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Bob Dylan’s Nobel Speech
The great maestro of the 20th century, in his own words.
Peter Hitchens Reading of Orwell’s 1984
Google’s Hate Speech
The Boniface Option
Andrew Isker (an alumni of our Greyfriars Hall ministerial program) wrote a fantastic piece for Kuyperian Commentary on how Christians should navigate these hard times in which we live:
Kind of Interesting
And of Course, Open Road
Informal poll at the office among over 55 straight white males. None of us can understand why Bob Dylan was popular. Can he sing? (Zero votes in the affirmative) Can he write great lyrics? (Even more zero votes in the affirmative) Is he considered a pretty man? (Several votes in the vehement negative)
How, then, is this phenomenon to be explained?
LOL! I have actually prayed to be forgiven for disliking Bob Dylan so much. To this day I am clueless as to what the attraction is.
His “Talkin’ World War 3 Blues” is especially incisive. Maybe I like it because when he tells the doctor about his bad dream to see what the doctor has to say, the doctor says “it was a bad dream.” That sounds like what I would say.
55 of you , and none of you can appreciate the gifts of Dylan? He certainly was a great songwriter.
I have loved him devotedly since I was a 14-year-old babysitter in 1964, working for a couple of hold-over beatnik university professors who decided to educate me. They introduced me to Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the works of Sartre and Camus, Lenny Bruce, Sacco and Vanzetti, George Metesky the Mad Bomber, and a reel-to-reel tape containing Bob Dylan’s second album. I listened to “Masters of War” and realized that I had found my true calling as a relentless little rebel. I made my long-suffering parents buy me a guitar, and I stayed holed up in my room until I had learned… Read more »
As a 68 year old SWM who still enjoys Dylan all I can say is that he is very like some of the most beautiful women I have ever known. If you break them down the nose is too big, mouth too large , smile crooked, etc. but put the whole package together and WOW! I can listen to Mr. Zimmerman all day long.-can’t sing, songs don’t make sense, and he’s certainly no Justin Beiber or Madonna .
All in all can only fall with a crushing but meaningless blow–
No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden.
Man’s egos inflated. His laws are outdated. They don’t apply no more. You can’t rely no more to be standin around waitin.
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood with his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago with his friend, a jealous monk
Now he looked so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette
And he went off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin on Desolation Row
Ring them bells Saint Peter where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know
Oh it’s rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down upon the sacred cow
Just out of curiosity, Bro. Steve, did you listen to the message in the video?
What if you used your tools to build a fidget spinner?
I just want to point out that men who try to use their power tools as fidget spinners tend to have coffee cups in the ER with their names on them.
The Inquisitor said, “What right do you have to the glories of Western Civilization, to dwell among cathedrals while some live in mud huts?” And Wilson said, “No right. There is no race but the human race and the Western world was an accident of history. Let mud huts spring up like mushrooms and our cathedrals lie in ruins.” And the Inquisitor said, “What right do you have to a stable and solidary community when some live in violence and chaos?” Russell Moore said, “No right. Mayberry was built with blood. I love no man more than another. Let my… Read more »
I wonder if we should be pursuing the good of the Kingdom of Western Civilization or the Kingdom of God?
Western civilization, for all her flaws and failures, is man’s attempt to reflect the Kingdom of God. We should stop acting as if these things are separate, compartmentalized, because they are not. While we may be epic fails at creating something that even compares to God’s kingdom, we are still called to “make the invisible kingdom visible in our midst.”
If someone had not built mansions on earth, I would have idea what mansions in heaven even looked like.
Western Civilization has held more in resemblance to the Tower of Babel than the Kingdom of God for quite some time now. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t see the ways in which the Gospel has had a profoundly good impact on Western Civilization. But an idol doesn’t receive my worship because the person who crafted it decided to include some of Jesus’s features into its face. The objective is the pursuit of the Kingdom of God inside Western Civilization, outside Western Civilization, wherever. At every point where the objective became more about Western Civilization on its own merits… Read more »
Also: if you get your idea of the heavenly dwelling places in your father’s house (Greek: monai) will look like by studying worldly mansions, then you are wildly deceived.
