A Change In Perspective

Once there was a little boy. This little boy had an incredible sense of wonder, which was matched only by his boundless imagination. He imagined that there existed a place quite unlike his own, where new things were waiting to be discovered around every corner. It had everything that this little boy wished to see but never had. There were giant waterfalls, literally bubbling with excitement. There were short-tempered volcanos, spewing fire for no apparent reason. There were mountains and valleys, jungles and deserts, and exotic creatures of every variety. The little boy enjoyed creating this world, if only within the confines of his own mind. Although he was by no means tired of his imagined reality, for that is indeed what it was to him, he felt that it was missing something very important. So the little boy imagined that people lived in this fantasy world. Although he fabricated their identities, each and every person had a personality that was all their own. They had dreams and faults and quirks, and everything a "real" person would have. But the little boy, because he had imagined them into existence, knew every person's identity inside out. The little boy greatly enjoyed following the lives of his imaginary people in his imaginary world. He shared in their wonder and excitement of all the things he had conceived. When they experienced tragedy, he mourned with them. When they succeeded in their endeavors, he celebrated with them. He intervened in their lives often, but tried to do so in a way that would not shatter the reality of his created world. To this day, the little boy is still vicariously experiencing the lives and adventures of the people in his dreamt up world. And in case you were curious, the little boy's name is God.

Art: The Victim of Christianity

I've heard some amazing music in my time; I've also heard some pretty terrible music. I'm sorry to say that the majority of Christian worship music I've heard falls into the latter category. But no one ever says anything about it. Why is that?

Well, one might argue that the point of a formal worship set is to worship God, therefore the quality of the music (and the musicians) is irrelevant. Several times , I've turned to a friend and commented on how poor a worship set was, or even a particular musician. And then they've lashed out at me, telling me that it doesn't matter because it's worship. But if you think about it, doesn't poor quality music distract the audience? Maybe I'm just too picky, but when I hear one of the musicians hit a wrong note, I cringe a bit. When I hear the drummer go offbeat, a little piece of me dies inside. And all that assuming the point of a formal worship set is to praise God. I could be wrong, but I don't see it that way. The point of a formal worship set, where you have musicians leading an audience of some sort in worship, is to bring the audience to a place of worship. The musician(s) can weave a musical cocoon of sorts around the people listening that completely envelopes them as they praise God... then fades to background music as they worship him.

--Warning: the following paragraph is completely my opinion, formed from my experience--

And there is a difference between praise and worship. Praise usually involves thanking God for who he is and what he does, often enthusiastically. Praise songs tend to be upbeat, as people

get excited when praising God. But then one moves into worship, where you're just like "God, you're awesome" and he's like "You too" and you're like "Sweet." Worship is where you simply exist in the presence of God. Worship is where you're down on your face crying for no obvious reason. Worship is where you can really feel God's love.

Anyways, back to my original subject. Although this resonates more so with me in the realm of music, the same thing holds true for all forms of art. Some people would say that any mediocre watercolor of something "Christian" would be a better painting than Botticelli's The Birth Of Venus.

I'd love to hear what you guys (and gals) think!

Judge Not

Wow, not even 24 hours after my first post and I already have something new to say. To be fair, they were both stewing in my mind, I simply didn't want my first post to be THAT long :)

Why does the world hate Christians? I'm sure there are several reasons, but the first thing to come to my mind is judgmental. And it's a valid concern. I certainly don't want some hypocritically self-righteous snob telling me that he's better than I am,

so why should anybody else? Since I'm one of those "golden-rulers", I've resolved not to judge people. Which is why I was quite taken aback the other day when a dear friend looked me in the eye and said quietly "You're always judging me." The hurt I had unknowingly caused my friend was ringing in my ears well after they left. I was thinking back through my experiences with this friend, good and bad, trying to think when I had judged them. Now let's set the record straight, although I don't always approve of the way my friend lives their life, I love my friend to death. But while trying to think when I had judged my friend, the question inevitably arose.

What exactly is judgement?

If I notice something wrong with a friend, do I simply ignore it for fear of "judging them?" That can't be right. If you were to walk up to me with an arrow sticking out of your thigh, I wouldn't say "Hey man how's it going?" My greeting would probably be more along the lines of "OH MY GOSH YOU HAVE AN ARROW IN YOUR LEG!!" So I don't think it's sinful to notice someone's character flaws. A spade is a spade after all. If I know a friend of mine is a recovering alcoholic, should I offer him a beer? Of course not. But isn't that judgemental of me to acknowledge his former addiction? Maybe so, but it would be foolish not to.

So then we still don't know what qualifies as judgement, do we? I would say that judgement is when I notice someone's flaws and think worse of them for it. Referring back to my friend, I've told them that I don't approve of some of their choices. I think that's what a friend should do. But after I've pointed out as humbly as I can that what I think they are doing is wrong and why, I stand beside them in love and sincerely hope that things go well with them. Because I don't care about being right. I care about them.