Music Misunderstood: Addressing Berdahl’s Claims About Contemporary Worship
I was recently introduced to Doug Berdahl’s seminar when he visited my parent’s church. They came back with rave revues, so I took a look. I was not nearly as impressed. Doug Berdahl’s criticisms of contemporary music styles, particularly rhythm and percussion, reflect a rigid, dualistic mindset that has no foundation in scripture or the writings of Ellen White. By misinterpreting doctrine and selectively targeting modern music, Berdahl creates a false divide between the sacred and the profane, while ignoring the larger truth: all of life, when lived in harmony with God, is sacred. Let’s dismantle his objections and uncover a more compelling, inclusive vision of worship.
The Demonization of Rhythm and Percussion
Berdahl claims that rhythm-heavy music and percussion instruments have roots in paganism,
Click here to continue readingThe Singular Plurality of Marriage
In an epic universal ceremony—amid galactic orchestras, massed choirs, and thundering tympani—the rightful King will marry His bride (Revelation 19:7-8). Then the metaphor of marriage will become the fullness of what it was intended to be: the marriage of humanity to Christ. As such, it will be expanded to include much more than it now does, extending the intimate privileges of marriage to include the participation of all who are part of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). After all, it only makes sense that if we marry Christ then we also marry His body.
Marriage Reconceptualized
Thus, what we consider monogamy in this world will be flipped on its head in the next. Monogamy, in the context of marriage to
Click here to continue readingJudgment, Sacrifice, and Redemption
Jordan Peterson talks about an interesting idea in Christianity where the judge and the redeemer are the same thing. When I first heard him explain this concept of judgment and redemption you could have knocked me over with a feather.
The Redeemer and the Judge
Peterson says that this understanding comes from our instinct to make qualitative distinctions—“this is better than that”—between things. The difference between good and bad things is what gives us direction, the possibility of moving upward. Humans need upward movement because they are ultimately insufficient in and of themselves. They need to conceptualize something like the highest good and then strive for it.
So there isn’t any difference between conceptualizing the good and being judged. “This is better than
Click here to continue readingAs the Waters Cover the Sea
Many of us tremble before the dark passions of evil men and demons that threaten to eclipse our world and snuff out all goodness. We fear, like Èowyn of Rohan, that we are insignificant in our places, that against the rising ranks of wickedness we have no effective voice or action. Yet Aragorn gently admonishes us just as he did Èowyn: “You are a daughter of kings. A shieldmaiden of Rohan. I do not think that will be your fate.”
Not Just Another Story
The Lord of the Rings is not just any story. It’s a foreshadowing to which those of us who are fearful of the events coming upon our world should pay attention. Are we not the sons and daughters of Kings? If we want to see how weak darkness
Click here to continue readingMorality In Music
Recently my son said something about music that really got me to thinking:
I feel sorry for people who say that drums and guitars with full bodied choirs and orchestras—often music with much personality and deep emotion—is not acceptable. They are missing out on some of the most beautiful expressions of love and emotion that we has humans can bring to our maker. I firmly believe that music—all kinds of music—is the life blood of the universe and (along with mathematics) a universal language.
Music That Has Blessed Me
All of the genres of music that have blessed and taught me over the years came back to me as I thought about what my son had said. I knew what he was talking about. Many morally object
Click here to continue readingLast Generation Theology and Perfection
What is moral perfection, and how does the Final Atonement relate to our performance?
Three things need to be addressed here:
- We have been too dogmatic about perfection. Sure, doctrine coaches us on how to love, but love cannot be put in the box of doctrine or dogma.
- A focus on perfection turns God into our critic and punisher.
- Many Christians are confused about what it means to keep the law perfectly, and it all comes down to the definition of sin.
It’s All Futile Without Love
In the end, no matter what doctrine we hold to, it will be whether we learn how to love from Christ (and especially how to love those who hold different doctrine) that distinguishes between sheep and goats. Doctrine, held above our gracious treatment of those who disagree
Click here to continue readingDoes Freedom Need Our Wielded Sword?
Ever since the Israelites stripped the swords from the bodies of the Egyptians whose corpses washed up on the banks of the Red Sea men have felt like they needed—through force of arms—to defend God and freedom against evil. Yet history has proven this course of action wrong even though many today believe that we must defend God and freedom through war.
Did Jesus Wield A Sword?
The actions of Jesus when He came to earth and the history of Christianity since then have shown that freedom needs no violent defense. Jesus is our example, and He came to earth at at time when freedom and goodness were at record lows. Indeed, before He came, God’s people tried again and again, through force of arms, to obtain freedom. They failed
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