I sincerely hope it doesn’t look like the Trump penthouse or the stage set for the Trinity Broadcasting shows. There is something incredibly depressing about excessive gold plate.
I would like to see how my cats would react to velvet furniture. It would not be pretty.
If “mansions” is interpreted as meaning Gothic cathedrals and Bach’s music, I agree with you.
Being made in the image of God means being creative. If you are Western and you create something wonderful, it will become part of the glory of Western civilization. That shouldn’t be your goal, but it is the result.
The poor will always be with us. Would anyone have seriously preferred that Mozart feed the poor rather than write his Requiem, or that Wordsworth tend to the sick rather than write The Immortality Ode? If everyone on the planet was healthy and well fed, life would still be intolerable to most of us without art, music, and literature.
Holy Mother of Jesus! I am not sure I have ever agreed more with a Papist than now.
Upvote!
If everyone were healthy and well fed, there would be far more art, music, and literature. Unfortunately, as I proved with direct quotes on an earlier post, those with the “keys to the Kingdom” in Western Civilization have worked to ensure that the vast majority of resources stay with a small minority of people, such that the vast majority of the world’s creative potential is never known. It actually makes me a little sick to hear the suggestion, “would anyone have seriously preferred that Mozart tend to he poor rather than write his Requiem”, when the likely reality is that… Read more »
I don’t think I argued that. If Mozart had stepped over a man who fainted from hunger, I would expect him to help him if he could. But I don’t think Mozart’s primary calling was to help the poor. If God makes you a towering genius in the music department, I think God wants you to make music. All of us are called to charity. But not everyone is called to fight global poverty and injustice as a full time mission. And some people are called to give joy to the rest of us through great art. I don’t see… Read more »
I hadn’t argued that people should abandon art and music and literature and all else to help the poor. I have NEVER said or implied anything like that. I believe that everyone’s primary calling is to love the people around them, primarily those in need (see 1 John 3:16-18). If everyone were to be doing that, then the number of “professionals” who needed to do it would be comparatively minor.
Jonathan, sometimes I am not sure what exactly you are arguing. Sometimes it sounds as if you are saying that every Christian must divest himself of all traces of wealth and go live like Henry David Thoreau on Walden Pond. I took your comments earlier as meaning that it was sickening that anyone would rather have Mozart’s Requiem than to have had him spend his life helping the poor. So be patient when I misunderstand you!
Jilly, you brought up Mozart’s Requiem first. I have absolutely no issues with the Requiem, I have issues for it to be used as a justification/excuse for our shoddy treatment of the poor or as a justification for elevating the Kingdom of Western Civilization above the Kingdom of God. Remember, this comment started when Barnabas used the preservation of “Western Civilization” as an argument in itself to defend his racist nationalism. I tend to trust God, and believe that his rules for how to live will result in a better society than self-protective nationalism. There is absolutely no point at… Read more »
Jonathan wrote: The main reason I am misunderstood here is because I speak a message that most commenters here have never been exposed to at all, and it’s a threatening message. Never been exposed to? Threatening? Jonathan flatters himself. I don’t think I’ve misunderstood him at all. I just disagree with him, and find his accusations unpersuasive. Jonathan wrote: If the actual words I say are wrong, attack them. Attack? Can we just correct Jonathan without being accused of attack? I corrected Jonathan’s error regarding his claim that wealth in Proverbs refers only to agricultural production. I don’t think he… Read more »
But, on reflection, I have to disagree with your first sentence. Being healthy and well fed is probably a hindrance to producing great art. So is a state of calm, placid happiness. Prozac makes me nicer but it certainly takes away the edge that makes for good prose.
