Protestant Fundamentalism & Catholicism.

It should be no shock to anyone who reads my blog that I have some issues with Protestant Fundamentalism. I think there are many toxic forces at work in countless churches that are the farthest thing from God's will and destructive to the people involved in these groups. This post is not really about those issues, however. This addresses a logical fallacy that results from the fundamentalist viewpoint.

The fundamentlaist asserts that all authority for religious and moral matters rests upon the Bible and their subsequent interpretation of it. The latter part of this statement results in the division and diversity that you see in the protestant world, as numerous groups and individuals interpret different (and often key) passages differently. it becomes a hit and miss game, largely based upon traditions and opinions, what suits an individual is what makes up their interpretation. Regardless, the bible remains the sole authority. . .the doctrine of "Sola Scriptura" as the early Protestant Reformers called it (by Scripture Alone) is the battle cry for fundamentalists everywhere.

There is only one small problem with this concept. The Bible is a product of the Catholic Church.

Yes, that is right. The Bible as we have it today. . .the 66 books that are considered by Fundamentalists to be their sole authority was collected, canonized, edited, translated, and preserved entirely by the Catholic church. While there may be manuscripts that date to the late second century (over a hundred years after their alleged composition), there are no extant copies of the original manuscripts, nor even first or second generation copies. In fact, the books that are considered to be Canon of the NT, were only ascribed as such by early church fathers IN RESPONSE TO the writings of opposing teachers (such as Marcion) to say "no, HIS list of writings is not the "official" list of scripture, OURS is". It is also noteworthy that the "orthodox" Church, later to become the "Catholic" Church actually had manuscripts that taught things contrary to their doctrine to be destroyed. . .burned. . .lost forever Who KNOWS what these writings contained?

Now, I don;t intend for this to be an indictment of the Catholic church by any stretch (I'll save that for another time--LOL), but simply to point out that the only reason the Bible, the NT, exists at all, is because of the authority of the Catholic Church.

The Bible was made by the Church, plain and simple. . .not the other way around.

Yet Protestant Fundamentalists reject the authority of the Catholic church. By doing so, they also reject the Authority of the Bible. . .you can't have one without the other. . .plain and simple.

I have long asserted that Protestant Fundamentalism requires a degree of mental acrobatics, what Orwell called "Doublethink" to maintain it's integrity. One more example of how absolutist thinking is dangerous to the mind and to the soul.

To my religious friends, please do not take this as an attack on your faith, but as evidence that all religions have more in common than we like to think. . .All religions require a leap of faith. . .the chasam that we leap may differ from group to group and person to person, but the final analysis is that there are no absolute proofs in religion. The Fundamentalist, who asserts that faith in the Bible or faith in Jesus or faith in Christianity or whatever, is standing on the same shaky ground of faith that the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Deist, etc is. . .unable to prove anything, but hoping for a better way.

J R Mounts

I have been meaning for some time to give a quick shout out about my good friend and co-producer/guitarist, J R Mounts. J R and I met thru the band "juggernaut" (later to be called PseudoArmor) that we both played in for a while last year. The band did not last, but the friendship did.

J R (and yes, that is his real name--no initials. . just "J R Mounts") is a phenomenal guitarist and songwriter. . .we have found that our individual influences and styles totally compliment each other, while still being challenging. His work on both "The Spirit Tree" and "Ubuntu" expand the music beyond anything that I could have hoped for, and we are looking forward to ongoing collaborations, even after "Ubuntu" is finished.

If J R were just a musical collaborator, I would be beyond blessed, but our friendship has also grown and multiplied that blessing a hundred fold. . .whether it is working on music, discussing music, books or movies, talking about family and relationships, or unraveling the mysteries of the universe, I am thankful that grace led us together.

So, here is my virtual nod to my good good friend, who came to me at a time when I really needed a friend and partner, and who i feel certain will continue to be a good friend for years to come.

Love ya man!!

Random Thoughts. . .The Return

I figured I was about due for another period of loose associations on this blog. So here we go. . .

Cat food dishes are to crawling babies as a light is to a moth.

Fall is great. . unless it rains. . then it is pretty freaking nasty.

5:00 PM is the zero hour in our house. . .this is the time when there is the most to do in the lease amount of time. If I could just cancel dinner. . .you know, no cooking, no eating, no clean up, no nothing. . .man. . it is a million things to do in a 45 minute period. . with tired, hungry kids, and a wife that needs to go to work. Maybe we could just switch to having microwave dinners. (Insert rimshot here)

why is it freezing cold outside until the house gets stuffy?

A 30GB ipod is really big until you start putting music on it. (of course the fact that all of the Harry Potter books on cd are on mine doesn't help)

Alright. . .crazy kids. . I gotta split.

(SIGH)

I think I just make a mistake in getting in online discussions.

it is getting incredibly frustrating (and even apalling) to me the number of discussions I have been in in the past few weeks of a "political" nature that have left me feeling somewhat nauseous.

Most of these discussions have been with people who claim to be Christians, are middle to upper-middle class, white, and educated. A majority are female and married. Without fail, these individuals end up making disparaging comments about SOME member of another race, culture, religion, or orientation.

I have stopped actively participating in the Ex church of Christ board, as there are a number of people, most of whom claim to be Chrisitans, who insist that the resolution to the conflict in the Middle East is to "Nuke them all" (that was one of Jesus' sayings wasn't it? "Nuke them before they Nuke you"?)

