The end is here

It’s been real. It’s been fun. It’s over.
http://newpuritans.wordpress.com

Good Bye

I’m thinking of shutting this page down. It was an interesting experiment but it seems to be time. I’m working on something new w/ some friends of mine. Working title will be “The New Puritans”. I’ll posto ne more blog on here before we sign off for good to redirect you over to the new site.

Logistical Grace

I have a real problem with what some in the Reformed camp call “Logistical Grace”. You know, that special kind of grace that God shows us where all the logistics of life come together so that things work out the way they should? Its not that I don’t believe in logistical grace. Its that I don’t have much faith in it. For example, our bass player’s wife is VERY pregnant. Now, her due date was yesterday. We have a show Jan. 24th. I was very cautious to book a show so close to her due date but they assured me that a show as late as the 24th would be okay. Well, here we are with no baby yet and like, 3 practices to go before the show, which seem to keep getting cancelled because of doctor’s appointments and stuff for our bass player’s wife. So here I am stressing out over all of this. Will the pieces fall into place? The show is at the only large music venue in Lancaster County. If we cancel, what will happen to our reputation at the club? Tickets have been sold. Flyers have been hung. The show must go on.

Why is it I can trust the Lord with my eternal soul but I can’t trust him to work out a few scheduling conflicts?

Just for good measure…

Happy Reformation Day

I’m still here

Again, I haven’t forgotten about this site. I perhaps lack some inspiration to write right now. Again, all my efforts are being directed towards my most recent recording project. My hope is to have that project done by Christmas. However, after Christmas I will be embarking on recording a full length album with The Suburban Sound so in reality, I don’t see a lot of activity coming from this blog in the near future. Sorry gang. Sometimes my heart is into theological musings, sometimes its too focused in on music. Right now its music time.

Hey

I’m spending a lot of time working on music right now, so writing isn’t happening. If you want to follow what I’m up to currently, check out http://logueandthebanshee.wordpress.com

Rock and Roll and Hip Hop

My band has never really been “evangelistic”. We’re not even comfortable with the “Christian band” label. I just don’t think we’ve ever understood it. People can be Christians, but how can a band, or a song, or a movie, or anything else other than a person claim to be “christian”? I’ve always seen the term “Christian” as a noun, not an adjective. I personally find the line between the Christian and the Secular cultures as bogus. I see it as an attempt by Christians to be like the World but not like the World. The mentality really is, “oh we can have cool stuff too, but instead of having to use discernment, instead of having to separate the grain from the chaff, we can create a culture that does that for us”. I worked in a Christian bookstore for many many years. I know about these things.
That being said, on Saturday my band played a cultural outreach show in Lancaster City. The point of this show as for a local Brethren In Christ church plant to celebrate the cultural diversity of Lancaster City (right away this sounds alarming, but fear not! I can speak for the orthodoxy of this particular B.I.C. church. I too was wary before meeting the group who was doing the concert. The Anabaptist denominations are some of the most unorthodox and “liberal” denominations in the North East, sadly). It was an odd show to say the least. It opened w/ my group of musicians playing traditional Irish drinking songs. So there I was in the parking lot of a B.I.C. church plant singing about being a rambler and a gambler. After we finished, several “Christian Hip Hop” artists took the stage. This is where culture shock set in. Not because I’m unfamiliar with Hip Hop, but because of how evangelistic these artists were. I could easily say that probably half of the time these gentlemen were on stage was spent preaching an evangelical message. Some of those guys were rather good speakers too, I must say. What really threw me off though was how the crowd reacted to it. It was a free show so many people there were people from the city who no doubt heard the beats and found their way to the show. The crowd was actually receptive of the boldness of the artists. Something about the Hip Hop culture respects boldness in a way that the rock and roll culture doesn’t. After a few of these artists played, my band The Suburban Sound took the stage, followed by more evangelistic Hip Hop artists (I told you, this show was all about showing off the diversity of cultures in the city!).
I was thinking about it. I think it was easy for some of my “rocker” friends to see those hip hop artists and kind of roll their eyes at the constant preaching from stage. That was my first reaction as well. I almost felt embarrassed for them. In my mind, such antics are really unacceptable. I exist in a different reality though. There is a stark cultural difference between Hip Hop and Rock and Roll. If my band got up on stage in a club or bar and did what these guys were doing, I’d run the good risk of getting shot, or at best, beat to a pulp. The rock culture lends itself to the “personal relationship” path. I’ve discussed my faith and my band’s world views many times with audience members after shows, or with other bands in green rooms after shows. I would consider those moments to be some of the most important of my rock and roll career. Culturally speaking, this is the best approach for where we’re at and what we’re doing. The problem I had though is that I assumed that all artistic cultures should have the same approach. I was reminded on Saturday that there is a vast difference in culture within the arts and as Christians, we are to be sensitive and aware of that culture when engaging it. By the end of the show, I had to commend the Hip Hop artists for knowing their culture and how to reach it. They were far more aware of their culture than most in the rock world are.

