About that: the later (maybe even anything after the first three? It’s a long time) books are fucking awful Christian shit. Pullman’s His Dark Materials goes a bit shit when he’s riffing on Narnia rather than Milton or Blake. Both of whom wrote deeply religious works that are obviously good too. Well I used to be a big fan of Blake anyway. Hadn’t a notion what was going on but I liked it…
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Ever slip in some beatbox?
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You’re being a little too kind to him. This is not-veiled-at-all otherism. Anything that is not explicitly Christian™ is the other and is evil.
I don’t know about the hairs you’re splitting. Bach, Handel, etc. wrote explicitly religious works. They’re Christian and they’re spectacular. The issue isn’t that “Christian musicians suck.” It’s that, apparently, sanctimonious Evangelical Christian musicians suck.
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Not new. I remember hearing this same logic back in the 80s. There was a tv series on Christian cable we watched because it showed footage of the Sex Pistols and Sabath. They too talked about syncopation as a source of evil. It goes all the way back to early jazz and so called “jungle rhythms.” Apparently god doesnt swing.
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Bach, Handel or any number of people who wrote music like that were compsers first, then christians, just like any number of rennisance artists who were employed by the church, and were christian, making religious imagery would only be called “christian artists” if they were compared with artists who were employed by the Ottoman empire, to make religious imagery… otherwise they’re just artists who made religious works.
Reading Bach’s own writings, he was a pious Lutheran first, who believed very much in using his extraordinary musical abilities to glorify God. He was by no means ‘just’ employed by the church. Most of his manuscripts, even of secular music, began with the words ‘Soli Deo Gloria’ (To God alone be glory).
Bach was definitely a believer that God can be worshipped in secular things. A stunning example is his simple song, ‘So oft ich meine Tobackspfeife’, BWV 515 in which he meditates how he can worship God even in the simple act of smoking his pipe.
To call him a composer first, who made Christian art, is to misunderstand him grievously.
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Well, as most of my experience with him is his music, I’ll concede the point to someone who knows better.
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(Obligatory) counterpoint:
(100+ posts and that isn’t up yet? Huh, I am amazed. Party on, dudes-of-all-genders. 
)
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This is extremely, unfathomably dumb. And yet, it is not unfathomably dumb, because I am not really surprised people exist who believe this sort of thing. Nothing surprises me about fringe religious beliefs at this point. Humanity is is a many-splendored, multi-faceted thing.
Wait until he discovers it’s also possible to fill in beats that don’t align perfectly to the grid and break “perfection” with intent to achieve effects (unlike not “aligning to the grid” IRL in church because you are just a really lame dork)
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I forwarded this to a buddy of mine, and he made this:
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It’s cute when christians try to educate others on the virtues of “reason” - even more so when they do it in front of a two dimensional representation of a bookshelf!
@dommerdoodle
Back in my cult days I actually correlated frisson induced from CCM with “holy spirit” experiences. I think the music factor (as terrible as most of it is) is key to drawing and maintaining bums on pews.
I like to think that if I wasn’t so heavily involved in playing instruments in church bands I would have freed myself from the cult indoctrination much earlier.
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Do you like Babatunde Olatunji? I got a copy of some albums one time from someone in the “old days” when it was normal to rip each others hard drives, but Babatunde is one of my favorite musicians of all time. I’m an atheist but you can see “god” in those songs in a way I never seen before
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Out and proud atheist since I was 5 years old. Mom’s brother and his family are hardcore fundamentalist. Dressed like the Cleavers. Every book in the house a bible study series. His daughters both married missionaries. Oh how they prayed for my poor, damned, punk-rock soul! At Xmas they would give me cassettes of Stryper and such garbage attempting to convert me. Hi-larious!
In the 90’s my wife managed a recording studio in Nashville. She told me the Christian Rock guys were like every other lame band that recorded there, drinking, smoking and cussing’ except when “quick, here comes the manager!” and suddenly the 40s disappeared and it was prayer-circle time.
I think a large percentage of the CCM people are just sucky musicians who have found an audience that doesn’t care that they suck, so they play the part. Soulless, hypocritical pandering for that uncritical cult-victim dollar.
Anyway, here’s the only kind of religious music I like (Warning- features what that guy thinks syncopation is):
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adam neely launching into a journey into the music he hates–
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Someone once told me “all music is good music, just some’s better than others”. I don’t think I’ve ever “hated” a particular style of music, more I am indifferent to it, as pointed out in the vid you posted.
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I genuinely hope you’re being sarcastic.
Poe’s law means I honestly can’t tell since it’s just unmodified text.
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