6.3.06
New Comments
There's good conversation taking place under the comments section of the post on Christians in the Arts.
4.3.06
Please Don't Ask How Much They Cost
I got a new toy. A set of headphones. Very nice headphones. Very big, clunky, ugly, black headphones that sound like a million bucks. So in that sense I got a real deal on them!
Even though they look like old soviet technology.
Even though they look like old soviet technology.
cool out. it's ok. be cool. EVERYBODY JUST COOL THE FRICK OUT!!!!! (I was talking to myself)
Below is a post from a blog written by a pastor in my Presbytery. Following it is my response. If you post comments, please be compassionate and respectful. This guy loves God and loves people. Please understand that his concern is for the children of the Church. He does not want to see them turn from the faith they were raised in either in their beliefs or in their lifestyles. Certainly that is commendable! I post this here for your consideration and to convince my readers that the work being done at Grace Central is necessary, good and right. Thinking like this- particularly when it comes from a minister within my camp, from a man whom I know and respect- reminds me why we are planting Grace Central. Artists are often among those who are counted as "religiously disenfranchised" and Grace Central has been called by God to be a church for the religiously disenfranchised.
So, to Grace Central - be encouraged! Your efforts are needed and valued. To artists - conduct yourselves in such a way that rob this kind of thinking of credibility. To everyone else - move to Columbus and join us in our efforts. Peace and remember: Be cool.
(Click the title above to read the article which inspired his post)
____________________________________________
Christians and the Visual Arts...
Is there anything not absolutely normal about the Hollywood lifestyle of this young woman?
Is there any way parents can train up a son or daughter for this kind of career without anticipating this kind of outcome? Are there Christians in this realm of the arts? Sure. Is the existence of Christians in this realm of the arts justification for churches and Christian schools uncritically propelling their children in this direction? Certainly not.
Coming a bit closer to home... Is there anything all that different about the moral course of a typical career in professional dance versus a career in Hollywood? Of a painter or sculptor?
In what conceivable universe should Christians be encouraging their children in these sorts of directions without anticipating potentially tragic outcomes? Does this mean every Christian actor or dancer has prostituted his or her faith? Certainly not. But the track record of those who have versus those who have not certainly shouldn't encourage us to propel our children down these career paths--or to look uncritically at the various visual art forms which so tend toward immorality. (And of course, if you've read this blog over any length of time you know that we are not merely practicing guilt-by-association in making this connection. We tend to believe Christians have failed to apply the second commandment to modern visual arts, a foundational neglect of God's Law which inevitably tends to various other forms of neglect.)
Finally, for all the talk in certain quarters about redeeming culture, all the WORLD Magazine Daniel awards for visual artists, all the lionization of Christian artists taking place in various sectors of (especially) the Reformed world, where's the beef? Where's the salt producing saltiness? Where's the light banishing the darkness? Why can't we see that only the Gospel illuminates, only the Gospel preserves? Why do we think artists and the arts are capable of redeeming culture in a way that plumbers and ditch-diggers do not?
As a matter of fact, I suspect were we to weigh the contributions to culture of Christian plumbers against Christian visual artists, the scales would come heavily down on the side of training our children to be plumbers and ditch-diggers.
One last note--please read the full story first if you're tempted toward a knee-jerk defense of Christian involvement in the representational visual arts.
______________________________________________________
David,
How many professional artists do you know personally? Where did you study the visual arts? How involved are you directly with the visual arts community in your town or area? How many Christians do you know personally who are involved in the visual arts professions? It is easy to find bad examples and unfortunate outcomes, of course. But I'd venture to guess we could find these kinds of sad stories about covenant children in any profession.
I respect your concerns, but I think you are largely speaking from a position of ignorance. Certainly not Biblical or theological ignorance. But perhaps ignorance of the faithful witness of many truly Christian artists practicing their faith with integrity in the context of the visual arts.
Perhaps the operative word in your post is "uncritically". We should do nothing "uncritically". At Grace Central we are equipping artist, dancers, designers, writers and musicians (as well as teachers, doctors, attorneys, mothers, business men, no plumbers, but two electricians etc.) to critically employ a Christ-centered worldview and belief system in the way they approach their respective fields of expertise. I have found most of these artists have been starving for a voice of affirmation and encouragement from the church in place of the voices of suspicion and denigration they have traditionally recieved.
Again, I truly do respect your concerns. I just think maybe they are communicated in an uncritical way, and have the great potential to cause a lot of damage in the lives of artists who are true believers. I know this is not your intent!
