So here would be a brief series of snapshots showing what happens to a denomination after you kick Machen out of it.
Now by sharing this video I do not want to indicate that I have watched this entire thing, for there are some duties that we tend to shrink away from, like Aragorn contemplating his need to cross through the paths of the dead. Only he did it, and I didn’t, but still there’s a similarity there.
I simply want to draw your attention to a few things. Hymnody, for example, has changed somewhat over the years. This bit of high lyricism, worthy of Cowper or Watts, can be found at 11:33.
We grieve a wounded culture
Where fear and terror thrive,
Where some hate others for their race
And guns are glorified.
At 14:05, one Mr. Said offers up a prayer “in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.” Yeah, well if Allah is so merciful as all that, why are things like this still going on?
Since we hadn’t had enough yet, at 19:06 there is a hymn lamenting the shooting in Orlando. The remarkable thing is how a homosexual dance & pickup club is described by the putative heirs of John Knox . . .
To a place of celebration
Filled with laughter, dancing, joy,
Came such violent devastation –
One man’s efforts to destroy.
If you freeze the shot at 18:14, you can see a gaudy spectacle of lameness, so bad that a kind of splendor creeps into it. You have three battery-powered candles on the left there, representing something important. You have the moderator in a green stole that looks like nothing on earth. You have some white tablecloths on the right symbolizing the reality that no matter how diverse the Presbyterians manage to get, the net whiteness only increases overall. On the left is some sort of diversity tablecloth designed to make the white tablecloths stand out and look better, which is, of course, the central point.
As my daughter Rachel put it, this whole thing is a “tree fort gone wrong.”
C.S. Lewis once said, “All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.” The progressive lust for relevance is the most irrelevant thing that can be imagined. And like all lusts, it is a blinding lust. Our evangelical brethren who are in the grip of this same lust — merely decked out with different glasses — need to use a little faith to look down the corridors of time in order to see themselves standing upon some godforsaken stage thirty years from now, doing a bunch of lame crap that embarrasses their grandchildren.
When it all started, it was cutting, bleeding edge. It was the au courant hot stuff. It was the Trend. The cool kids had approved it. But now, here you are, in a half empty conference hall at the Ramada, trying to get everyone to sing One Tin Soldier along with you. And one of your guitar strings broke.
Sincere question, I don’t understand your almost blind ecumenical foundation to your Federal Vision theology that, thankfully, I never see ooze out between the scorching discernment sentences with “crap” like this. In other words, I almost always agree with your discernment blogging, but I can’t see how it jives with the former? After all, doesn’t the PCUSA still practice Trinitarian baptism…your former line in the sand. Any links or books you may share on this narrow aspect of discernment, Christian fellowship vs. broad ecumenicalism.
Ouch!!
That made my day!
The paths of the dead indeed. Think I’ll pass.
The mention of One Tin Soldier reminds me of the movie and the category of entertainment we might call liberal revenge fantasy. Evil hicks abuse their authority and get their comeuppance. And that reminds me of the Clintons. Wonder how that turns out.
Kung fu, “weaponized” Ti Chi!????
I thought this was going to be about the PCA setting up a study group to look into the rôle of women in the church. You know where that’s going to lead…
Secret committees are pushing women in ministry in the PCA. Conservatives better rally now.
Double Secret Reprobation?
For real, what a spectacle of decrepit liberal banality!
The electric candle mumbo-jumbo was ridiculous! As someone with some experience around end-of-life care, so many pieces of the ceremony reminded me of the pseudo-spirituality (a.k.a. paganism) that often parades around hospice care… A fitting image considering the PCUSA is now agonal breathing.
My reflections on the same events: http://newcitytimes.com/news/story/the-pcusa-continues-its-leftward-decline
On the left is some sort of diversity tablecloth designed to make the white tablecloths stand out and look better, which is, of course, the central point.
I’ll take your word for it, Brother Wilson! There’s only so much of this “male bovine fecal matter” I can take!
Is that the Logos Dads Band at the opening?
Unholy crap!
Doug, here, you wouldn’t be knocking sequined neck ties before you have tried them would you?????
Hmmmm, Christmas is only 6 months away!????
Security Officer: You want a gun free zone, you got it!
[All the security personnel leave]
PCUSA Moderator: “Uh Oh …”
And all God’s people said
KABOOM!
“Now by sharing this video I do not want to indicate that I have watched this entire thing, …”
I was out at 13 seconds. Gone. Done.
I believe I would rather plow forty acres with a Kardashian.
4 for me….
Just curious, Brother Dweeb – does your hat have anything to do with how you acquired your nickname?
You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
I completely understand if it’s too painful to talk about.
