All Comments (16)

To Mommadonna

"The Old Rugged Cross" does not glorify violence and blood and gore.

It celebrates the fact that Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to suffer and die for us that we might have everlasting life.

His death paid for the sins of all of us who love and accept Him as our savior.

All the non-believers are going to be very sorry when the Rapture occurs and they realize that all the Christians have gone to heaven and they are still here to suffer for their lack of faith.

A Child of God

To Mommadonna

"The Old Rugged Cross" does not glorify violence and blood and gore.

It celebrates the fact that Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to suffer and die for us that we might have everlasting life.

His death paid for the sins of all of us who love and accept Him as our savior.

All the non-believers are going to be very sorry when the Rapture occurs and they realize that all the Christians have gone to heaven and they are still here to suffer for their lack of faith.

A Child of God

To Mommadonna

"The Old Rugged Cross" does not glorify violence and blood and gore.

It celebrates the fact that Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to suffer and die for us that we might have everlasting life.

His death paid for the sins of all of us who love and accept Him as our savior.

All the non-believers are going to be very sorry when the Rapture occurs and they realize that all the Christians have gone to heaven and they are still here to suffer for their lack of faith.

A Child of God

BOB,

Why yes. It is very comforting indeed. There is nothing as comforting as the Word of Christ and praying. I love praising, singing and dancing like a child before God. We are all made and called to worship and prayer is one thing that establishes the intimacy we should have with God. And it might seem foolish, but I will be a fool for Christ.

Re: "Utter delusional nonsense."

Actually, As Pastor Greg of Harvest Ministry has said, Christians are the most sane people around. Just wait 'til the Lord returns and the whole world will see!

Tonio - The songs come from the 30s and salvery and prisons, places where people have little or nothing to look forward to in this life so they focus on death. "Old Man River" is a bit older than the 30s I think, "tired of livin and feared of dyin" is a memorable line from it.

For one to have the joy of life one must have something to look forward to. Notice how every Thanksgiving there's an upsurge in how people feel? That comes from "looking forward" to Christmas and Santa Claus. Even poor children who have little hope of a new bicycle still have the good feeling of something to look forward to. Slaves and absolutely impoverished have little to look forward to but heaven.

The most popular consolations from my Christian education are "offer it up for your sins" and "you'll get your reward in heaven" that came after the depersion. A depression hangover? Don't know but I still hear it now and again.

Heaven is a popular topic among folks in the SE US where the Bible belt holds up Johnny Reb's pants. Poverty is kind of common there too I think. The divorce rate a few years back was highest among Baptists that try to dominate the heaven bound bus ticket office. Lots of tickets to hell being sold according to, http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul and advertised as tickets to heaven in old Dixie. Choppin cotton can make a real believer out of ya, getting one's reward in heaven that is.

sometimes when I am in my car and my cell phone rings (actually, I've set it to play the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah by Handel) I'll suddenly turn off NPR -- that'll show 'em! -- and answer the phone.

So far, God has not called.

What a crock!

I'll take my five senses over your goofy little friend any day.

"James:

Oh Mommadonna

quit bellyaching about a little blood and gore
and marching on to war.

let a guy have his fun.

Boys will be boys, you know.
and we run the joint, don't forget that Mama.

Posted February 5, 2007 4:59 PM "

Thank you James. I NEVER forget that and act accordingly. I take matters in my own hands, just like a mother usually does.

My binding spells have been working quite well for the last two years.

While I love the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, I was astounded by how many of the songs focus on the afterlife. The overall theme is "life is full of suffering but I'll be with Jesus soon." Even "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is an allegory for heaven.

At first I assumed that these songs was influenced by the hardships of the 1930s. But recently I read a theory that American Christianity's emphasis on the afterlife is a holdover from the slavery era. According to the theory, this shift in emphasis was the way that slaveholding Christians reconciled their religious beliefs with their ownership of fellow human beings.

Oh Mommadonna

quit bellyaching about a little blood and gore
and marching on to war.

let a guy have his fun.

Boys will be boys, you know.
and we run the joint, don't forget that Mama.

"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.

Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle see his banners go! "

So much for "love and peace".

"In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,A wondrous beauty I see, (???????)
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,To pardon and sanctify me.

Refrain

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share."

So much for the love of life.

I used to listen to some of these songs sung in absolute horror. Especially "The Old Rugged Cross". It is obscene and glorifies violent death.

Would be nice to have a radio station with the old sing-alongs. We have a Christian radio station that plays music during the morning commute, but most of it is not of the sing-along variety.

Must be comforting to have an intellect so blazingly brilliant to wield as a weapon against anyone so foolish as to believe in ANYTHING other than what your five senses tell you.

Utter egotistical rubbish.

"The writers of those psalms did not just praise God--they also complained to God about stuff that they were seeing around them, and they even on occasion told the Lord that they were not sure he was listening to their prayers."

While I appreciate Mouw's point about the Psalms, I'm uncomfortable with the praising part. I don't understand why a deity would want to be praised over and over, when deities presumably lack humans' need for emotional succor. It sounds too much like the "jealous God" concept in the first half of the Ten Commandments.

Must be comforting to have a goofy little friend to talk to and sing to at will, like any child, or Peter Pan, when the news on NPR gets a too close for comfort.

Utter delusional nonsense.

As one of the few atheists on the "On Faith" panel, I had nothing to say about prayer itself. But I will say this: Dr. Mouw's taste in hymns is impeccable. If anything could turn me into a religious believer, it would certainly be "How Great Thou Art."