mother mother

Mother Mother - O My Heart

So I heard these guys on Q this morning and I was impressed - listen to the pocast of the show here

Will you tolerate this post?

So I posted here about tolerance. This was the topic of a series of Ideas programs on CBC.

So let me throw something out here to see how you chew on this. I know Naomi has read a lot about the holocaust but essentially she would not be the only one that would agree that the Nazi slaughter of the Jews is a horrible scar on history.

Let me state clearly that my position is that this genocide is abominable.

So then how are we to judge those German citizens, soldiers, and even executioners? They acted under the conviction that they were doing the right thing. Yet we would say they are/were wrong. On what basis should we be given authority to classify their actions as wrong? What do we do with the ignorance that their convictions led them to remain in? Why are/were their convictions less valid than my own?

And you can stop right here thinking that I’m a Nazi-lover or a Jew-hater.

"they've got gospel in the air..."

Shaun Groves is a musician, a follower of Jesus and someone I have grown to respect. He made an interesting remark in a recent article in Christianity Today. The article is the first in a series of articles on the state of Christian radio.
"The bulk of the listeners are Christians," says Groves, "and this is music by Christians and for Christians. The trouble is, Christian radio tells stories to make you feel like they're evangelistic, but they're not. Say what you are. Don't lie to me and tell me I'm saving teenagers."
(click here to read the rest of the article)
This first article features a brief history and some insightful evaluation of the 'industry'. Although the piece is from an American perspective it’s not too hard to make some important connections to the same issues in Canada.
Shaun's comment and the article raise some interesting thoughts for me. One of the main rationales for the Christian music industry’s existence is the idea that by marketing the music commercially – evangelism will happen (that is people will get ‘saved’). What Shaun is drawing out is the reality of dynamics at play in the industry. Commercially it could be argued that Christian music could not thrive the way it has without a publicly accessible venue such as Christian radio. But the reality is that Christian radio is only marginally evangelistic at best in terms of who it market is reaching. So Shaun is asking marketing execs to tell the truth and reveal what more than few of us have believed for a while. This is primarily that:
Christian radio is a lucrative financial enterprise. It capitalizes on a niche market that is relatively easy to serve because of its general propensity to settle for lower quality music. And it uses the pretence of being an evangelistic tool further bolster support when in actuality Christian radio mostly, ‘preaches to the choir.’
I thought it was incredibly revealing to note Michael Card’s comments which suggested that had the church embraced the musicians of the early Jesus movement we might not even have such a thing as an ‘industry’ to talk about. Now that is likely an over statement but…
There are a few things about the concept of Christian-radio-as-witnessing-tool that are give pause. How did anyone get to thinking that a ‘searching’ person was going to make the choice to listen to a Christian radio station? Isn’t it arrogant to think that people who are looking for truth and redemption will naturally turn to a Christian radio station (or even TV station) for the answers to their quest? Who is comfortable feeding/supporting a growing chasm between the people who purport to hold the truth and the ones that seem to need it? Is it right to make profit off of music intended to please and glorify God? Does the music glorify God?