“Live Again” by Stryper (The post about filler)

Song: “Live Again”

Artist: Stryper

Album: Reborn (2001)

Track: 6

With “Live Again,” we’re reached the midpoint of the Reborn album, a midpoint that also represents the musical low-point of the disc.  On the one hand, we should really appreciate that Stryper didn’t load this one with filler, which we get a lot of in Christian music.  Of all the tracks on this album, this is really the only one that I don’t like musically.

But this one is definitely filler.  And since there’s not a lot in the lyrics to object to or really even sink our teeth into, I’d like to use this occasion to explore the Christian musician’s obligation to produce good music and to what degree filler is acceptable. 

50 Shades of Q&A

This will be the sum of my blog post about 50 Shades of Grey, and then I’ll address some questions that are surely to come up:

Not only should you not read it or watch it, it is a sin to do so, and you need to repent of that sin.

Easy enough.  Now, on to the questions:

“Passion” by Stryper

Song: “Passion”

Artist: Stryper

Album: Reborn (2001)

Track: 5

“Passion” marks the first somewhat slower ballady type thingy on Reborn, but even here we’re not left with a token slow song for radio play or something.  The choruses kick up the intensity to an otherwise soft and lovely song, and the contrast really makes this one stand out quite nicely.

Let me say this briefly – I like it when rockers put a little punch into their slower songs.  There are many albums where you get whiplash going from hard rock to a piano ballad, but keeping a heavy guitar in the mix allows for a more unified sound on the album.  This song does this well.  We’re several tracks in, and it’s time to lighten up a bit, but Stryper doesn’t do it too much.  They hook you with a pretty melody without lulling you to sleep.

It’s Stryper’s songwriting and arrangements that really make this album work, and that is backed up with some actually profound lyrics. 

We got the news anchor we wanted, but not the one we need

I grew up in Richmond, Texas, a town on the Brazos River of (at the time) shy of 10,000 people.  When I was young, the river flooded rather severely – so much so that our little town got even national media attention.  I remember seeing on CNN how high the river had gotten, and how people were forced to leave their homes.

The number of evacuees from Richmond was something that every news source agreed upon, even the Houston reporters – 20,000 people had left Richmond.  Keep in mind that the entire population was less than half of that, and most of us were fine.  My family didn’t evacuate, and I don’t recall knowing a single family that did.  In fact, I had a friend who lived a few blocks from the river, and he hadn’t left either.  The reporters were either grossly incompetent or they were lying.

Ever since then, I’ve been a bit suspicious of the news media.  That suspicion has deepened in a time where the internet and cable news channels no longer have to come up with news to fill a mere newspaper or hour-long news program, but all day of every day has been commented upon, examined, and filled.  There’s no way we’re not going to have news reported.  The question is whether what is reported is actually news, and is actually worth reporting.  And also, is it true?

Post-human by David Simpson

Post-Human (November 23, 2011)

Trans-Human (November 23, 2011)

Sub-Human (August 15, 2012)

Human Plus (March 10, 2013)

  

I’ve downloaded several free books (especially science fiction and fantasy) on my Kindle, and I have even enjoyed a few of them.  One particular deal was forwarded to me by a friends – upon the release of Book 5 of his Post-Human series, David Simpson was giving away the first four books for free (for a limited time – a time that is now past).

It took me a while to start them, and whenever I would finish one, I would pick up something different to break up the series.  While the first three books were not mind-blowing in any way, they were good enough to warrant continued reading.  I’m glad I did, because the fourth book, Human Plus, actually is exceptional.  It’s an adventure story, set in a world of cyberspace and artificial intelligences, and the action in all of the books is very good.  They are very readable, and the pacing is very nice.

But there are also some deeper questions being asked, and that is why I’m writing about it here.  The common question to these books is simply this – what it is that makes us human? 

I want to make a comment on your blog, CalvinistNerd! Why can't I?

"I want to make a comment on your blog!"

Do you?  Sleep on it.

That’s what I do when I’m writing for this blog, so I would ask the same consideration from you.

Not that there are not occasions where an immediate reply is needed, but probably not on this blog.  We don’t really deal with the topic of the day or current events.  We review art.  That doesn’t have to hit the press today.  In fact, most of the art we review has been out for a while anyone, so no one is knocking down my door for this stuff.  Even when I address something more currently, I haven’t come across anything yet that demands that I reply this very instant.

I’m also the sort that writes very strongly in a first draft, and I tend to mellow in the editing process as I see that I don’t need to be so harsh or whatever.  And I’ve read comments on the Internet.  I’m not the only one who writes strongly in their first drafts.

So my basic rule here is that I write something, I let it sit overnight – sometimes multiple nights – and edit it again.  That way I am sure that I’ve let my own emotions settle, that I’ve done my own devotion time, read the Bible, prayed, and come back to the piece again.  I don’t believe that you necessarily need to say something now, and I’m firmly believe the world would be a better place if we all took a moment to decide whether something needs to be said now rather than later, and opted for later much more often.

Internet comments don’t work that way.  And frankly, of the thousands upon thousands upon thousands I have read, only a handful were actually worthwhile, and most of them, honestly, came from James White.  Since I doubt he’s reading this blog, I’m relatively comfortable in turning off comments.

By the way – James White has mentioned before how he doesn’t like the rush of the comment-craze either.

If you want to say something about what I have written, I would ask that you sleep on it.  If it is still important tomorrow, then have at it.  Write it down, post it on your own blog or Facebook or wherever you like, then send me the link.  My Twitter handle is @CalvinistNerd if you want to tweet it at me.  Don’t expect an immediate reply.  It’ll probably be a few days so I can digest what you have said, worked to take my own emotions out of it, and reply.

But don’t expect me to make my corner of the internet a haven for hasty responses and trolls just because you feel that your comment is critical to get down.

Most of what went wrong with the New Calvinism could have been fixed by Old Calvinism

When I was a young Christian, I was influenced from many directions, and I was listening to and reading quite a few different (and contradictory) authors and pastors, not really knowing which path I needed to take (or really what the differences were between them).  As I matured in my faith and my understanding of the Scriptures, I took a hard turn down the New Calvinism stream.  I was introduced to this through John Piper, as were most people in this group, and people like Mark Driscoll were regulars on my iPod.

As time went on, I continued to learn and to grow, and eventually I found myself in what we may call the Old Calvinism, though still enjoying listening to these other pastors.  It was about that time though that things started shifting, and not for the good, and now I had the theological foundation to recognize the problems.  Some time ago, I publically (over Twitter) repented of my role in the New Calvinism, because I started seeing the movement as inherently dangerous and getting more dangerous.  I was well behind people like John MacArthur and Carl Trueman, who had recognized the problems much earlier, but they were starting to become clear to me.