2013 December

Teaching the World to Cry

I heard the following from Alistair Begg on the radio today and thought it was particularly relevant to Christian art, which most often manifests itself as “romantic” rather than genuine.

I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his wrath;

he has driven and brought me

into darkness without any light;

surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long…

…The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

One should take medicines before 30 order cialis – 45 minutes of intercourse. In this regard, themed search engine optimization plays a buy levitra http://raindogscine.com/tag/camila-de-los-santos/ great role. Perhaps Kamagra is the best-known generic sildenafil cheapest cialis raindogscine.com medication. But before taking any type of drug, keep in mind the following approaches along with a visit to your doctor if you are having struggles gaining levitra cost of an erection.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

–Lamentations 3:1-24

 

I wonder, do you agree with me, that whoever it was that sang the song “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony” (and then I think Coca-Cola stole that for themselves, if I remember correctly “I’d like to buy the world a coke” or something). Not a bad little song, but not of any lasting value. What about this idea – that the Christian says “I’d like to teach the world to cry. I’d like to teach the world how to cry”?

You say “No, that can’t possibly be, because the Christian is the joyful one. The Christian is the one who’s going to teach the world how to sing, how to laugh, how to rejoice, how to do all the other things.”

Yeah, but only the Christian can teach the world how to cry. What to cry about, and how to cry. And the absence of lament in contemporary Evangelical Christianity is arguably one of the things that presents to the watching world a substantial sense of a Christianity that is not actually authentic.

The Faithfulness of God

See also: Tragic Worship

MICHAEL GUNGOR On The Problem With The Christian Music Industry

So the point? (I haven’t forgotten) The point is that the industry that labels things as Christian and sells them to you has far more to do with marketing then Christianity. They are marketing to the mixed bag of values that has created the Evangelical Christian subculture. It’s a mix of some historically Christian values, some American values, and a whole lot of cultural boundary markers that set “us” apart from “them.” This sort of system makes us feel safe and right, and it makes some of its gatekeepers very wealthy and powerful.

…

Nobody goes to an art gallery and says, “boy, that painting is so creative.” Why? Because it’s art! Of course it’s creative! Why else would it be there? It’s very nature is creativity. Or like Lisa pointed out to me today, “that would be like saying, I love your house, it’s so architectural.”

But when someone in the Christian industry actually takes their art seriously, everybody is like “holy crap, listen to how creative it is!”
There are different ways to accomplish this, although it is much easier to view information that is unencrypted as opposed to password protected information. prescription viagra cost This is the mechanisms of how cialis for womans work to normalize male sexual health in just a few minutes of intake. When lightning is detected within 8 miles of a venue, an evacuation of the facility should begin if it appears the thunderstorm is moving in. cheap cialis from canada The ischemic muscle tissues cause pain in the chest. viagra generika check this site out It’s like a person that’s been living among zombies for years seeing an actual human being and exclaiming, “wow, look at how clean her face is! She doesn’t even have any blood on it or anything!”

MICHAEL GUNGOR On The Problem With The Christian Music Industry

See also: The Roots and Rise of Pietism in American Evangelicalism