Michael Bates: June 2019 Archives
Bonhoeffer would call this "cheap grace."
"'Let's talk about sex and how the marriage bed should be kept pure,' the 24-year-old who traded his player ways to follow Christ told Hannah B.
"'Let's say you have had sex with one or multiple of these guys, I would be wanting to go home,' Luke P admitted.
"Hannah B, also a professing Christian, immediately took offense to Luke P's comments and confessed that she has had 'physical relations' with some of the other contestants but 'Jesus stills loves her.'...
"'Regardless of anything that I've done, I can do whatever, I sin daily and Jesus still loves me. It's all washed and if the Lord doesn't judge me and it's all forgiven, then no other man, woman ... anything can judge me... Nobody's gonna judge me, I won't stand for it.'"
"I recently experienced all these warnings in a 737 MAX flight simulator during recreations of the accident flights. Even knowing what was going to happen, I could see how crews could have run out of time before they could have solved the problems. Prior to these accidents, I think it is unlikely that any US airline pilots were confronted with this scenario in simulator training...."
"We must make sure that everyone who occupies a pilot seat is fully armed with the information, knowledge, training, skill and judgment to be able to be the absolute master of the aircraft and all its component systems and of the situations simultaneously and continuously throughout the flight."
How to write and live: advice from Ray Bradbury | bleuwater
"Ray Bradbury was amazing. He reminded me of a young child, finding wonder in the world. He had the ability to stay young at heart and observe the world as though seeing little things for the first time. I loved his story of how he wrote Fahrenheit 451 in the basement of the UCLA library at a rental typewriter for 10 cents for a half hour. He said he was literally a 'dime novelist.' It gave me courage and the belief that we can do anything -- if you want it badly enough.
"'Garbage in, garbage out,' he said. He advised us to turn off the TV. Don't watch the news. He said they were selling soap and there was little or no good news and it would rot our minds. Instead, 'Read the Bible, a poem and an essay every day.'"
I think Ray Bradbury would have approved of a Great Books curriculum like the New Program of St. John's College as proper training for an author.
Why WOULD Anyone Sing in Church These Days? | Jonathan Aigner
"We have a rich history of hymns and songs dating back centuries, set to beautiful, singable melodies with a rich harmonic framework, a group to which each generation added their best. Then we decided we didn't need these anymore. Their language was too difficult for us, we said, and it just got in the way of our emotional experience, anyway.
"So we replaced our hymns with new songs, written for solo commercial recordings. That's right, we replaced songs created for many voices with songs meant for one or a few....
"We used to give everyone the printed music, so that they could follow along. But nobody reads music anymore, right? (Of course, many of us once did when we were in the school choir or band, but, well, nevermind...) All those books are heavy. And a waste of paper. So we started projecting words (no music) up on the wall. They're there one minute, and gone the next, kind of like the songs themselves. People crane their necks and raise their chins to read them in their place on high. They have no idea if the next syllable will be held long or released short. They don't know if a pitch rises or falls. They just hope to catch on by the time it's over.
"So, we stopped empowering those among us who do read music to use those gifts. And we stopped expecting anyone else to learn. Just sing along with Mitch, and see how it goes. Maybe if you listened to more Christian radio, you'd know what to do....
"We used to have these majestic and beautiful instruments, with infinite musical palettes and soaring, sustained tones that gave them the ability to breathe life into congregational singing. Now, we've dismissed those as passé, and substituted a rock band, fronted by a lead singer worship leader. He (it's usually a he, for some reason) sings his song, and we try to sing along with his cover of our jesusy hot 100 favorites. What's more, few of these leaders it seems are capable of just plainly, accurately singing the melody. Some of them croon with a whiny, closed-mouthed tone, turning every vowel into an ee-ended diphthong. Others wail in reckless abandon with primal, orgasmic strains, while we sit and watch. They often embellish their performanced with ad libs, rubato, rhythmic embellishments, and melodic freedom, while the congregation audience struggles to keep up.
"So, we replaced an instrument uniquely adept at leading a congregation with a cover band....
"Most of the music churches are now attempting to sing is instrumentally-driven music in a vernacular style that was written for a solo artist recording. Replicating that style of music, with its syncopation, affected vocals, aimless melodies, and awkward vocal ranges, is impossible congregational task. There are new songs and hymns being written that are excellent for a congregation, but you won't usually hear them on Christian radio."
Brexit and the death of the British sense of fair play | Coffee House
Konstantin Kisin writes:
"The vote in 2016 was the product of decades of brewing discontent. One of the biggest drivers of the decision to leave was the complete unwillingness of the political class to acknowledge people's concerns about the pace and scale of immigration. Instead, half of the country was smeared as thick, bigoted racists in order to shut them up.
"As a comedian, I have travelled the length and breadth of this country. I have lived as far north as Edinburgh and as far south as Hastings. I can say unequivocally: there are very few places in the world I'd rather be an immigrant.
"When I came here in 1995, just three per cent of the British public thought immigration was a major issue. Why? Because it wasn't a major issue. But by the peak of the Blair immigration boom, during which time more people came to this country than had come from 1066 to 1950, almost 50 per cent of the British public thought immigration was a major issue. Why? Because it was.
"Ignoring people doesn't work. Democracy is not about elections and referendums. Democracy is when the people who lose those elections and referendums accept the outcome. If we try to sabotage the 2016 result we will end up with a harder Brexit than anyone, including many Leavers, originally wanted. Worse still, if we succeed in sabotaging Brexit, the impact of destroying people's faith in democracy will reverberate for generations."
