“Its somewhat ambitious title was ‘The Book of Life,’ and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.‘From a drop of water,’ said the writer, ‘a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man’s finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser-knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt-cuffs–by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable.’”
This is the method of observation and deduction made famous by the London detective Sherlock Holmes. His name is probably as familiar as even Biblical names. His fame has been spread abroad by the writings of A. Conan Doyle. Though the man Sherlock Holmes is apparently fiction the principles of observation and deduction are not. It is said that A. Conan Doyle made the man Sherlock Holmes from the inspiration of a Doctor that he knew who could perform Sherlock Holmes’ methods of observation and deduction in the medical world. The fact that observation and deduction are real and not fiction should be obvious. Now the extent to which the tools given to us by God can be used to fight crime or solve medical mysteries depends on the abilities of the man to adapt these methods to the modern world.
It is my belief that the incredible powers which Sherlock Holmes used to fight the criminal element in the late 1800’s England can be adapted and used today for the same or different purposes.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
An Examination of Rock and Roll
I have been asked to do a longer dissertation on the topic of music and how it can be ungodly even if the words are not evil. So I have determined to begin this topic. I apologize for the length of time it has taken me to post again. I have been busy and a lot has been on my mind. Do not think that it is because I am dodging the issue. It is nothing of the sort. I believe one should never say something or believe something unless he is able to argue for and defend it against all assaults.
This is going to not please some people. It also will probably not be seen as correct by many people. And it will also probably anger many people. And when it does just think that you may just be proving my point of the dangers of music. Because if you are angered over something that I am attacking and it is not something that the Bible defends than it is probably going to be an idle in your life. So just remember that anything that we put above God is going to be an idle.
The effects of music on the generations is something that is not to be discarded. The fact alone that music effects culture or culture effects music is not something alone to determine whether or not it is good or evil. But the fact remains that music has a tremendous impact on the culture and individuals around us. This we will look at along with the other aspects of music .
Music is one item that though appears to be totally inert can in fact control not only physical reactions but also spiritual abilities to be in communion with God.
Music is music. There is no difference between secular and Christian rock music. Rock and Roll was invented by pagans for pagans. Christian’s have copied this beat in the Christian Contemporary Music Movement. Christian Rock is non-existent. The words have no bearing upon the fact that Rock and Roll is evil. Yes there is Rock and Roll with bad words. There is Rock and Roll with good words. There is Rock and Roll with nonsensical words. Is it the words alone that determine the fact of whether Rock is evil? No it is the beat and the beat alone. Obviously if the words are bad you don’t even have to look at the beat. But if the words are good how will you determine if the song is bad. To look at the beginnings of Rock and Roll is the only way to see where it comes from and why it was made. Also we can see the effects it has had on both the secular and Christian cultures of the previous generations.
1960s and 1970s
These were the decades that Rock and Roll became a factor in society. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Eagles, Byrd’s, Elvis, Zombies, Jackson Five, and the Monkeys, etc. These groups defined a culture. They created Woodstock. They created the riots, looting, immorality, and chaos that defined the 1960’s and 70’s. If you asked someone who lived through that time, who is not looking at it in a philosophical view, how it was to live in that time they will probably tell you in short that it was the best of
times and it was the worst of times. “We had the best music ever, and the worst riots ever. Hmm strange isn’t it?”
Most people don’t see a connection between the two but there is. All it takes is watching the video Beatles Shea Stadium that I have uploaded to see the strong physical and emotional reaction to music that would otherwise appear to be benign and definitely not immoral. Watch the video. Listen to the words. What is wrong with it? Is there a verse in the Bible to say that it
is wrong? No. So why the violent reactions? Why the riots and immorality? It can’t be the words. It can’t be the men (these reaction prevailed at any concert and even inside homes listening to records). So it must be the beat.
If you say that it is because there isn’t Christian words in the music and that brings the evil affect then you are wrong. “Look down upon Jesus, you got to help me take a stand, you got to see me through another day….I can’t make it any other way.” That was James Taylor. People killed themselves listening to his music. How about the Beatles. “I guess it is true pride comes before a fall…” They quoted Proverbs. How about the Byrd’s? Their entire song “Turn, Turn, Turn” is a direct quote from the book of Ecclesiastes. But yes people still had sexual relations, got drunk, and got high listening to it.
I will not go into to detail of the immorality that occurred at places like Woodstock. If you are ignorant to them and don’t believe me feel free to go out and investigate. But the fact is that an examination of the evidence and following the thought and evidence trail leads a direct link between the beat of Rock and Roll and the reactions of the people in society and their personal lives.