“But, on reflection, I have to disagree with your first sentence. Being healthy and well fed is probably a hindrance to producing great art. So is a state of calm, placid happiness. Prozac makes me nicer but it certainly takes away the edge that makes for good prose.” I agree with your second two sentences but don’t think hey relate to the first two. I’m struggling to think of a famous artist who was actually malnourished. While you are right that the lives of wealthy complacency which modern society is teaching us to strive for are counterproductive to great endeavors… Read more »
You are quoting Scripture to mean the exact opposite of what was intended. Jesus is quoting the line from Deuteronomy, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”” He is saying this MOMENTARY gift before my death is good, and you will be CONTINUOUSLY responsible for caring for the poor. You’re doing almost the exact opposite – using the verse to somehow dismiss the continuous responsibility. If the verse really means what you’re trying to make it mean, how… Read more »
I have no doubt that we have a continuous duty to help the poor. Your interpretation, however, is not what I have been taught–which is not to say that yours is wrong. I have always been taught that our Lord spoke those words to Judas when the latter reproached Mary Magdalene for what he considered frivolous spending which deprived the poor. Our Lord is saying that there will always be poor people, but right now, in this moment, Mary is justified in thinking of Him rather than of the poor. In a broader sense, despite our ongoing duty to the… Read more »
Judas was not at all concerned with depriving the poor, John says specifically, “He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” And Jesus is referencing Deuteronomy: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.” I agree with the general thought, that we are NOT to be deprived of beautiful gestures of giving towards others, regardless… Read more »
I have seen it used in several ways. I think it is first of all a statement of absolute fact. There will always be poor people. Even if everyone was given a guaranteed allowance, there will always be people who can’t manage their money and who spend the rent on foolish things. If we respect people’s freedom to manage their own lives, we have to accept that some of them will sometimes be poor no matter what. Most people are poor, not because they manage their money badly, but because they can’t make enough to keep up with the cost… Read more »
“My nephew is just plain lazy so he will always be poor.”
“His mother spends her money on foolish things and has had to take out multiple mortgages. She will always be poor. ”
“I have several friends who entered retirement, spent all their money on boats, country club memberships etc and now they are poor. They will be poor the remainder of their lives.”
I’m….struck by your liberal use of the word “poor”. ;)
Here are a variety of links explaining the reference better:
http://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/thepooryouwillalwayshave
https://poserorprophet.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/john-128-what-does-it-mean-to-always-have-the-poor-with-us/
http://www.fishingtheabyss.com/archives/82
http://www.christianunion.org/cu-today/18-christian-union/1442-what-does-jesus-mean-the-poor-will-always-be-with-you
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.”
I learned this in grade school.
Who is (was) the king of the kingdom of Western Civilization?
“We who are disciples of Christ claim that our purpose on earth is to lay up treasures in heaven. But our actions often belie our words. Many Christians build for themselves fine houses, lay out splendid gardens, construct bathhouses, and buy fields. It is small wonder, then, that many pagans refuse to believe what we say. “If their eyes are set on mansions in heaven,” they ask, “why are they building mansions on earth? If they put their words into practice, they would give away their riches and live in simple huts.” So these pagans conclude that we do not… Read more »
Jonathan, quoting Chrysostom, wrote:
It’s ironic that Jonathan quotes Chrysostom from the conveniences of a home with electricity, indoor plumbing, and a computer with broadband internet service. Not really one for simple huts, I guess.
Unfortunately, some of the church fathers missed the point, and tried to absolutize poverty, as if poverty were pious for its own sake, or that God cannot give earthly wealth as a sign of blessing.
Katecho, I have regularly corrected you on your false assumptions that my home has those things, but you still ignore it and repeat the claims. That makes you a liar. Of course, it would be a stupid, meaningless attack even if it were true, but I happen to have chosen for the last five years to live in the rare situation where it is not. It is quite dangerous territory to delve into attacks on a person’s personal life instead of actually addressing the arguments made. First, because my personal life does not define whether the Gospel is true or… Read more »
Jonathan wrote: Katecho, I have regularly corrected you on your false assumptions that my home has those things, but you still ignore it and repeat the claims. That makes you a liar. Of course, it would be a stupid, meaningless attack even if it were true, but I happen to have chosen for the last five years to live in the rare situation where it is not. Actually, Jonathan didn’t correct me on those things. He merely implied that his home didn’t have any of those things, but never said so directly. I pointed that out at the time. We… Read more »
Barnie,
“And Wilson said, ‘No right. There is no race but the human race and the Western world was an accident of history. Let mud huts spring up like mushrooms and our cathedrals lie in ruins.’”
