Evolution and Climate Change

For 150 years, science has purported to tell us our origins, all the while changing the story at its convenience.Shall we be surprised when science purports to tell us of our future judgment and hope of redemption, all the while changing the story at its convenience?

A good devotional site to check out

Devotional Christian

Good resources, and they're giving away some free books.

Reformation vs. Enlightenment

This says it a lot better than I have so far. But I've got more to say soon.

If it ain't Baroque . . .

Now, in contrast to Schoenberg, the atonal serialist, let's take a look at J.S. Bach. Bach was every bit the mathematician that Schoenberg was, and he used it to incredible effect. Bach took counterpoint and harmony to unprecedented heights, and his fugues were astonishing in their complexity.

Bach was a product of the Reformation. A Lutheran choirmaster, he signed his cantatas "SDG" at the bottom of the page. There is no question that he understood what it meant to write music to the glory of God. He took great joy in doing so. And he wrote works of intense beauty that greatly influenced the next two centuries of music. Without Bach, Mozart would not have been the artist that he was. Neither would Beethoven or any of the great composers who followed.

Bach intended to build on what had been given to him, and he did so in service to his King. The result was beauty.

Schoenberg intended to destroy what had come before him, and he did so to the glory of reason. The result was, well, ugly.

There's a couple of centuries between the two men. During those two centuries, artists kneaded the leaven of the Enlightenment into the dough of creativity. There was a process. It took time. But the next chance you get, go to a museum and compare the art from the Baroque period to that of the early- to mid- 20th century. There is an objective difference.

How exactly does this work?

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
(Exodus 20:4 ESV)

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.
(Exodus 25:18-20 ESV)

I realize that this is not directly about music. But I think there's something here. Work it out.

An idol is, well, an idol.

Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire." But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god." They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, "I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!" He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"
(Isaiah 44:14-20 NASB)

Over in Frank's meta, I made mention of a certain Mr. Schoenberg, who was a composer in the previous century. His purpose was to make mincemeat of the tonal system, so that all 12 notes in the scale carried equal weight; none would stand as a tonal center and there would be no possibility of resolution. Schoenberg had faith in the rationality of man, and wished music to reflect his hope in this mathematical rationality. This is the clearest example I can give of music being idolatry.

Now, it doesn't take long before someone says, "How can you say that Schoenberg is objectively bad or harmful?" I want to note here that I have chosen my words carefully. That's why I have not said that Schoenberg's music is bad, nor that it is harmful to listen to.

Idols are always crafted by someone, and a good idolater crafts his idol well. One can see the art of the idol. If the idol had not been well-crafted, the idolater probably wouldn't worship it. But it takes a worshiper of the true God to see the truth behind the false god, even while appreciating the craft that went into making the false god. But a true worshiper is not going to make the same kind of art as the idolater, because he is not in the service of a false god.

Thinking about music. No, I mean, like really thinking about it.

Blogger Frank Turk has begun to sound off on what makes good and bad music, and he's setting his sights on rap in particular. Well and good. Frank's one of my favorite thinkers. But he's thinking on my turf, so I'm going to weigh in from a different angle. We'll see where our conclusions end up.

And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
(Isaiah 6:5 ESV)

Because I am talking about music in our culture, I give the caveat that I am a musician in our culture. I'm not pretending that I stand outside its influence to be a critic. But I can take what God has commanded us clearly and objectively in Scripture and apply that to music. Sound fair?

Here we go:

"'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "'You shall have no other gods before me.
(Deuteronomy 5:6-7 ESV)

Music does not exist for its own sake. Because it is in the realm of creation, it exists by the will of and for the pleasure of Jesus Christ (Col 1:16). And that doesn't mean just "worship music." That means all music, period. It accomplishes what He wants it to accomplish. God loves music and has a wonderful plan for its life. Heh.

So here's a question. How is it possible for music to have a god? Is it possible for music to be idolatrous in any sense (remember: just the music, not the lyrics)?

All Glory chord charts

Music and chord charts for all my songs will soon be available at immersedmusic.com. You can also order both All Glory and Immersed there.

In the mean time, if you need a chord chart, you can email me at david@davidpaulregier.com.