Seeing the below video I posted shows John Lennon chanting at the Shea Stadium concert. This is, I assure you, not a chant for the glory of God. Notice the words of this song. Not evil, just simple plain word.
Furthermore there is a scientific link between the back beat in Rock music and the realizing of hormones in the body. It is a fact that Rock music releases adrenaline and sexual enhancing hormones.
The Bible says that we are to make no provision for the flesh. As Christians we are to abstain from all forms and manner of evil. If the world created it and the world likes it than we as Christians have an obligation to not be a part of it.
The Rock and Roll movement has accelerated to the point that now the words match the content of the beat. Yes the beat was evil and now the words have changed and the beat has not. Yes as an illegal drug must be used in greater quantities for it to give the same euphoric effect the Rock beat has gotten more intense, but it is still the same. And it is causing even worse physical effects. As the following video shows.
So where are we today? Where has the Christian contemporary music movement gone? Here are two videos. The first is a live concert video of KISS a popular modern “secular rock” band. I don’t want you to fry your brain watching it all but just watch enough to get the feel of it. Then I would like you to watch the video after that, by DC Talk a popular Christian Rock band. Please do watch the second video all the way through. I can tell you Elvis would have been ashamed at the hip movement DC talk is doing in the second video.
I am not your conscience. I have no desire to be. But with what I have just told you, do you think God likes “Christian Rock and Roll?”
This is going to not please some people. It also will probably not be seen as correct by many people. And it will also probably anger many people. And when it does just think that you may just be proving my point of the dangers of music. Because if you are angered over something that I am attacking and it is not something that the Bible defends than it is probably going to be an idle in your life. So just remember that anything that we put above God is going to be an idle.
The effects of music on the generations is something that is not to be discarded. The fact alone that music effects culture or culture effects music is not something alone to determine whether or not it is good or evil. But the fact remains that music has a tremendous impact on the culture and individuals around us. This we will look at along with the other aspects of music .
Music is one item that though appears to be totally inert can in fact control not only physical reactions but also spiritual abilities to be in communion with God.
Music is music. There is no difference between secular and Christian rock music. Rock and Roll was invented by pagans for pagans. Christian’s have copied this beat in the Christian Contemporary Music Movement. Christian Rock is non-existent. The words have no bearing upon the fact that Rock and Roll is evil. Yes there is Rock and Roll with bad words. There is Rock and Roll with good words. There is Rock and Roll with nonsensical words. Is it the words alone that determine the fact of whether Rock is evil? No it is the beat and the beat alone. Obviously if the words are bad you don’t even have to look at the beat. But if the words are good how will you determine if the song is bad. To look at the beginnings of Rock and Roll is the only way to see where it comes from and why it was made. Also we can see the effects it has had on both the secular and Christian cultures of the previous generations.
1960s and 1970s
These were the decades that Rock and Roll became a factor in society. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Eagles, Byrd’s, Elvis, Zombies, Jackson Five, and the Monkeys, etc. These groups defined a culture. They created Woodstock. They created the riots, looting, immorality, and chaos that defined the 1960’s and 70’s. If you asked someone who lived through that time, who is not looking at it in a philosophical view, how it was to live in that time they will probably tell you in short that it was the best of
times and it was the worst of times. “We had the best music ever, and the worst riots ever. Hmm strange isn’t it?”
Most people don’t see a connection between the two but there is. All it takes is watching the video Beatles Shea Stadium that I have uploaded to see the strong physical and emotional reaction to music that would otherwise appear to be benign and definitely not immoral. Watch the video. Listen to the words. What is wrong with it? Is there a verse in the Bible to say that it
is wrong? No. So why the violent reactions? Why the riots and immorality? It can’t be the words. It can’t be the men (these reaction prevailed at any concert and even inside homes listening to records). So it must be the beat.
If you say that it is because there isn’t Christian words in the music and that brings the evil affect then you are wrong. “Look down upon Jesus, you got to help me take a stand, you got to see me through another day….I can’t make it any other way.” That was James Taylor. People killed themselves listening to his music. How about the Beatles. “I guess it is true pride comes before a fall…” They quoted Proverbs. How about the Byrd’s? Their entire song “Turn, Turn, Turn” is a direct quote from the book of Ecclesiastes. But yes people still had sexual relations, got drunk, and got high listening to it.