What Wilson actually has said (repeatedly) is that the Western world is the work of the gospel over centuries. But when a civilization is in decline one of the sad things we discover is that some of her more ardent defenders can’t read.
Can’t say I agree, though appreciate the style. McCarthyesque (Cormac) in both respects.
Barnie appears to enjoy creative fiction writing, and false attribution. For example, Wilson defends wealth as a blessing, isn’t bullied by egalitarian pressure tactics, rebukes racial malice in its distinct white and black forms, and considers the West to be a historical providence rather than an accident.
ASHV might give me a hard time for using the term “rights” but that was the Inquistor’s word. Those were, in actuality, duties.
This on the Dylan speech was amusing.
And the sad thing about cicadas isn’t that they sleep for 17 years but that they ever wake up. I still haven’t recovered from the summer of ’87.
I heard the Dylan speech was worth listening to because of his notable pronunciation of Quixote. I haven’t listened yet.
I appreciate Dylan. As opposed to most lyricists of the time I feel like he was trying to pick at something objective, something outside himself. Though not always. Sometimes I think he was just high.
Nobel prize worthy? Well they have one to Al Gore and over to Barack Obama. So…
I love Dylan, and I think some of his songs like “Desolation Row” and “Percy’s Song” are brilliant. Just the opening notes of “Like a Rolling Stone” make me feel young and carefree. All the same, I wouldn’t have give him a Nobel for literature. But if they had a category for “Voice of a Generation Once Young and Now Wondering What Happened to It,” I would give him the Nobel for that. Although, when my ex-husband taped the entire works of Bob Dylan for me to listen to while giving birth to the Snowflake, I said “Turn that off… Read more »
After “Forever Young,” we will switch over to CSNY for “Wasted on the Way.” That is when I really sit back and wonder what exactly I have done with my life! I will dust off the 12-string to be ready.
To which I would answer with St. Francis de Sales: “There is a wide difference between having poison and being poisoned. All apothecaries have poisons ready for special uses, but they are not consequently poisoned, because the poison is only in their shop, not in themselves; and so you may possess riches without being poisoned by them, so long as they are in your house or purse only, and not in your heart. It is the Christian’s privilege to be rich in material things, and poor in attachment to them, thereby having the use of riches in this world and… Read more »
I know little about St. Francis de Sales except that he was a nobleman born into wealth and privilege over a thousand years after the church had given up its early focus on the poor, almost at the time when financial impropriety among the Catholic Church was at its peak. Why do you consider his words to be authoritative on this issue, more so than St. Basil the Great or St. John Chrysostom, or more pertinently, the John who wrote 1 John 3:16-18? I think his argument applies about as easily to pictures of naked women as it does to… Read more »
I have great respect for St. Francis de Sales. His greatest work, The Introduction to the Devout Life, is intended to teach people to find holiness in all walks of life, for it is God who has determined each man’s station. What I find wonderful about him is that he nudges you along the path with gentleness and persuasion. This is his advice to the rich: “And this, my child, is what your heart should be–open only to heaven, impenetrable to riches and earthly treasures. If you have them, keep your heart from attaching itself to them; let it maintain… Read more »
“Most of us are called to live in the world, Jonathan. We have to find that balance between the duty of self-support (and the support of our dependents) and the duty of helping the poor. ” Whenever I see things like “we have to live in the world’ or “we have to find that balance” in response to Scripture, I get wary. That’s the balance I’ve been discussing all along. I believe it is a balance described by, for example, John in 1 John 3:16-18, as well as St. John Chrysostom. It is a balance found in something closer to… Read more »
“I could forego the dental implants and walk around without any teeth, but who would that actually help?”
No one, so why mention it? I have never, ever suggested that you walk around without teeth or anything like that. I have never, ever suggested making meaningless or empty gestures.
