’t, unless you saw Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey on Larry King recently. Did you know you can clean (almost) anything in your house with distilled white vinegar? We haven’t bought any cleaning products in months. Did you know Charlie O’Connell played a slacker cop on an early episode of Sliders, a few seasons before becoming Colin?
These tidbits are all great and some are helpful, but the real benefit of intellectual curiosity comes not in changing the way we live, but the way we think. Read more
Posted April 8, 2008 by Charles
I just found this great bit from C.H. Spurgeon, about progressive theology.
My favorite parts? “Pan-indifferentism” and “Anythigarianism”
The idea of a progressive gospel seems to have fascinated many. To us that notion is a sort of cross-breed between nonsense and blasphemy.
Do men really believe that there is a gospel for each century? Or a religion for each fifty years? Will there be in heaven saints saved according to a score sorts of gospel? Will these agree together to sing the same song? And what will the song be? Saved on different footings, and believing different doctrines, will they enjoy eternal concord, or will heaven itself be only a new arena for disputation between varieties of faiths?
Pan-indifferentism is rising like the tide; who can hinder it? We are all to be as one, even though we agree in next to nothing. It is a breach of brotherly love to denounce error. Hail, holy charity! Black is white; and white is black. The false is true; the true is false; the true and the false are one.
We cannot despair for the church or for the truth, while the Lord lives and reigns; but, assuredly, the conflict to which the faithful are now summoned is not less arduous than that in which the Reformers were engaged. So much of subtlety is mixed up with the whole business, that the sword seems to fall upon a sack of wool, or to miss its mark. However, plain truth will cut its way in the end, and policy will ring its own death-knell.