We should talk. I look forward to having lunch with you in Toledo sometime soon and it was good to see you at Presbytery.
By the way, I am completely in favor of Christian plumbers as well! Too bad they will be unemployed in the comsummated Kingdom, as I suppose the pipes there never burst! I tell you what, send some of your plumbers to us and we'll teach them to paint and sculpt, just so they have something to "fall back on" when they get to Heaven. ; )
Peace.
So, to Grace Central - be encouraged! Your efforts are needed and valued. To artists - conduct yourselves in such a way that rob this kind of thinking of credibility. To everyone else - move to Columbus and join us in our efforts. Peace and remember: Be cool.
(Click the title above to read the article which inspired his post)
____________________________________________
Christians and the Visual Arts...
Is there anything not absolutely normal about the Hollywood lifestyle of this young woman?
Is there any way parents can train up a son or daughter for this kind of career without anticipating this kind of outcome? Are there Christians in this realm of the arts? Sure. Is the existence of Christians in this realm of the arts justification for churches and Christian schools uncritically propelling their children in this direction? Certainly not.
Coming a bit closer to home... Is there anything all that different about the moral course of a typical career in professional dance versus a career in Hollywood? Of a painter or sculptor?
In what conceivable universe should Christians be encouraging their children in these sorts of directions without anticipating potentially tragic outcomes? Does this mean every Christian actor or dancer has prostituted his or her faith? Certainly not. But the track record of those who have versus those who have not certainly shouldn't encourage us to propel our children down these career paths--or to look uncritically at the various visual art forms which so tend toward immorality. (And of course, if you've read this blog over any length of time you know that we are not merely practicing guilt-by-association in making this connection. We tend to believe Christians have failed to apply the second commandment to modern visual arts, a foundational neglect of God's Law which inevitably tends to various other forms of neglect.)
Finally, for all the talk in certain quarters about redeeming culture, all the WORLD Magazine Daniel awards for visual artists, all the lionization of Christian artists taking place in various sectors of (especially) the Reformed world, where's the beef? Where's the salt producing saltiness? Where's the light banishing the darkness? Why can't we see that only the Gospel illuminates, only the Gospel preserves? Why do we think artists and the arts are capable of redeeming culture in a way that plumbers and ditch-diggers do not?
As a matter of fact, I suspect were we to weigh the contributions to culture of Christian plumbers against Christian visual artists, the scales would come heavily down on the side of training our children to be plumbers and ditch-diggers.
One last note--please read the full story first if you're tempted toward a knee-jerk defense of Christian involvement in the representational visual arts.
______________________________________________________
David,
How many professional artists do you know personally? Where did you study the visual arts? How involved are you directly with the visual arts community in your town or area? How many Christians do you know personally who are involved in the visual arts professions? It is easy to find bad examples and unfortunate outcomes, of course. But I'd venture to guess we could find these kinds of sad stories about covenant children in any profession.
I respect your concerns, but I think you are largely speaking from a position of ignorance. Certainly not Biblical or theological ignorance. But perhaps ignorance of the faithful witness of many truly Christian artists practicing their faith with integrity in the context of the visual arts.
Perhaps the operative word in your post is "uncritically". We should do nothing "uncritically". At Grace Central we are equipping artist, dancers, designers, writers and musicians (as well as teachers, doctors, attorneys, mothers, business men, no plumbers, but two electricians etc.) to critically employ a Christ-centered worldview and belief system in the way they approach their respective fields of expertise. I have found most of these artists have been starving for a voice of affirmation and encouragement from the church in place of the voices of suspicion and denigration they have traditionally recieved.
Again, I truly do respect your concerns. I just think maybe they are communicated in an uncritical way, and have the great potential to cause a lot of damage in the lives of artists who are true believers. I know this is not your intent!
We should talk. I look forward to having lunch with you in Toledo sometime soon and it was good to see you at Presbytery.
By the way, I am completely in favor of Christian plumbers as well! Too bad they will be unemployed in the comsummated Kingdom, as I suppose the pipes there never burst! I tell you what, send some of your plumbers to us and we'll teach them to paint and sculpt, just so they have something to "fall back on" when they get to Heaven. ; )
Peace.
2.3.06
Presbytery
Presbytery meeting again this week. Should be ok. I'll let you know things go. Here's a photo from the last presbytery meeting. That's me in the back with the flame thrower.
And the Award for the Most Irresistibly Juvenile Album Title Goes To...