At $4000 a tooth, it wouldn’t be an empty gesture. The question is: how far do you think people must go in denying themselves western luxuries (as dental implants are) in order to do their Christian duty to the poor? I seem to have a hard time pinning you down to specifics. Do you see your own chosen path as normative for all Christians? When you seem to be criticizing the rich for their lack of generosity, are you using the term rich loosely? Would your preference be that all of us forego air conditioning and seasons tickets to the… Read more »
John, most of what you’re saying about my life is a complete lie. Other than the laptop which I have, you know nothing about my life or where I live, and the lies that Katecho has been spreading for years appear to be festering in others too. I have never once said that I am not rich. Not once. I have never once insisted that I was poor. Not once. I have a deep understanding of how materially privileged my birth was compared to most of the world, and I am NOT a liar. That is why I make the… Read more »
I was thinking about that, but somehow I missed Montana. I pictured Jonathan as living in a huge city, but not New York, somewhere on the east coast. He could use free WiFi at the library, but then he couldn’t post at night. He could use it at a coffee shop or at a 24 hour urgent care clinic. I learned about these options when my internet was cut off for five days last week. I realized that I am addicted to the internet! On the other hand, I have cable TV again for the first time in five years.… Read more »
No I did not say I voted for Gianforte.
I also didn’t say that my wife and I own “laptops”, plural. In fact, I made clear on multiple occasions that we only have one between us.
And there are many ways to access the internet without having electricity and broadband yourself.
Just like there are many ways to get to work without owning a car.
Again, abundantly ironic that you’ve chastised me for making a quite certainly accurate assumption about you, when you are assuming all these untrue things about me.
I live in Montana now? Huh? The reading comprehension on this site is something else. And in what country is walking to work the only alternative to owning a car? The things that ya’all make up about my life are getting wilder and wilder. And your indignation about me assuming something about your own personal life is incredibly ironic. If I had the slightest hint that giving you all the details of my life would enlighten anyone and bring them closer to Christ, I would do it. So far, the minor details I have given (the fact I own a… Read more »
“Jonathan, you have said that you are not rich. ” When have I said that? I’m fairly certain you’re making that up. “Others, including myself, find that hard to believe given what we perceive to be your material circumstances. ” Considering that nearly everything you “perceive” to be my material circumstances is made-up and false, I’m having trouble seeing what weight your perception has. “So why don’t you just tell us?” Because the details that I have already told have only led to further attacks on myself and my character. What incentive is there for me to actually share anything… Read more »
John, you have repeatedly lied about me, and every time I correct you you just move on as if nothing had happened. I offered to explain myself privately, and you ignored it. I gave an extremely detailed set of circumstances and asked you to explain how it would make any difference, and you ignored it. You cite Katecho, the other person who has consistently lied about me, as pointing out that I had “ignored Biblical passages”, when I had done no such thing. I’ve discussed far more passages than anyone else here. The only thing I have ignored, when possible,… Read more »
Jonathan wrote:
How can Jonathan make such a boast about raw tonnage of passages if he’s been ignoring me? What if I’ve been running circles around him this whole time?
What if Jonathan actually has “ignored Biblical passages” simply because he has been ignoring me?
Maybe everyone else can see the problem, even if Jonathan can’t.
John, you asked me a number of quite personal questions about my own life, questions literally no one else here has ever been asked to answer. And I agreed to answer all of them if you simply answered ONE, much less personal question for me. What difference would my answers make in your life, in this conversation. I have asked you that question four times now, and you have ignored it every time. That’s telling. If the hypothetical scenario I shared were an accurate reflection of the way I live, how would that change how you approach this conversation and… Read more »
So you truly mean that, that you’ll take my posts more seriously depending on my life circumstances? First, I’ll emphasize again that I have never once said that I “consider myself poor” or told you where I live. Second, if you really mean what you say honestly, then I will honestly reveal something of my personal life. The hypothetical scenario I gave you earlier is indeed basically how my wife and I have lived for the last five years. 90% of what I said is true of my life, I changed a couple of significant details about exactly where and… Read more »
I don’t like answering the questions because it’s useless. It makes the discussion about me, not the Word of God (something Katecho is frequently driving to do). In other discussions, like the nonviolence one, Katecho and others have repeatedly attacked any detail or example from my private life that I have been willing to share, to the point that I knew it was useless. Knowing what I do with my life doesn’t make the word of God more or less true. If my life is completely false, it is still the truth. If the Word of God calls for us… Read more »
“You live in Montana” “you and your wife have laptops” “you have said that you are not rich” “He said he had voted for Gianforte” “He has a laptop, electricity, indoor plumbing, turns the faucet and clean water appears and has a job that pays him enough to eat and maintain the plumbing, electricity etc.” “he fails to understand how greatly he has been blessed relative to the rest of the world.” “You ignore Biblical passages that contradict your worldview.” And that’s just in this conversation. How many times are you allowed to make false assertions about another person, based… Read more »
If you can convince me that sharing my personal details would bring you, or I, or anyone else here closer to the Kingdom of God, I will do it in a heartbeat. All you have to do is convince me that my personal testimony will be actually meaningful, and not just another target for vicious personal attacks on my character.
