Depression

Katharine Welby, daughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been speaking about her "battle with depression". Met by tremendous sympathy, she has responded by launching the public presentation of the "Happiness Course". This is an Alpha-course lite - positive thinking and no Gospel. One might ask why the daughter of the Archbishop thinks this is a wise move, given her profession of faith as expressed on her own site. Where is the common ground?

The common ground is in the language of humanism as determined by one word: depression. Miss Welby thinks of depression as a disease, an affliction, a trial. She is bold in doing so, in the face of a Church that likes to pretend that as role models to the world, Christians must be perfect. And that is why she will be welcome to everyone - Christians will have sympathy and humanists will rejoice to see a Christian who admits that she still has problems.

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Whatever happened to Reformed worship?

Tim Challies is highlighting a free to download recording of The Church's One Foundation.

http://www.challies.com/articles/hymn-stories-the-churchs-one-foundation-free-download

His introduction spells out how important hymns are to the Church, and especially as a means of teaching. He selects Exodus 15 as an example of this latter point, which is curious. The songs of Scripture, namely the Psalms, are designed (according to the Holy Scriptures) to record, thank and praise (see Rev. Romaine's Hymns Most Perfect for more information). They are not designed to teach. That might be a side effect, but it is not the purpose of songs. The song in Exodus 15 records, thanks and offers praise. It is a proclamation relating to the specific experiences of the Children of Israel - not a homeschooling sing-song to let the kids know what is going on and why.

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When Hate is Cathartic

A controversy is looming. Margaret Thatcher's death is being celebrated by the Left's appropriation of the song Ding Dong the Witch is Dead from The Wizard of Oz film. Its presence in the charts would usually necessitate it being played in Radio 1's Sunday-evening Top 40 countdown. Since this manipulation of the charts has been contrived to register hatred of the late former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, some say that it should not be played.

Mark Biddis, who has led the campaign for the song to reach no. 1 believes it would be tantamount to censorship if the song was not played. He obviously values censorship as a "sin", whilst not thinking there can be anything wrong in promoting an Orwellian style "minute of hate" for those who do not mourn the passing of Margaret Thatcher and have chosen to celebrate instead.

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The non-Christian nature of music

There is no jihadist Bach-equivalent, writing Soli Deo Gloria at the top of stirring musical masterpieces. Islamist “religious zeal” leads to lack of music appreciation and the quenching of creativity. All Western music was officially banned in northern Mali in an August 22 decree issued “by a heavily bearded Islamist spokesman in the city of Gao” Morgan reports. The decree referred to such music as “the music of Satan.” It informed the Malian people that “Qur’anic verses must take its place.

from The Sound of Silence in Mali - November 1, 2012 - Faith J. H. McDonnell

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/faith-j-h-mcdonnell/the-sound-of-silence-in-mali/

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UKIP, Flanders and Swann

The bunting is out for the maverick voice, as UK councils turn purple towards UKIP. People on the street tell the media that they're not racists - they just like the idea of Border control. And the media pretends to understand.

The pace of change is frightening. People are expected to cope with the loss of national identity, merged as it is today in the spectacle of multi-culturalism. Those people who have voted for UKIP may be the same ones who have begun to wonder why they alone lack the right to an opinion in a country they call their own.

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How not to Wright a Song

This is a video of N. T. Wright, former Bishop of Durham, also known as "Tom". His ability to sell theological books seems to know no bounds. And now he also sings, after a fashion.

Comments could be made about the music. It might be said that it is cheap artistry to steal someone else's song and change the words (which it is). It might be said that his lyrics barely scan and that the song itself makes precious little sense.

But setting all that aside, what we have is N. T. Wright sticking two fingers up (musically speaking) at Creationists and doing so with the cockiness more commonly found in posturing and inebriated adolescents.

And therein lies the other problem.

This is a former Bishop of the Church of England. Where is his sobriety? Where is his reverence? How can he even think of singing flippantly of the Fall and even consider "why did we have to fall, I don't know, it doesn't say" as a tolerable sentiment?

Wright performed 3 songs for the private group and the comments on that site are perhaps more enlightening than the songs themselves, as it is assumed by one contributor that having Tom Wright sing anything comes under the umbrella of "Psalms, hymns and Spiritual songs".

As a parting shot, the former Bishop is quoted as having said of the evening that he had not had so much fun in a long time. One shudders to imagine "fun" as a requisite for Rev. George Whitefield, for Hugh Latimer, Thomas Bilney, for William Tyndale, or any of the other Englishmen who have lived and died as ministers of Jesus Christ.

Show - don't tell (The Wind and the Lion)

Christians in art say that they make films as they do in order to communicate the Gospel message. So they usually have a strongly "Christian" perspective in terms of characters, setting, even story. And because it has been regarded as a sine qua non of Christian film that there should be an absence of the real, dirty, sinful world (violence, language, sex, drugs, smoking, dancing ...) this has made sure that many Christian films are sanitised bubbles.

Watching The Wind and the Lion last night brought home an alternative view.

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Mortality, Music and Culture

The death of Whitney Houston is yet one more victim of humanistic "music". I speak of the culture which separates music from the Christian faith and tells musicians that they are special, wonderful, gifted, extraordinary, remarkable people. Such praise is hollow because the musician knows

  1. how much hard work is involved

  2. how ordinary they are.

No one is that praise-worthy. Some are wealthy. Some are famous. Some are adored. But these three factors only exacerbate emptiness if they are not ignored and if the glory is not given to God.

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