Diskaholics Anonymous Trio, for thier album:
Weapons of Ass Destruction
Weapons of Ass Destruction
1.3.06
Things which mildly disturb me today:
1. Christians who refuse to call themselves Christians and use instead the term "follower of Jesus". Fair enough. But you realize when you say that everyone else is thinking "oh. you mean you're a Christian".
2. Churches which refuse to call themselves churches and instead call themselves "a community of Jesus followers". Fair enough but you realize when you say that the rest of us are all thinking "oh. You mean you're a church".
3. My own goatee which conceals my tiny, elfin chin.
4. The color of my office walls.
5. Winter.
6. The apostle Paul.
7. Waiting on books to arrive from amazon.
2. Churches which refuse to call themselves churches and instead call themselves "a community of Jesus followers". Fair enough but you realize when you say that the rest of us are all thinking "oh. You mean you're a church".
3. My own goatee which conceals my tiny, elfin chin.
4. The color of my office walls.
5. Winter.
6. The apostle Paul.
7. Waiting on books to arrive from amazon.
Still keepin' it real.
Yeah, I pay three bucks for a cup of java at the ultra-hip, frou-frou coffee clubs like everyone else these days. And yeah, I've developed a taste for the high brow, high priced, highly prized coffee beans found in only one farm in Columbia, grown by only one family in central America, chosen intuitively by only one species of small jungle cat in the rain forest, and available for a limited time at only the most exclusive coffee houses, or only at the most broadly expanding coffee chain. Organic, pea-berry, fair trade, hand pressed, no sugar, hold the cream, just the blessed juice of the bean, please barristta. Yeah, I am one of those guys, just like you.
But...
I haven't forgotten my roots. Sometimes, like this morning for instance, I buy my coffee for 89 cents at the same place I buy my gas. And I pump both myself. I put my hand to the communal coffee pot and fill my styrofoam cup with twenty ounces of the people's elixer of life. This is how my people have done it for generations, in the days when "tall" meant "tall" and "venti" meant "you ain't from around here are you, boy?"
So today I drink my 89 cent gas station coffee from a styrofoam cup. Today I drink with the truck drivers and the contractors, the plumbers and the electricians, the farmers and the men of every profession, fingertips thick with decades of real labor, and ask "who the hell puts a little cardboard skirt on a cup of coffee?" Today I drink with our grandpas, our fathers and our uncles Don and Dwayne, far too savy to fall for the marketing ploys of girly men in green aprons.
Cheap coffee, we are humbled by your unpretentious dignity. We are quickened by your caffinated simplicity. Today we lift our disposable cups to you.
But...
I haven't forgotten my roots. Sometimes, like this morning for instance, I buy my coffee for 89 cents at the same place I buy my gas. And I pump both myself. I put my hand to the communal coffee pot and fill my styrofoam cup with twenty ounces of the people's elixer of life. This is how my people have done it for generations, in the days when "tall" meant "tall" and "venti" meant "you ain't from around here are you, boy?"
So today I drink my 89 cent gas station coffee from a styrofoam cup. Today I drink with the truck drivers and the contractors, the plumbers and the electricians, the farmers and the men of every profession, fingertips thick with decades of real labor, and ask "who the hell puts a little cardboard skirt on a cup of coffee?" Today I drink with our grandpas, our fathers and our uncles Don and Dwayne, far too savy to fall for the marketing ploys of girly men in green aprons.
Cheap coffee, we are humbled by your unpretentious dignity. We are quickened by your caffinated simplicity. Today we lift our disposable cups to you.
27.2.06
A Great Opening Line of a Song:
song: Oceanographer's Choice
artist: The Mountain Goats
album: Talahassee
line: well a guy in a skeleton costume comes up to the guy in the superman costume, runs through him with a broad sword
artist: The Mountain Goats
album: Talahassee
line: well a guy in a skeleton costume comes up to the guy in the superman costume, runs through him with a broad sword
24.2.06
One Year Old
Hey people. The Blog turned one a couple of weeks ago and I didn't notice. I've actually been thinking about shutting it down. Even since I got all "productive" with my time, I just don't blog as much. We'll see. Maybe I'll consolidate with others of you and we can do a joint blog posting thing? Maybe not? I dunno.