Jesus Christ is Lord

One of the phrasings of the gospel that I have heard throughout my life is that of "making Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life."

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
(Acts 2:36 ESV)

God has made Jesus both Lord and Savior. For me to make Him Lord and Savior is like me making the sun shine. He is Who He is. The question before me is, "What do I do now?"

The Idolater Repents: A Parable in Miniature

Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire." But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god." They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.
(Isaiah 44:14-18 NASB)

So the idolater, having heard what a fool he is for carving wood into idols that can't see him or hear his prayers, repents and gets rid of all the idols. In fact, he is so sorry for his foolishness that he swears off the use of wood forever. Cold and hungry, he perishes.

How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
(Psalms 40:4 NASB)

New CD by David Regier and Scott Hill

"Immersed," my new CD with Scott Hill is now available on iTunes and Amazon.com.

I wrote all the songs except "I Surrender All."

Hope you're blessed.

Watches

There was a man who admired fine Swiss timepieces. He absorbed the history of watchmaking, gloried in the intricate works, thrilled at the gentle sweep of the second hand in the finest watches.

Whenever he had 5, 10, or 20 bucks, he went out and bought an imitation of one of these beautiful watches. He ordered them online, he bought them from the streetcorner hoodlum. Sometimes when he got a little extra money, he'd buy a more expensive replica, even though its second hand lurched forward just like the cheap ones. He knew their works were far inferior to those of the Swiss watches he adored, and he freely admitted it, always pointing out to people how much he truly valued the real deal.

He kept buying the replicas. He probably had a thousand of them.

A True Parable

There was a group of Christian farmers in Russia during the 1870's. Facing extermination or exile, they had their children pick through the wheat, saving the best kernels in giant seedbags. The rest they baked into hard rolls to sustain them on their journey to America.

Once here, they settled in the unforgiving prairie land of the Midwest. But their healthy, hardy winter wheat thrived in the harsh conditions. Eventually it became the standard throughout America's farmland, the breadbasket of the world.

A parable

There was a man who, having taken a shower, put on the sweaty, grungy t-shirt that he had been wearing for the whole week. It fit him well, and it was very comfortable. But no one wanted to get near him. At last he figured out that people don't like seeing a dirty t-shirt, so he put a clean one on top. It was really uncomfortable and tight, but it covered up the smell some, at least for a little while.

Col. 3:1-17

Can this be done without trying to sound like U2?

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Col 3:16 NASB)

Weeds revisited

For the sake of the couple of people who commented on "Weeds" (thank you!), I'm going to put in my two or three cents.

The two suggestions I received were to (a) leave it to the gardener and (b) Round-Up (tm). Interestingly enough, I considered mentioning both possibilities when I originally wrote the post, almost in the same words.

Now, scripture is abundantly clear that I am the gardener. I don't own this yard. Even when I thought I did, and treated it like I did, I didn't. I am a steward, not a landowner. Now, I know the Landowner, and have come to know His benificience in allowing me a great deal of freedom in tending the yard. But it's His land, and He is counting on me to care for the garden.

He is also abundantly available for every resource I need to care for the yard. He has made it clear that He will provide any tool, any fertilizer, any seed, all kinds of instruction, and even personal assistance for the care of this garden. He wants His garden to be fruitful.

There are rules for its use, of course. There are some seeds that I am never to plant, because the Landowner knows that they can easily overtake the garden. There are seasons in which I should not plant so the soil can rest and receive nourishment. And most of all, I should never forget that the garden belongs to the Landowner and not to me.

The land was cleared when it was purchased. But the seeds of weeds can blow in from other fields. It falls to me (with the Landowner's abundant assistance and resource) to continue to care for the land, constantly and joyfully presenting it to Him, rejoicing with Him in its fruit.

Round-Up (tm) was going to be a little stinger on the end of the "Weeds" post. But if you read the label, you realize that where you use it, nothing's going to grow for several months. It gets the weeds out of the in the sidewalk really well. But if you want fruit, you'd better use other means. Jesus' is not Round-Up.

Thanks for the comments. I hope to be posting more often soon.

Weeds

Our back yard is in the process of going native. This is not by my choice or design. There are simply plants coming up in our lawn that want to be there more than grass does.