The hat is because I live in Minnesota where, if one fails to wear adequate protection from the elements, Our Mother the Earth will freeze the ears right off your head.
This is the second time you’ve mentioned the hat. If you’d like one of your own, here’s a link: https://www.amazon.com/Alkii-Braided-Aviator-womens-snowboarding/dp/B005JFLFY6/ref=pd_sim_193_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51rtbdI-pkL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL200_SR160%2C200_&refRID=0ZPB1SK479Y6MD4CPWHA
Looks like a good aptitude test for future ministers. “How many things wrong can you find with this picture?”
Terrible verse. Apparently they weren’t willing to rhyme culture with vulture, What a shame.
I indulge it in secret.
It really started to depress me that these poor people had to sing meaningful songs with no rhymes. I am not Watt or Cowper, being more of an Edward Gorey kind of girl, but I felt impelled to rework their hymn for them.
Behold our corpselike culture
With its sexist, racist folk
A predatory vulture
Might eat it but he’d choke.
A hipster Presbyterian
Patrols the gates of heaven
Removing from sad Syrians
Their AK-47s.
Not to mention that for all the blather spoken, they knocked off “oh the deep deep love of Jesus”,
And put their own words in. As if they could have said something better. (?) man.
C’mon, sister, tell it! Tell it true!
It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’!
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
You know, it wasn’t always like this. I have very fond memories of the PCUSA church of my youth. We had a pipe organ, choir, real hymns, liturgical services, and stained glass windows…. I especially loved advent. We had a hanging wreath and real candles But, it was already changing back then in the late 70’s and early 80’s. First,they allowed a rock band to play in the sanctuary. Then, they hired a woman pastor. Each of these caused a big fight and resulted in the more conservative members leaving. I tried the PCUSA again as an adult with my… Read more »
The progressive lust for relevance is the most irrelevant thing that can be imagined. And like all lusts, it is a blinding lust. Our evangelical brethren who are in the grip of this same lust
I think that the evangelical academics are at extreme risk of approval from the educated secularists. Degrees from the top institutions and publications in all the right places.
Are the lyrics lame?
Sure, but millions of evangelicals share many of the sentiments behind them.
For example, Russell Moore could easily have written these lyrics about Orlando:
To a place of celebration
Filled with laughter, dancing, joy,
Came such violent devastation –
One man’s efforts to destroy.
The Pulse was filled with laughter, dancing, and joy. Just like the gay wedding receptions Moore says Christians should attend.
Also, the lyrics are lame, but there are real “hymns” that are much worse. Back in the late 60s or early 70s, one mainstream denomination’s hymnbook contained the “hymn” It Was on a Friday Morning, which features lyrics like “To hell with Jehovah!” and the chorus, “It’s God they oughta crucify.” It was on a Friday morning that they took me from the cell and I saw they had a carpenter to crucify as well You can blame it on to Pilate You can blame it on the Jews You can blame it on the Devil Its God I accuse… Read more »
I kept waiting for the thief to repent. Must have been the other one. Interesting how they come right out and say they hate God.
Yeah, when I first heard about the song, and learned that it had been used in a mainstream hymnal way back when, I assumed there was a “twist” at the end, and the thief saw the light. But no, it’s just a celebration of hatred of God.
But, again, while the old Doug Wilson would probably have condemned it, I’m pretty sure that new Doug, the open-minded and tolerant Doug, would say that there are lots of factors to consider and that this being sung in a church isn’t necessarily a mark of heterodoxy or apostasy.
That hymn may not be helpful – it would be easy to be confused by it, and I grant that. Obviously, it’s trying to be edgy. But it’s just as obviously playing with the considerable ironies of the atonement – I don’t think it’s fair to read it as actually hating God.
Which is why I posted it. Forty years ago, evangelicals were railing against this “hymn” as blasphemous. But now many, like you, and I’m assuming like Doug, don’t think there’s anything at all blasphemous about singing “to hell with Jehovah” or “It’s God they ought to crucify”, even if you sing it in church. It’s edgy, sure, but it’s just exploring the “ironies of the atonement.” It’s another great way for “deep” Christians to separate themselves from the hicks and goobs out there, who no doubt read it as actually hating God, but what do they know? They like NASCAR… Read more »
“But now many, like you, and I’m assuming like Doug, don’t think there’s anything at all blasphemous about singing “to hell with Jehovah” or “It’s God they ought to crucify”, even if you sing it in church.”
Why would Doug be that idiotic?