But in the meantime, here are some ideas for posts I'd like to write if I had the time:
the difference between nirvana, zen and shalom
that Velvet Elvis book review I've been meaning to write
an article called the four resurrections of johnny cash
a contrast of the philosophies of the nature of humanity and history as seen in the 2005 works "I'm wide awake and it's morning" by Bright Eyes and "Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens. (Bright Eyes' work is mostly Nietzchian with respect to human nature and the cyclical nature of history, while Sufjan's work is more eschatologically oriented, meaning it sees a forward trajectory to history and his view of human nature is Augustinian)
sanctification & pharmeceuticals
Ancient Mesopotamian & Hebrew Creation Accounts: Was Moses a Deconstructionist?
Authoritative Deconstruction: A Legitimate Apologetic for a Post-Whatever World?
Female and Male as the Image of God
Foucault was right about language being a power play and that's ok for the Christian to embrace because afterall, our God is a God who speaks and our Savior is the WORD incarnate.
Submission as liberation
Means of Grace as a way of life
Maybe a church should measure it's effectiveness by how many programs it cuts each year.
Maybe parachurch is not a legitmitate biblical category or maybe it is but is usally done poorly or maybe not poorly by not thoughtfully or maybe churches should just put up the cash and bring all the parachurch guys on staff so they don't have to raise thier own money and then everyone will be better off.
Why triangles are the answer to everything
Why the local church is the hope of the world
John Frame- Revolutionary Thinker, or Master of the Obvious?
Matt Birt: A Profile in Staying Where you're at and doing something about why where you're at sucks
That's all for now.
But in the meantime, here are some ideas for posts I'd like to write if I had the time:
the difference between nirvana, zen and shalom
that Velvet Elvis book review I've been meaning to write
an article called the four resurrections of johnny cash
a contrast of the philosophies of the nature of humanity and history as seen in the 2005 works "I'm wide awake and it's morning" by Bright Eyes and "Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens. (Bright Eyes' work is mostly Nietzchian with respect to human nature and the cyclical nature of history, while Sufjan's work is more eschatologically oriented, meaning it sees a forward trajectory to history and his view of human nature is Augustinian)
sanctification & pharmeceuticals
Ancient Mesopotamian & Hebrew Creation Accounts: Was Moses a Deconstructionist?
Authoritative Deconstruction: A Legitimate Apologetic for a Post-Whatever World?
Female and Male as the Image of God
Foucault was right about language being a power play and that's ok for the Christian to embrace because afterall, our God is a God who speaks and our Savior is the WORD incarnate.
Submission as liberation
Means of Grace as a way of life
Maybe a church should measure it's effectiveness by how many programs it cuts each year.
Maybe parachurch is not a legitmitate biblical category or maybe it is but is usally done poorly or maybe not poorly by not thoughtfully or maybe churches should just put up the cash and bring all the parachurch guys on staff so they don't have to raise thier own money and then everyone will be better off.
Why triangles are the answer to everything
Why the local church is the hope of the world
John Frame- Revolutionary Thinker, or Master of the Obvious?
Matt Birt: A Profile in Staying Where you're at and doing something about why where you're at sucks
That's all for now.
23.2.06
Back in Action!
Sorry folks. There for a while, the FP vanished from the blogosphere. Not quite sure what the deal was with that.
22.2.06
20.2.06
15.2.06
Playing With Water
Here's Sam at Cosi playing in the water. Doesn't Leonard Cohen have a song about a blue raincoat or something? Somebody check that out for me.
Anyway, I think this photo turned out nice. Charity snapped it.
Anyway, I think this photo turned out nice. Charity snapped it.
Jack the Artist
Here is a picture of Jack painting a ceramic dinosaur at a pottery filed trip he took recently with one of the homeschooling co-ops we participate in.
Sam the Stunt Man
Here's a picture of Sam precariously balanced on the seat of his tricycle holding on with just one hand.
Any good mother would instinctively rescue him from certain calamity. Any proud father instinctively reaches for the digital camera.
Any good mother would instinctively rescue him from certain calamity. Any proud father instinctively reaches for the digital camera.
Jack the Actor
In this photo, Jack is acting like a dinosaur. He likes acting. Recently he declared himself a director and began work on a film entitled "Murmur Dog". Jack not only acts in the film, but he also wrote it and directs it. He's creative and ambitious.
Jokes Told by Framian-Presuppositional Indie Rock Fans:
Here's one I made up last night at a concert:
Guy walks out on stage. Says:
"Hello, Situational Perspective! We are Existential Perspective! This next song is called Normative Perspective! "
This joke is mostly for Dru Johnson. But I don't think he'll like it.
Guy walks out on stage. Says:
"Hello, Situational Perspective! We are Existential Perspective! This next song is called Normative Perspective! "
This joke is mostly for Dru Johnson. But I don't think he'll like it.
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