I will not go into to detail of the immorality that occurred at places like Woodstock. If you are ignorant to them and don’t believe me feel free to go out and investigate. But the fact is that an examination of the evidence and following the thought and evidence trail leads a direct link between the beat of Rock and Roll and the reactions of the people in society and their personal lives.
Seeing the below video I posted shows John Lennon chanting at the Shea Stadium concert. This is, I assure you, not a chant for the glory of God. Notice the words of this song. Not evil, just simple plain word.
Furthermore there is a scientific link between the back beat in Rock music and the realizing of hormones in the body. It is a fact that Rock music releases adrenaline and sexual enhancing hormones.
The Bible says that we are to make no provision for the flesh. As Christians we are to abstain from all forms and manner of evil. If the world created it and the world likes it than we as Christians have an obligation to not be a part of it.
The Rock and Roll movement has accelerated to the point that now the words match the content of the beat. Yes the beat was evil and now the words have changed and the beat has not. Yes as an illegal drug must be used in greater quantities for it to give the same euphoric effect the Rock beat has gotten more intense, but it is still the same. And it is causing even worse physical effects. As the following video shows.
So where are we today? Where has the Christian contemporary music movement gone? Here are two videos. The first is a live concert video of KISS a popular modern “secular rock” band. I don’t want you to fry your brain watching it all but just watch enough to get the feel of it. Then I would like you to watch the video after that, by DC Talk a popular Christian Rock band. Please do watch the second video all the way through. I can tell you Elvis would have been ashamed at the hip movement DC talk is doing in the second video.
I am not your conscience. I have no desire to be. But with what I have just told you, do you think God likes “Christian Rock and Roll?”
Thursday, March 13, 2008
As I write this I am sitting inside the Virginia War Memorial. This is my job, I work for Capitol Police. As I was working here yesterday a 90 year old volunteer and I were the only ones in the building. He told me that he was a WWII veteran. Over the next couple of hours we talked about his experiences in the war. This is his story.
He was a lieutenant in the army. His mission: to detect Nazi artillery and radio the co ordinance to his men who had artillery behind American lines so that they could shell the Germans. He was in Paris going across a bordering river. The American Army came up to the shore and the core of engineers began building a bridge to bring the tanks and half tracks across. The Nazis who had artillery stationed in an unknown location on the other side of the river began shelling the American forces. The old gentleman leaned on the desk that I was sitting at as he talked. Here he stopped evidently moved at the memory of such a traumatic event. He looked at me and made a semblance of laughter as I could clearly see the pain of remembering such an event in his eyes. “It was bad” he said.
The shells burst around them. Some of the shells misfired¾ thanks to the French underground that had sabotaged the German’s ammo the previous night. If it wasn’t for that so many more of them would have died. Amidst the bombarding explosions the army corp. of engineers maintained the building of the bridge. They had to get through. The freedom of the world depended on them. They made it across and the Nazis moved their shelling onto the other side of the river still keeping it up hot and heavy. “Call it cowardice or whatever you want but I convinced another lieutenant in a half track to come with me out of the field.” the older gentlemen said looking pained as if regretting something that he hadn’t yet told me. They traveled until they found a young French boy that said he wanted to help. So after climbing to the top of a water tower and then being led to the top of a church tower without having spotted the German artillery he made a decision that has haunted him for the rest of his life.
He made a decision to take a dirt road further toward the enemy to locate the artillery. The French boy knew the danger of this and said that he had to go home. The old gentleman laughed hard. He said, “It was even funny then.”
He said that he began traveling further and further down that dirt road. He went further and still further until he said he got an eerie feeling. Deep in enemy territory he stopped signaling to the other lieutenant to stop he got out of his jeep and the other lieutenant from his half track and they walked to meet each other in the middle. Little did he know but he had stopped dead in the middle of a Nazi outpost. On both sides of the road were German machine gun nests. The Nazis were sitting there watching and waiting for them to meet in the middle of their vehicles so that they would be most vulnerable to machine gun fire. As soon as they met in the center of their convoy the Nazis opened fire. His driver, himself, and his fellow lieutenant fell to the ground shot. He said that the other lieutenant’s face just exploded. “I was shot in the a** and I knew I wasn’t going to die from that so I went to the lieutenant and tried to help him. I know how to tie a tourniquet on an arm or a leg but how do you tie off a wound like that.” His eyes filled with tears and his voice choked when he reached this part of the story. He pulled himself together as he told me that he left him and made his way back to the jeep for cover so he could return fire. The firefight lasted around 10 to 15 minutes when all of a sudden it stopped. The American army was rolling up the road in their direction.
