stillspinning » Religion

I Miss Rich

BlogMasterJ — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:10:38 +0000

If you went to church in the nineties then you’ve no doubt sung at least one Rich Mullins song. If you were really lucky you went to one of his concerts. I got to see him twice. Once with Greg and Rebeca Sparks along with an entire church youth group, Beaker and assorted musician friend’s of his and the second time with just Beaker. Both times were one of the best concert experiences of my life.

Tonight I found an entire show on YouTube. It comes close to capturing what it was like to be there, to see him live. To make it even better the set list is really good. Almost all my favorite songs are included. If you decide to watch them all be warned, part nine is missing and a lot of the cuts take place in the middle of songs. You can buy the DVD here.

Here’s part one.

Christian Rock

BlogMasterJ — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:11:35 +0000

While poking around the web this evening I came across a posting on beliefnet.com. I don’t normally visit this site as the experts culled from their staff for comments on NPR are normally morons. This post made me smile and even comment.

Fifteen Words

BlogMasterJ — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:27:18 +0000

So I’m going to try and start posting again. I may someday go into all the reasons why I stopped but not tonight. (I actually just deleted an entire post I had written outlining a few reasons but…well…maybe some other time.) I do want to get you caught up though. I’ve decided to just give you the top fifteen words that more or less sum up the past few months. If any strike your fancy, let me know and I may elaborate.

Doubt
Rage
Release
Moves
God
Hopeless
Rejection
Family
Promotion
Stress
Rotation!
Placenta
Therapy
S-h
Kentucky

That sums it up kids.

Liberal theology makes for empty pews

BlogMasterJ — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 21:52:27 +0000

Charlotte Allen, Catholic Editor of BeliefNet and author has an Op-Ed piece in the L.A. Times about the liberal movement in the Episcopal and Prebyterian churches and the effects its had on the number of adherents but in the coffers too. I guess if you pander to a bunch of unemployed hippies instead of the faithful you’re bound to loose out.

Though the article doesn’t address the more fundamentalist churches other than a brief nod to the Baptists, it does shine some light on what happens when you start to throw out the bits you don’t like.

That’s the thing about Christianity – though its all about a personal relationship its still a package deal. You can’t accept the New Testement and reject the Old, you can’t accept Jesus only and, though I’d think this would go without saying, you can’t reject Christ and still be a Christian.

Religion and the Comics

BlogMasterJ — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 03:57:06 +0000

When I first found this page I thought it was a joke.? I went a little deeper and discovered that they take themselves quite seriously.? Adherents.com offers statistics on what people believe.? For some reason they’ve taken the time to write some very in depth essays on the religious beliefs of comic book characters.

Though I’m not a huge comic fan I’ve been known to haunt the racks on comic book day, mostly with Grady and Garold back in the Cleveland days, so I’ve decided to include a few favorites.?

Batman is by far not only my favorite but the best character.? Though there is some dispute he’s apparenlty a lapsed member of ‘high church’, either Episcopal or Catholic.
Superman is thought to be a Methodist.? That’s not surprising; he’s least interesting, most goody-two-shoed character of all time.
It is surprising that the jury is still out on The Atheist
On the other side of the spectrum we have Mr. Christian.? His back story his great.? I especially like that he can only fly at ‘moderate speeds’ and shoot simple beams of light from his hands.
We’ve also got Kahlo, non-assuming custodian of the Potter’s House Church by day, crime fighter by night.? Kahlo’s got Mr. Christian beat on powers – he can manipulate water and is unharmed by fire and heat. Oh, and his arch enemy is simply called Priest.