Assume the previous scenario I laid out is 100% true. What would that change for you to know that?
Jonathan wrote: If you can convince me that sharing my personal details would bring you, or I, or anyone else here closer to the Kingdom of God, I will do it in a heartbeat. Having electricity, internet access, and a computer in the home is just not that personal anymore. As we have seen, it’s quite typical, even on American Indian Reservations in Idaho. However, if Jonathan doesn’t want to confirm or deny anything, before God and man, that’s perfectly fine with me. His continuous posting on Wilson’s blog is sufficient to complete the irony. Jonathan wrote: Assume the previous… Read more »
So Katecho’s position – anyone who could possibly participate in this conversation is automatically disqualified from . That’s quite a convenient position. I wish you could see the
Jonathan wrote: So Katecho’s position – anyone who could possibly participate in this conversation is automatically disqualified from . That’s quite a convenient position. No, I haven’t disqualified anyone from participating. I don’t even agree with Jonathan’s universal ascetic hermeneutic. I simply point out the implications of it with regard to a range of modern conveniences, and then watch Jonathan squirm under the obvious irony and hypocrisy of the whole thing. Jonathan seems to have rationalized his continued possession of laptops, electricity, and cell and internet service, even though Christians in centuries past have done all manner of good works… Read more »
Jonathan wrote: Let’s say that our small simple home has only a light bulb, a single electrical outlet, frequently disrupted electricity. …. I don’t have any internet lines and access slow internet networks through cell lines and a work line at the office. Even in Jonathan’s hypothetical, he still has a laptop, electricity in the home, and cell and internet access. Some of his transportation and internet access may even be at no cost to him. Luxury by the standard of history, or even by current global standards. Even Jonathan’s hypothetical setting is loaded with enough irony to ask when… Read more »
“If Jonathan isn’t even going to practice what he preaches, then he doesn’t have any credibility preaching it here.”
You’re a joke, a caricature of yourself.
“If Jonathan can communicate with us, he has no credibility to communicate with us.”
You’ve created an imaginary strawman, a position that neither you nor I nor anyone I’ve ever met holds, and then claimed that if I don’t hold your strawman position then I have no right to talk….even though it’s a position that you yourself don’t even hold.
That’s simply nonsensical.
Jonathan wrote:
Speaking of jokes and caricatures, I never said Jonathan had no right to talk. What I said was that Jonathan would have no credibility, and it’s true. If he isn’t going to practice what he preaches, he can’t expect to have any credibility here. Pretty straightforward.
So Katecho, I wouldn’t say I’m poor, but do you really honestly believe that no one with electricity or internet access can be considered poor under any circumstances? So I wonder…when you act in obedience to Luke 14:12-14 and have banquets at your home to which you invite the poor, who do you invite? If everyone will electricity and computer access is non-poor, how many poor people do you actually know? How do you serve the poor in your own life, personally, by that definition you hold? When Jesus says, “You will always have the poor among you”, was he… Read more »
Jonathan wrote: So Katecho, I wouldn’t say I’m poor, but do you really honestly believe that no one with electricity or internet access can be considered poor under any circumstances? If Jonathan wouldn’t say that he is poor, then, according to his hermeneutic, he clearly needs to stop clinging to his possessions and give more of them away until he is. Right? My hermeneutic of Scripture certainly permits of relative poverty, and relative wealth, but Jonathan’s only seems to do so to the extent that he thinks he can boast or cast a rebuke. He simply does not practice the… Read more »
Katecho, what do you believe your purpose is in this conversation? Lying about my lifestyle once again, and claiming that I interpret passages in ways that I don’t interpret them, obviously isn’t going to help me. I’ve been led by God my entire Christian life to where I am, am quite certain that I am moving in His will here, and since you’re critiquing a position I don’t hold, your confused and antagonistic words obviously won’t move me from it. It obviously isn’t going to help you in any way. And I really doubt you think that anyone else is… Read more »
Jonathan wrote:
Brutal attacks? Where’s a fainting couch when Jonathan needs one?
