Thought Quotient

Quote of the day…

From this story titled ‘Bush Speech Elicits Applause, Dread’…

Jill Zack, an Albuquerque, N.M., Democrat and marketing manager, was unmoved by Bush’s address, accusing the president of changing his story to justify the war.

“We went there because we were scared they had weapons of mass destruction, but now it’s about Iraqi freedom,” said Zack, 26. “But is that our desire or their desire?”

And they don’t deserve freedom? What makes us so deserving? Sigh, this election will probably be decided by how many voters are dictated by a narrow minded, selfish worldview verses those that see that life is bigger than they are.

Reality Check:
The war on terror is on, and there can be no more sitting on the sidelines. For a good analysis, see this Chuck Colson commentary which is not political. There are the things we want to do and then there are the things we need to do. President Bush is subjecting himself to tons of criticism for seeing a need and acting upon it. Nobody said being a leader would be popular or easy.

Liberal politicians and journalists want President Bush to say that the war in Iraq was a mistake…

Bush’s refusal to do so has angered them so much apparently that they are flat out misrepresenting what he just said.

What President Bush said…

“I don’t want to sound like I have made no mistakes,” he said Tuesday night. “I’m confident I have.”

and the liberal spin from John Kerry is…

“The president may refuse to acknowledge a single mistake in the course of his presidency,” he said, “but with deaths mounting and American sacrifice increasing, it’s time he offered a specific plan that secures real international involvement, gets the target off the backs of our troops and starts to share the burden in Iraq.”

Meanwhile the war in Iraq continues and liberals continue to scheme for ways to divide the public as to drop the Presidents ratings for the upcoming election in which they hope to regain power. While there is a actual war for control in Iraq right now, there is a war of words in this country that is being waged for political power. One thing I’ve noticed over the years by following politics is that the lust for power can turn people into hateful, vengeful, unmerciful political animals. So many liberals have become consumed by this recently and it is leading to their ruin.

Paradoxes

Ok, I know this is the theology page, and I’m probably going to look like a goof for putting this up here. But it’s our website… so we can put up whatever we want!

I just stumbled across one of the best lyricists I’ve ever listened to and I’m completely shocked. I received Warren Barfield’s self-titled CD in the mail about a month ago. As with most of the CD’s I receive in the mail, it shuffled from my desk to my floor to my shelf to my computer (I’m not exactly a “type A” personality) and finally made it into my CD player yesterday. I was floored. Lyrically, it is one of the best CD’s I have ever heard.

There are lots of CD’s out there that consist of fluff and feel good lyrics without significant lyrics. It seems to be a trend to generalize your lyrics to the point that anyone can listen to them and feel “good” or “positive”. While that’s all well and good if your purpose is to make people feel positive about themselves - I don’t believe that’s the entire purpose of music. I would be the last person to condemn an artist for making “entertainment” music - after all, that’s what musicians and entertainers do. We don’t get upset with architects if they don’t inscribe the name of Jesus all over each building they complete, nor do we chastise factory workers for not stamping Jesus on each steering wheel they pass down the assembly line. No, we save our harshest criticism for people who make their living from their art. It’s important to understand that not all art is ministry.

However, I get excited when I hear music with a message. And I get really excited when I stumble upon a Christian artist whose faith and convictions overflow powerfully into their art. In this present world, I feel such artists are harder to find. Warren Barfield, however, is clearly one of those artists.

I’m not here to give a review of the CD. I thought you might want to know that. This is, after all, the Theology section.

Music is an amazing gift from God. It can convey such a powerful message in such simplicity over a small space of time and with such an incredible emotional impact. It is the ultimate tool for communication and inspiration. As such, I have found that many of my most significant philosophical/theological questions and musings have been prompted by songs I have heard. One of these musings was triggered by the song Beautiful Broken World by Warren Barfield:

Wonderfully arrayed on a bright Autumn day
The leaves set the trees ablaze.
I’m sitting here beneath this decaying canopy
Sunlight sifting through the shade, it won’t be long
Until they’re gone away.
That’s the price we pay.

In this beautiful broken world.

Isn’t it amazing that a world so broken can still be so beautiful? It’s such a self-contradicting concept and so difficult to put meaningully into words. I’ve thought about this so many times in the past… it’s nice to have it put so succinctly in this song.

One of the things that amazes me in the Bible are the paradoxes put forth by Christ, “the last shall be first,” “losing our lives in order to find them,” living in the world without being of it, God becoming man! Our first response is always disbelief, inability to comprehend. And yet, we see that very same paradox embedded in the world in which we live. We find beauty even in pain and death - pain and death that were never meant to inhabit this world. We gain understanding in pain and new life in death, it is as though God painted the message of redemption into the fabric of the universe. Tell me not of hopeless life and purposeless pain - in all darkness God has planted the spark of light and it is our purpose to celebrate and share that light with all that we are in this faint gleam of the eternal and true life God has prepared for us.