The medic treated him first. “I knew for sure he was dead when they didn’t treat him first. But I found out later that he was alive and lasted a week in the hospital before he died.” His voice choked again. “I am not a war hero…I should never have gone away from the main army like that…I am not a hero.”
I was taken back by this comment. To think that a man like this who fought for the freedom we hold so dear should consider himself a coward and not a hero was saddening. I looked at him and told him “Sir, you are a hero in my eyes. You all are and always will be.” As he later walked towards the door to leave he turned to me and said, “I don’t have one to many friends and I am glad you are one of them.”
Sir it is my honor to have met you and considering you my friend is the greatest honor a man could have. My hat is off to all our veterans and we owe them all the thanks in the world for the freedom they have conserved and won for us. Never forget their sacrifice and always remember that freedom is not free.
“The tree of liberty must be regularly watered by the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson.
He was a lieutenant in the army. His mission: to detect Nazi artillery and radio the co ordinance to his men who had artillery behind American lines so that they could shell the Germans. He was in Paris going across a bordering river. The American Army came up to the shore and the core of engineers began building a bridge to bring the tanks and half tracks across. The Nazis who had artillery stationed in an unknown location on the other side of the river began shelling the American forces. The old gentleman leaned on the desk that I was sitting at as he talked. Here he stopped evidently moved at the memory of such a traumatic event. He looked at me and made a semblance of laughter as I could clearly see the pain of remembering such an event in his eyes. “It was bad” he said.
The shells burst around them. Some of the shells misfired¾ thanks to the French underground that had sabotaged the German’s ammo the previous night. If it wasn’t for that so many more of them would have died. Amidst the bombarding explosions the army corp. of engineers maintained the building of the bridge. They had to get through. The freedom of the world depended on them. They made it across and the Nazis moved their shelling onto the other side of the river still keeping it up hot and heavy. “Call it cowardice or whatever you want but I convinced another lieutenant in a half track to come with me out of the field.” the older gentlemen said looking pained as if regretting something that he hadn’t yet told me. They traveled until they found a young French boy that said he wanted to help. So after climbing to the top of a water tower and then being led to the top of a church tower without having spotted the German artillery he made a decision that has haunted him for the rest of his life.
He made a decision to take a dirt road further toward the enemy to locate the artillery. The French boy knew the danger of this and said that he had to go home. The old gentleman laughed hard. He said, “It was even funny then.”
He said that he began traveling further and further down that dirt road. He went further and still further until he said he got an eerie feeling. Deep in enemy territory he stopped signaling to the other lieutenant to stop he got out of his jeep and the other lieutenant from his half track and they walked to meet each other in the middle. Little did he know but he had stopped dead in the middle of a Nazi outpost. On both sides of the road were German machine gun nests. The Nazis were sitting there watching and waiting for them to meet in the middle of their vehicles so that they would be most vulnerable to machine gun fire. As soon as they met in the center of their convoy the Nazis opened fire. His driver, himself, and his fellow lieutenant fell to the ground shot. He said that the other lieutenant’s face just exploded. “I was shot in the a** and I knew I wasn’t going to die from that so I went to the lieutenant and tried to help him. I know how to tie a tourniquet on an arm or a leg but how do you tie off a wound like that.” His eyes filled with tears and his voice choked when he reached this part of the story. He pulled himself together as he told me that he left him and made his way back to the jeep for cover so he could return fire. The firefight lasted around 10 to 15 minutes when all of a sudden it stopped. The American army was rolling up the road in their direction.
The medic treated him first. “I knew for sure he was dead when they didn’t treat him first. But I found out later that he was alive and lasted a week in the hospital before he died.” His voice choked again. “I am not a war hero…I should never have gone away from the main army like that…I am not a hero.”
I was taken back by this comment. To think that a man like this who fought for the freedom we hold so dear should consider himself a coward and not a hero was saddening. I looked at him and told him “Sir, you are a hero in my eyes. You all are and always will be.” As he later walked towards the door to leave he turned to me and said, “I don’t have one to many friends and I am glad you are one of them.”
Sir it is my honor to have met you and considering you my friend is the greatest honor a man could have. My hat is off to all our veterans and we owe them all the thanks in the world for the freedom they have conserved and won for us. Never forget their sacrifice and always remember that freedom is not free.
“The tree of liberty must be regularly watered by the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson.
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