I don’t know if I’d use the word idiotic. But, if you found out that one of your favorite theologians, whom you’ve been praising for years, and who impressed you so much that you helped create a movement based on his “insights” into the Bible (google Federal Vision, Auburn Avenue Movement, New Perspective on Paul) had sung Friday Morning, with the lyrics “to hell with Jehovah” and “It’s God they ought to crucify” in a church, would you call him a blasphemer, or would you talk about his “unique way of exploring the ironies of the atonement”, etc? Here’s Bishop… Read more »
I’m not sure I understand your point. Didn’t Jehovah go to hell? Didn’t they crucify God?
Which seminary do you teach at, Katie?
Your mom’s.
Ooh, sassy!
She says hi.
Blasphemy is a good word for it, and including that song in a church service is idiotic.
You’re responding to things I didn’t say. I agree that it’s a bad song, at least for liturgical purposes, and if it were my decision I wouldn’t permit it to be sung in church. That doesn’t mean it is meant to be read in a literal, straightforward manner. It is improbable that the songwriter actually meant to communicate that he hates God – the song is clearly set in the voice of a thief, and clearly presents his feelings as if he didn’t know that Jesus was God. Which makes a hash of the actual passage, and is… confusing at… Read more »
I am just trying to distinguish poor work from blasphemy. Don’t you think there is a difference?
Sometimes. But there’s no reason something can’t be both. Like this “hymn.”
Fair enough. So I distinguish blasphemy from merely being wrong by assessing how blatant and important the error is. Here, the phrase “it’s God they ought to crucify instead of you and me” might be blasphemous taken as a simple statement about cosmic justice; obviously everyone ought to die for his own sins. But on the other hand, it was good that one man, Christ, should die for the people – God, in the person of the Son, was indeed crucified instead of you and me, and by God’s mercy that was how things were intended to go. The speaker… Read more »
“The song is clearly intended to be sung from an ironic perspective.”
Is there a ‘sing ironicaly’ notation in the music?
No, that’s just reading. I mean, c’mon – is it remotely plausible that the composer of an evangelical church song doesn’t know that Jesus is a carpenter, that he actually did make the world, that the crucifixion innaugurates the moment when God “descended into Hell”? The connections are too close not to be intentional.
If the ironic intent intent is not noted in the composition then it really isn’t clear. But aside from that it is foolish to think that churches need ironic hymns.
Come now, that’s not workable. Diagnosing irony is always, to some slight degree, uncertain, even in works that entitle themselves “This is super-ironic and the literal meaning should be completely ignored.” Because if you read that title, your natural conclusion – if you aren’t a block of wood – is that the title itself is ironic, and that the work isn’t – or at least not entirely. But in this case an ironic reading is far more plausible than the alternative, where the songwriter is just… insane. Is it really sensible to imagine he wishes the world were made out… Read more »
“But in this case an ironic reading is far more plausible than the alternative, where the songwriter is just… insane.”
I don’t think anyone gets a pass for hating God ironicly.
That doesn’t even make sense. If you say “I hate God” – which, by the by, the songwriter here does not do – and say it in a way that clearly signals it is ironic, whether through context, tone of voice, or other means, then you don’t hate God. Why would you need a pass for that?
I was just thinking about the days when I really suffered from scruples and was convinced that I was committing the sin against the Holy Ghost with every waking breath. Singing this song would have been a torment for me. No hymn should make a normal person wonder if they are committing blasphemy, even if objectively they’re not.
Couldn’t agree more. I think it’s an awful song.
The guy playing guitar at the beginning sort of looks like Doug WIlson…. maybe a gig opportunity for next year?
Oh man, just click around in this mess. It’s such a target-rich video.
At 2:34:00, you can hear about how one church uses solar panels to attract the unchurched.
Not kidding.
Pastor you judge too soon. They are “transitioning”. Once the temple prostitutes return they’ll recapture their heady cool edge days.
Interesting that they chose to open with the Civil Rights standard “We Shall Overcome”. One can only hope that what they will ultimately overcome is their Amazonian and Gomorrean captivity.
“Well, that’s the news from Lake Wearedone, where all the women are short-haired asexuals; all the men are old, white, and effeminate; and all the children are genderqueer and anti-heteronormative.”
The PCUSA’s got nothing on the Auburn Avenue/Federal Vision crowd. Here’s Bishop NT Wright singing “to hell with Jehovah” and “It’s God they ought to crucify” in a Nashville church:
https://vimeo.com/41887103
http://www.harvardichthus.org/2014/04/its-god-they-ought-to-crucify/
If that’s not putting the objectivity back in the covenant, I don’t know what is…
At 1:40:25 they ask the question “With what race/ethnicity do you identify?” Priceless to watch their mistake… so good.
I haven’t seen such efforts at pushing a corpse around since Weekend at Bernie’s.
“what you have is a bunch of competing religious traditions at war with each other”
And you’re here to ‘fight’ for your orthodox tradition.
I’m just talkin’. What are you doin’?