Still Protesting

A friend of mine has been recently challenged by many claims from the Roman Church. It’s been a real struggle for him. I’ve tried to give him the best answers I could, with a little help from some dear friends, but its a long trying task.
Anyway, a Romanist posted these questions (on his blog I assume) and my friend ended up posting them on his blog. I thought I’d take the time to post them on here and get some feedback from some of you scholarly Protestants! I may be opening a can of worms (since I know some Papists are lurking around here already)…but it is what it is. So here we go! The questions, as originally authored by Brian Cross:

Questions for Protestants

1. Whose determination of the canon of Scripture is authoritative? (If your answer is “the Scriptures testify to their own canonicity”, then, since persons disagree about the content of this testimony, whose determination of the content of this testimony is authoritative?)

2. Whose interpretation of Scripture is authoritative? (Again, if your answer is “Scripture interprets Scripture”, then, since persons disagree about the content of Scripture’s interpretation of Scripture, whose determination of the Scripture’s interpretation of Scripture is authoritative?)

3. Whose determination of the identity and extension of the Body of Christ is authoritative? (If you deny that Christ founded a visible Church, then skip this question.)

4. Whose determination of which councils are authoritative is authoritative? (If you deny that any Church councils are authoritative, then skip this question.)

5. Whose determination of the nature and existence of schism is authoritative?

6. Whose determination of the nature and extension of Holy Orders (i.e. valid ordination) is authoritative?

7. Whose determination of orthodoxy and heresy is authoritative? (If your answer is “Scripture”, then go to question #2.)

8. If your answer to any of questions 1-7 is “the Holy Spirit”, or “Jesus” or “the Apostles”, then whose determination of what the Apostles, the Holy Spirit, or Jesus have determined is authoritative?

9. Given your answers to the above questions, how does your position avoid individualism and the perpetual fragmentation that necessarily accompanies it? (If your answer appeals to the “fundamentals of the faith” or the “essentials of the faith”, then whose determination of what are “the essentials of the faith” is authoritative?)

10. Does not even nature teach you that a visible body needs a visible head? If so, then does grace therefore destroy nature, or does grace build upon nature?

11. Why do you think that your present [Protestant] pastor has more authority than the successor of St. Peter? In other words, why do you “obey” and “submit” (Hebrew 13:17) to your Protestant pastor rather than the successor of St. Peter?

12. Whose determination of the nature of “sola scriptura” is authoritative?

God Hates Religion…?

“A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience. The term “religion” refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.” (Wikipedia)

If I had a nickel for every time I heard some young “cutting edge” Christian say things like “God hates religion” or talk about somebody being in “bondage of a religious spirit”, well I’d have a lot of nickels by now. At some point in the American church’s history, religion became some sort of a cuss word. I used to swim this way too in my Charismatic days. Churches that didn’t “move in the spirit” (like that old dry Presbyterian church I attend now…) is under the bondage of religion. I believe the cliché was, “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship”. Yawn.

I have to wonder how much thought really goes into statements like these. In my studies, I found many scholarly men, none the least the Apostle Paul, refer to Christianity as a religion. John Calvin, John Owen, and Zwingli come to mind as men who openly referred to the Christian faith as religion. All of these men (and again, the Apostle Paul), simply judging from their writings and the way God used them throughout history, would seem to embrace the idea of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact, I would be as bold to say that I could only ever dream to have a relationship so close to my Savior that these men seemed to have.

So what is it then about the term “religion” that people seem to despise or misunderstand? A few things from the definition above give some clues.

“A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law.”
In this first statement, the lines about ritual or religious law may be a huge turn off for many in the “anti religious Christian” club. What comes to their minds are things like extra-Biblical man made rules of faith that are really forms of legalism, not religion. However, we must admit that Christianity is one rich in ritual and religious law. What are the sacraments of baptism and communion if not ritual? They are God commanded rituals, but they are rituals none the less. Take them away, and we have a very weak Church. Take away the Law of God and we have anti-nomianism. Grace has not abolished the Law of God, rather it has fulfilled it in Christ. It does not mean that the Law has no use to the Christian. Christianity is indeed steeped in Law and Ritual. God given law, God given ritual, but take them away and we have a weak Church who neglects the commands of Christ and has no moral standards..

Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience

Putting the issue of mythology aside, this section about ancestral or cultural traditions and history probably create a huge stumbling block for many Fundamentalist Protestants. The idea of “tradition” seems a bit too Roman for many people’s comfort. It’s important however to remember that we are not talking about tradition as being an authority the way a Roman Catholic would claim “Apostolic tradition” as authoritative. We are simply talking about the time honored treasures of our Christian faith. The creeds and confessions, the rich tapestry of music, the celebration of advent and the resurrection on given days of the calendar,* all of these are traditions that the Church has passed on to us, not to be cast aside but to be embraced joyously as a reminder of our history and heritage. Concerning our writings and history as the Church, I would go as far as to make this bold claim. Most Christians who are shouting “God hates religion” probably belong to churches who are neglecting the study of Church history and the Church’s writings. I could count on one hand the people I’ve met who make the proclamation of God’s hatred towards religion who have actually read the early Fathers, or Augustine, or Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, ect. I don’t mean to sound condescending. It’s a simple observation. These groups are usually more concerned with cultural engagement (not a bad thing at all, but men like Abraham Kuyper certainly taught us that the faith is large enough to embrace both!) or appearing to be “edgy” and “open” than they are studying the ways of God’s Church, testing their doctrines not only in Scripture (which should be our final authority) but also in what the Holy Spirit has done in history.

Again I apologize if I found condescending or nasty in this thread. It’s not my point (though I wonder what the point of those who proclaim “God hates religion!” so boldly is?) I do wish to show though that Christianity is indeed a religion and we have nothing to be ashamed of in such claims. The fact that Christianity is about a relationship (both personal and corporate) between God and Man does not exclude the fact that Christianity is also about law, ritual, history, and tradition. I may make this claim. God delights in religion! It is the “religious” Church that embraces the history of His people. It is the religious Church that keeps His sacraments. It is the religious Church that understands that Christianity isn’t just about saying a “sinner’s prayer” but is also about the sanctification of the Holy Spirit in us so that the Law does become helpful in instructing and guiding us under grace!

Many horrible acts have been done in the name of religion. The problem however is not with “religion” itself. It is with the men and women who practice it.

*I am aware that some, even within conservative Presbyterianism, do not view religious holidays or the singing of hymns as a tradition of the Church that is to be embraced, but even these groups would have their own traditions and practices that have been passed on throughout the generations. I was simply pointing out examples that most Christians can relate to.

Irish folk music and Calvinism

For a good part of the last decade I’ve spent serious time getting in touch with my Irish roots. Mostly through music. I’ve tried studying the politics of Ireland and her history, the folk legends and stories, all of which I find facinating, but nothing has taught me the story of Ireland more than her music. From drinking and folk songs to the Irish rebel songs of the early 20th century, I’ve found a string of music that somehow moves through my veins in ways rock and roll never could.

About a year ago, I started to try my hand at singing and playing Irish music. I even made a CD at one point in my recording studio where I played all the instruments myself (www.myspace.com/logueandthebanshee, a rather crude attempt) and have started playing live. I’ve found this all to bring a balance to my art that I didn’t expect. At some point with rock and roll, I think I was getting burned out. There is only so much creative energy I can get out by playing saxophone in a rock and roll band. However, playing folk music I found that, even though I’m not actually writing my own music, I’m able to satisfy my creative cravings.

I find that it’s easy to balance my folk music with rock and roll, probably because they’re two very different styles of music with very little over lap. I also think that I’m exploring an area of music that will stay with me much longer than rock and roll ever will. What I mean by this is, when my rock and roll days are long gone and I’m old and gray, I will still be able to pick up a guitar or mandolin and play the Irish folk music I play now. It’s also creating a rich heritage that I’ll be able to pass on to my children. My grandfather’s parents died when he was very young and my grandmother’s family have been in the country for so long that our Irish roots were all but forgotten. I feel like I’ve been able to dig a lot of my heritage back up and it’s something I’ll be proud to pass on to my children.

So what does this all have to do with Calvinism? Not a whole lot really other than the fact that many of my ancestors were Scots who were sent to Northern Ireland during the Ulster Plantation. Both the Ulster Scots and the Irish Catholics suffered under the Church of England, giving them a common bond and a common thread in which to take up arms against the English in Northern Ireland. It makes me smile a little bit to think of the Presbyterians and Catholics struggling together for once instead of against each other!