What's your religion?

[Totenkindly]

lol, I hate praise music except for the purpose of ironic religious expression.

Are we talking Sandi Patti / Gloria Gaither / Maranatha Singers over-the-top praise music (a la holdover from the '80's) or today's "look ma no musical talent but I can still strum a guitar!" praise music?

 

[targobelle]

I don't know how exactly I would describe *my* congregation... it's rather evangelical. EveryNation

 

[cafe]

Are we talking Sandi Patti / Gloria Gaither / Maranatha Singers over-the-top praise music (a la holdover from the '80's) or today's "look ma no musical talent but I can still strum a guitar!" praise music?

Oh Lord I hate that stuff. Especially if it has the pep rally thing going on. And the Song of Solomon/Bride of Christ stuff gives me the uber-willies.

 

[cafe]

I don't know how exactly I would describe *my* congregation... it's rather evangelical. EveryNation

Heh. We're practically cousins religiously speaking.

 

[targobelle]

Heh. We're practically cousins religiously speaking.

um why do you say that? b/c of the evangelical aspect or are you part of the EV Family?


We're part of a larger US based 'Organization" ENCM Our senior pastor likes this b/c in his words he tends to get cocky and arrogant and needs someone to hold him accountable for his actions. lol!

 

[cafe]

um why do you say that? b/c of the evangelical aspect or are you part of the EV Family?


We're part of a larger US based 'Organization" ENCM Our senior pastor likes this b/c in his words he tends to get cocky and arrogant and needs someone to hold him accountable for his actions. lol!

I read the statement of faith on the website and if your people speak the same church-speak my people do, the beliefs are fairly close.

 

[targobelle]

I read the statement of faith on the website and if your people speak the same church-speak my people do, the beliefs are fairly close.

oh yeah 'church speak'

 

[ptgatsby]

Somewhere between strong and weak atheism. I would consider myself some form of rationalist, separate from empiricism, despite considering myself a pragmaticist in general. I believe that embracing empiricism gives up the ability for rationalism to deal with weightier matters (read: spiritual), which is unacceptable to me.

The central reason for this is the lack of faith in innate experience and my view that supernatural defies the principles of the universe - that supernatural would be, by definition, a subjective interpretation of what we do not know. (I do not, however, embrace the concept that all can be known via rationalism or other means; hence the see-saw between strong and weak atheism; I do embrace that the assumption of either stance on supernaturalism is a false premise.)

 

[raincrow007]

Mystical nihilist. :hi:

 

[Eileen]

Are we talking Sandi Patti / Gloria Gaither / Maranatha Singers over-the-top praise music (a la holdover from the '80's) or today's "look ma no musical talent but I can still strum a guitar!" praise music?

Yes.


Sufjan has my seal of approval as Christian artist (and what do you know, like Madeleine L'Engle, he doesn't want to be called a "Christian artist." Funny how the good ones are like that...). I don't mind Caedmon's Call as far as contemporary Christian music goes, but other than that, it's all reserved for Sister Eileen's Traveling Holy Rolling Praise and Worship Irony Extravaganza.

 

[Eileen]

I dislike most of it. We don't do "contemporary" praise music at my church much; it's a nice eclectic mix of the good old hymns and some newer ones, but none of that cheesy stuff. Very Sufjan in flavor. We had a "bluegrass mass" once that I was dreading (I tend to be fairly old-school when it comes to church music) but it was actually very nice.

I'm with you there. I mean... how can you get any better than "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" and "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light"? (Actually, I went to the Summit recently for the youth conference, and we definitely rocked out to that one powerpoint style... I was pleased to see that Episcopalians can only clumsily do the powerpoint worship thing).

My friend James and I joke all the time about starting a praise band and opening for Sufjan. It's going to be AWE-sooome!

Our church is full of NFs and a generous sprinkling of NTs.

The church I call "home" is too, but now I go to a kind of regular, moderate Episcopal church where I get nearly no sense of most people's personalities.

 

[cafe]

*scowls at powerpoint worship* I miss the hymnals. I hope they come back into fashion in Charismatic-land again soon and I hope they just got put in a dusty storage closet instead of having been thrown out.

 

[macjoven]

Yeah... praise music...

"I want to walk as a Child of the light" is my favorite hymn. I recently figured out how to play it on my banjo, and so last sunday I played it at the methodist church whose college student group I hang out with, along with a song I wrote called "Weed Wacking For Jesus" (it's about calling and vocation ) as the service prelude. Both went over pretty well. I had written a another song too called "This is a praise song" but did not sing it at church because it's main purpose is to poke fun at praise music, (the look ma no talent kind) and I don't think many would find it all that edifying.

Oh yeah, I dislike power point intensely, mainly because I never know what to do with my hands when I am singing.

 

[Totenkindly]

My friend James and I joke all the time about starting a praise band and opening for Sufjan. It's going to be AWE-sooome!

Please stop saying that name -- I keep getting confused and thinking you are referring to Sanjaya!

 

[Eileen]

Please stop saying that name -- I keep getting confused and thinking you are referring to Sanjaya!

I think that means that I should say Sufjan's name MORE, because Sufjan is actually amazing and interesting, and if you do not associate Sufjan with -ness, you are missing something. And that you associate Sufjan with some horrifyingly terrible American Idol contestant (I had to look it up) really means that you should turn off the TV and turn up the Illinoise. Let's work up a new schema, friend!

reowr, INF-posterchild...

OMG, don't you just want to kiss those mystical lips??

 

[Totenkindly]

I think that means that I should say Sufjan's name MORE, because Sufjan is actually amazing and interesting, and if you do not associate Sufjan with -ness, you are missing something.

Well, I would agree with that. Sufjan sounds far better than Sanjaya.

And that you associate Sufjan with some horrifyingly terrible American Idol contestant (I had to look it up) really means that you should turn off the TV and turn up the Illinoise. Let's work up a new schema, friend!

I've never watched the show. But Sanjaya followed me on the radio and Internet everywhere I went...! (Auuuggh.)

OMG, don't you just want to kiss those mystical lips??

!...i'm scared of stubble burn...!

 

[darlets]

Born again non practising Athiest. :hi:

 

[ferunandesu]

That's an interesting combination -- can you explain it a little more?

I am God. The universe is either my mind or a product of it, I'm not sure, and I can't be. I restricted myself to the perceptions and insights of this mortal body so as to discover what it means to be "ignorant" and to "learn". My consciousness will diffuse upon death, but until then I'll just revel in that which can only be known in a state of existential ignorance. Once I return to my God state, then I'll remember what it's like to be restricted and this is how my omniscience avoids being a self-contradictory concept (or so I think).

I also realize that I still have much to learn. Words such as learning, memory, word, and God are firmly rooted in the human predicament. I simply can't understand reality for what it is while I'm alive, but I can certainly try my best.

 

[macjoven]

"I am God."

a hem.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAEHAHAHahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!!:yim_rolling_on_the_

 

[bluebell]

Atheist. But it's an odd label. bleah. I've just written and deleted 5 attempts at explaining what I mean. 6th attempt and I won't delete it, no matter how garbled.

It's an odd label for me because I don't see the need to say 'I don't believe in a god'. Other people believe in a god. But if I didn't know about that, it would not occur to me to label myself an atheist.

I suspect that doesn't really capture what I want to say but I will post it anyway.