Since when did pointing out irony (and hypocrisy) constitute a brutal attack?
The only hypocrisy here have been between two different fake versions of me in your mind.
Jonathan wrote: You are continuing Katecho’s insistent, useless distraction of making false ad hominem attacks on my life rather than dealing with the Scriptures and the call to obedience that I have discussed. Has ONE person actually dealt with the John Chrysostom or Basil the Great quotes that I put out? I did address Jonathan’s quote of Chrysostom, and I’ve dealt with Jonathan’s misrepresentation of Scripture, so that’s two empty complaints coming from him. Regarding ad hominem, Jonathan seems to be unaware that ad hominem is not always a fallacy, and is particularly relevant when someone argues that some behavior… Read more »
I do like the words you shared from Francis de Sales. Talk freely with the poor, take them into your own home, go into their homes, share freely with them, become their servant, tend to their sick with your own hands – those words have Jesus in them. In fact, I could provide exact Gospel quotations for nearly every one. Now, what proportion of rich Christians do you see taking St. Francis de Sales’s advice? What proportion of rich Christians do you know who freely take the poor into their own homes, go into their homes, and who act as… Read more »
Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart should never be allowed on a stage in front of people. Writing songs, ok. But perform? Never. I censor all Bob Dylan stuff all the time. Especially “Like a Rolling Stone” Good grief, what a train wreck.
Bahahaha! I am grateful to meet a fellow disliker. I’m pretty sure such things are not allowed where I live.
A train wreck, is it? Perhaps, if you are partial to trains, you might prefer Dylan’s two great classics, “Slow Train Coming” and “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” Just a suggestion.
I apologize for reducing you views to a charicature. I typically avoid making requests because it’s presumptuous and you are a busy man with your own things to say. If you could indulge me. My views are in flux but overall they represent putting some rational framework around the things my father taught me and his father taught him. That is to say that I can be pretty confident that my beliefs in 10 or 20 years will be roughly what they are today. That cannot be said for the major American Christian denominations. Their beliefs are changing and are… Read more »
“I no longer really trust them to mold my heart or mind or the minds of my family the way I would have a few years ago.” Can I empathize with you for a minute? You sound a bit like my husband and he has now totally rejected the church. The thing is, I have never really thought “the church” itself molds our hearts and minds, but rather our own relationship with the Lord. So we get into The Word, we invest in our own relationship and than church just becomes like the frosting on our cake. Hebrews comes to… Read more »
I just dealt with this issue in our latest membership class. I am in an OPC church, and we regularly ask our people to take membership pledges. I don’t know where you are theologically, but we are not going anywhere. We haven’t for a long time and the SJW craze spinning churches into a frenzy won’t happen here, I feel quite confident in saying. I am sympathetic to this concern, but rest assured that there are still some strong congregations, albeit small ones. The reason we ask for this is so that God commands us to be under the authority… Read more »
Test
Well, I’m listening to Bob Dylan — I gotta turn up the sound. But someone’s always yellin’, “Turn him down!” Well, beauty goes unrecognized — most of the time. I’d never say that he always done it the way that I’d have liked him to, but it ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe. What good am I? I’m one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind. Heart of mine, so malicious and so full of guile; give you an inch and you’ll take a mile. So many things that we never will undo. I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry… Read more »
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay
Forever young.
Leonard Cohen was pretty good, especially in the early days. “Suzanne” was my best song when I sang at coffee houses. I realized one day that I would rather feed my hand into a wood chipper than have to sing that one more time.
I don’t appreciate Leonard Cohen as a performer, but it warms my heart to see him and know that actual songwriting talent, and not superficials, could get someone so far.
Oh, for the old timers, call me Gianni.