All tagged music
We can't always be serious, especially during the holidays, so I'm changing things up. I realize that on a theology and culture show it is easy to come across as having a resolute grasp on reality. Truth is, there are many things I do not know, do not understand. In this reflective, but light-hearted, episode I work through different elements of life: church configurations, mundane daily realities, the Bible, culture, politics, and history. Come laugh and think with me here in Advent!
From whence does culture come? Well, directly, from a cult. I explore and explain how cult and culture are related in this U.U. shotgun. Variously, I also work through the recent lingual faux pas of the Dali Lama, a very funny church-joke, Ukraine's president and his skimming money from the USA, a statue to honor a pedophile's dream, the United Nation's new policy on pedophilia, the significance of Tucker Carlson's recent firing at FOX, and the recent non-defense of Title 9 by House Democrats. I finish the show with a reflection on how humans are greater than angels.
We only see the upper 5' of the iceberg that is homelessness. Down beneath the surface is a massive soul-deadening, cold, indifferent, objectifying culture. That culture teaches us to treat the homeless like incurable objects while politicians use homelessness to score points on their largesse. What should a Christian response be? How does a Christian metaphysic view the problem? How does the book of Lamentations help frame the problem? I also note a recent Pew Forum examination of Christianity in the USA.
At the invitation of a friend I've been attending a liturgical church. What has me drawn there? What elements do I particularly love? How biblical are the services? At the show's start I also reflect on a double-crime that is ravaging society. Why would a Church, of all institutions, be motivated to do criminal things?
Beauty is not in a fight with reason, but transcends reason. Beauty flows from the character and being of God himself. So why do Protestants so miss out on God's beauty? How might we recover a sense of beauty? How might beauty be used as a conversation starter in our relationships? All those topics and questions are addressed in my conversation with PhD student, pastor Michael David Mitchell. Come laugh and think with us!
Christians tend to assess movies by the number of swear words or exposed body parts. That all the while we ignore the power of story to shape, twist, bend, and re-make our imaginations. Samuel Lively explains how Disney studios uses story to entirely supplant a Christian perspective on life. We focus on Frozen 2 and how it bends a Christian worldview to shape little girls' imaginations. I learned much from Samuel. You will, too!
Last week I watched Frozen 2 with my grandaughter. How did she and I react? What was funny? What was insightful? How did the "cast" of actors do? What went wrong? What was stereotypical? What philosophical messages did Disney jamb down? Listen and laugh with me. (Originally a Premium listeners' episode.)
Belief in truth requires belief in the law of Non-Contradiction. Simply put, A≠B, you are not me, we are not God. There are irrevocable distinctions in reality. What kind of truths involving the law of Non-Contradiction does the Bible teach? Along the way I describe our recent trip to Nashville and demolish some errors being embraced by church folk today.
Where our treasure is there is our heart. What we worship makes evident what we believe. The Low churches have, unintentionally, turned worship into a private experience, something not unlike what we enjoy at the mall or the theater. We can have private experiences even when we're in a crowd. And all this? Precisely when people are starving for community and so leaving the Church. I probe some painful lines of inquiry and make some simple curative suggestions.