I’ve noticed two types of weeds. One kind has a shallow root system, but has tendrils that weave their way through the lawn. Unless you untangle every last tentacle from the blades of grass, the weed will break off at its stem and come back with a vengeance within a week or so. One must apply a great deal of patience in unraveling such a tangled weed.

The other kind is easy to spot because it’s tall and leafy. It looks like you could just grab, tug, and be done with it. But the thick, meaty root drives straight down to the pit of hell. I’m almost certain that the tip is hot. But unless you loosen the dirt around it and pull firmly straight up, a weed taller and stronger will grow up from the root before you know it. Once more, a concerted effort must be applied.

I’ve tried working on these weeds once a week, taking a few hours on the weekend. But I notice that I miss a lot of them, and the ones I let go seem to spread beyond my ability to keep them under control. I end up frustrated.

So I’m going to take some time each morning for the next few weeks to see what happens if I concentrate on particular sections of the lawn, one at a time. Then, on the weekend, I should be able to fertilize, pick out the few straggling weeds, and maybe do some seeding.

I’m hoping that my lawn looks better by the end of the summer.

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:5-8 NASB)

Dried Up

The winter rains we had here in Southern California have caused the bugs to be fruitful and multiply. Our yard has become a happy haven for beetles, flies, butterflies, ants and moths. The spiders are happy too, and fat.

This past weekend we got our first taste of the hot hot hot summer in the inland desert. As the temperatures approached the century mark for the third day, I noticed some unusual pods lying on our backyard patio. At first I thought they were empty spider egg cases, until I picked one up, and it disintegrated. I looked closer at another, and found that it was a dried-up moth.

Funny, how creatures made of dust could dry up and fall apart when they’re disconnected from their source of water and exposed to a little heat.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1:1-6 (NASB)

Infected!

Thanks to Alan Knox, I've been infected with the 10-20-30 virus. So here's what I was doing 10, 20, and 30 years ago.

1997 -- I had just moved out here to Southern California with my wife, Darlene. We had felt the Lord's prompting for me to go into worship ministry. Hadn't found a church yet, so I was teaching guitar and piano lessons, and we were both desperately looking for work. We lived with Darlene's parents the first few months we were out here. That was plenty.

1987 -- Spent a crazy year in Boston at Berklee College of Music. Worked at a pushcart selling t-shirts. The best thing I can say about this year was that I learned how God's Holy Spirit keeps hold of us even when we are disobedient.

1977 -- Wow. I was 10. I was the second smallest kid in my class (Thanks, Randy McDonald), and had thick glasses. My home church was Garden Park Mennonite Brethren Church. When I dream about church, that's still the place, more often than not, where I am. Had a great science teacher in school, who let me draw little cartoons on my assignments. Learned to like adults better than kids, and family better than school.

Confession

Let’s tackle another auto-pilot verse. This is one of the ones we learn early in the Christian life, whether it’s in Sunday School, VBS, or a new believer’s discipleship class.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(1Jo 1:9 NASB)

I carried this verse around with me for most of my Christian life, thinking that this meant, “When I sin, I’ll just pray a little confession prayer, and my sin is gone. Nobody else ever has to know, and it’s as if I’d never sinned.” If someone questioned me about my sin, I could lie my way out of it. Now that’s another sin, but of course it’s again easily remedied by my little confession prayer.

Reading it in context provides a different perspective on John’s meaning in this verse:

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

(1Jo 1:5-10 NASB)

Notice the “one another” buried in the middle of that passage. I am beginning to realize that the confession that John is talking about may mean more than confessing in a private prayer to God. The fellowship spoken of here is both with God and with His church. The more I meditate on this passage, the more I am convinced that John is prescribing the antidote to the masks that we wear in the church. An earlier letter to the church says:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

(Jam 5:16 NASB)

Fellowship comes from walking in the light together. If we withhold our sins from one another, we lose fellowship, and we lose the opportunity for healing. Perhaps fellowship is the instrument that God uses to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It’s a scary thought, living in that sort of transparency. But the steps I have begun to take in this direction have helped me to look at this as more of an invitation than a command.

In any case, it’s not what I learned in Sunday School. Your thoughts?