Cash

I enjoyed this Breakpoint article on Johnny Cash by Alex Wainer. He was many things, but he was, as an artist, honest. If you have seen the film Walk The Line you only got part of the story. Far better to read the book The Man Comes Around by Dave Urbanski. It shows not only Cash's spiritual side far more lucidly than the film, but also reveals his intelligence. The book makes the observation in passing that Cash may have had an influence, through his early TV series, on early 'Jesus Rock' musicians like Larry Norman.

Cash could sing about ordinary things, life, love, heartache, sin and depravity, and in the next breath honestly sing gospel songs of redemption. And for him it wasn't a contradiction. That turned out to be his genius. There was no artificial wall between the sacred and the secular. Says Wainer:

"Compare Cash's approach to the model of the Contemporary Christian Music industry. The standard approach has been to take various rock and pop music styles and insert Christian lyrics. This began in the 1970s as young musicians found Christ and sought to reach their friends by using the music they loved to deliver the gospel message they now believed. When Christian record companies began signing new artists, the eventual result was a marginalized category sold mostly in Christian bookstores or restricted to the 'Christian' bin in music stores thus blunting the artists' original evangelistic intent."

Another "Call" from Bob Webber

Robert Webber is at it again. This Call to an Evangelical Future is intriguing. It understands the postmodern setting without swallowing the whole paradigm. Webber convened the internet discussion, but enlisted as "Theological Editors" Hans Boersma, Howard Snyder, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and D. H. Williams.

I like Webber, although I find too much emphasis on "story" a bit too friendly to the view that "foundationalism" is a dead fossil. Still the following excerpts resonate with me.

"...we call evangelicals to turn away from modern theological methods that reduce the gospel to mere propositions, and from contemporary pastoral ministries so compatible with culture that they camouflage God's story or empty it of its cosmic and redemptive meaning."

"Individualistic evangelicalism has contributed to the current problems of churchless Christianity, redefinitions of the church according to business models, separatist ecclesiologies, and judgmental attitudes toward the church. Therefore, we call evangelicals to recover their place in the community of the Church catholic."

"...we call evangelicals to turn away from methods that separate theological reflection from the common traditions of the church. "

"...we call evangelicals to turn away from forms of worship that focus on God as a mere object of the intellect or that assert the self as the source of worship. Such worship has resulted in lecture-oriented, music-driven, performance-centered, and program-controlled models that do not adequately proclaim God's cosmic redemption."

The whole declaration is only six points and can be read in just a few minutes. It is worth the read.

The Difference Between Christianity and Islam

Ran accross this article which describes stoning for adultery as a brutal affair in some Islamic countries. Human rights groups are drafting a resolution to protest the practice. Quoting the article, regarding the case of one Malak Ghorbany,

"Lily Mazahery, president of the Legal Rights Institute in Washington, D.C., had the lead role in drafting the San Francisco resolution, telling WND: 'Malak is receiving the penalty of death for having committed 'adultery,' which, under the Sharia legal system includes any type of intimate relationship between a girl/woman and a man to whom she is not permanently or temporarily married. Such a relationship does not necessarily mean a sexual relationship. Further, charges of adultery are routinely issued to women/girls who have been raped, and they are sentenced to death.'"

I notice that it is only the women who are stoned and that, according to the article, the testimony of the woman only counts for half of that of the man.

Vacation

My excuse for few posts in recent days is - vacation. The primary evidence is as follows. 

This is Mohlman Lake, about 7000 feet up in the mountains of Western Montana.

It was a last chance to get away with my boys, age 19, 17 and 15. One will be a sophomore in college, the second will be a senior in high school. We are not far from the empty nest. They had never had the opportunity, and the five hour climb turned out to be worth every step. (Must give credit to my brother-in-law, and his son-in-law, for getting us up there and back in one piece, and for knowing how to fish.)




Our campsite, sleeping on rocks, unable to build campfires due to fire danger, armed with extra-strength pepper spray to ward off grizzlies. What a way to relax!

I've always felt like the mountains of Montana were like Narnia and I've always felt a sense of awe there. Cartoonist Stan Lynde once did a strip where a cowboy rides through such scenery for several frames. The final box has him saying something to the effect of "anybody who can see this and not believe in God, just ain't payin' attention".



Then we hiked about 8 miles in Glacier Park. Need I say more...