It is very disturbing, that members of one of the wealthiest, most powerful nations in the world, with a standard of living which far exceeds the VAST majority of people worldwide, would waste their time and energy criticizing members of another culture, vilifying them, and turning a blind eye to the needs of so many. ESPECIALLY when these people claim to be Christians.

The Jesus that the Bible talks about taught a message of tolerance, acceptance and peace. Of unity, equality, and Justice. To claim to be one of his followers, and then defend one's own callousness, is nothing short of hipocrisy.

I admit that I am no saint. . .I admit that I fail in many ways as a person. I offer no excuses for those failings. I think that others could afford to do the same.

The sad thing is, that I am not even talking about them DOING anything. . .not giveing money, or joining the peace corps or whatever. . .just to admit that there are people who are oppressed, and that our culture benefits from that oppression.

So, having rambled and vented, I will pose a question:

Does apathy and ambivalence equal cooperation and collusion?

In otherwords, if an individual refuses to ackowledge and take part in balancing the scales of justice, are they guilty of injustices such as oppression, poverty, and genocide?

Does our benefitting from a culture that has flourished at the expense of other cultures make us guilty of that injustice?

The New Album

For those who care:

The New album, Entitled "Ubuntu", is on the downhill side of completion. Most tracks are already laid down, with the exception of just a few guitar solos and all of my vocal tracks (waiting for some quiet time in the house).

The Track Listing is as follows:

Invitation 6:28
Beneath the Sun 5:15
Down the Dark River 5:05
Lies that get you Killed 5:18
Broken Circle 8:41
Polarized 5:18
Something Like Odysseus 5:15
Out of the Box (w/ Bill Reid) 5:42
The Garden 5:31
Carnival 4:48
Ubuntu 5:45

I feel pretty good about what we've done so far. . .JR Mounts (who recieces co-production credit on this one) is in impeccable form, and his great knack for melodic, layered guitar parts has pushed this to a new level. This album is also very keyboard heavy, while still retaining a rock and roll edge. . .venturing even father into the Progressive Rock Genre (I wrote "Broken Circle" after seeing a Dream Theater Concert on TV--Jordan Rudess is UNBELEIVABLE!).

All in all it has been fun so far. . .I am looking forward to an official "Release date" of the beginning to middle of December! Expect a revamp of the website by then too!!!

Thanks for all of your support!

For my pal Steph!!!! What do I mean by "Musician"?

My old college buddy Stephanie posted some comments and questions on my last blog post that I thought were good questions, I thought I would address them publicly in a new post!

"As for your recording; what happens with the finished product? Not to be stupid, but in what capacity are you a musician? I mean will these be released to the general public for purchase? (forgive my ignorance of the whole music world and how it works! LOL) I love music and listening to it, but am dumb as far as all of the background of it. Explain please."

This is a very good and valid question that many who might stumble accross my webpage or blog might ask. . .what do you mean by "musician"? In short "Why do you do what you DO, Thomas J.?"

Well, first of all, it is NOT for fame or fortune. . .I gave up my dreams of being a Rock and Roll star when I was yunger, thinner, and had more hair--The realization that the price that one had to pay for working as a PROFESSIONAL musician was far higher than I was willing to pay. It really WAS always about the music anyway. . .it was about being able to play, write, record, and create, and in the late 80's/early 90's the technology was not available at an affordable price to be able to do that on one's own--the only feasable way to BE a musician was to have someone else finance it. Thus, I wanted to "Make it" in order to be able to continue to write, record, play, create, etc.

Well, for a long time, Life kind of got in the way of making music. . .I mean, opportunities came to play, and I continued to write intermittently, but by and large, My life was in too much crisis to be able to have the time and space to create the way I wanted to, andworking with other musicians became difficult due to conflicts in goals, taste in music, time constraints, musucian availablity, whatever. In addition, I began to find that the people that I was coming in contact with had JUST as much of a vision to create THEIR music ad I had to create MINE (translated, they had egos as huge as mine, if you can beleive it, and one big headed SOB in a musical group was enough). So, my taste in collaboration became alot more discriminating, as I wanted to be working with people who I was on the same page with--otherwise, the time and effort it would take to create music would be far more than what I was getting out of it.

About this time, the technology caught up with me. . .the affordability of computer based, home recording equipment, and my progressing skill as a musician and a producer, made it feasable for me to create at home, on my own terms. Providence or luck has given me conbtact with some wonderful people to work with in this environment, most notably, my great friend and collaborator JR Mounts, who did most of the lead guitar on "The Spirit Tree" and is in the process of recording his tracks for "Ubuntu" (and doing MAGNIFICENT work, I might add). So, basically, I am a musical Hobbyist. . .creating music in my spare time in a comfortable home studio environment.

Now, to the main question--"what do you DO with your music?"

Well, first of all, I listen to it. . .ALOT. This may sound vain or narcissistic, but it actually is reasonable. I make the music I make because it is what i LIKE. I LIKE to listen to these songs, I think they are GOOD. .and I enjoy listening to them as much, if not more so, than any other artist's music. It makes sense that if I were to put the amount of time and energy into a project that I do and hated listening to it, or was ambivalent about it, it would be pretty stupid. I unapologetically LOVE my music.

Second of all, my KIDS love the music. This is a good thing, because the lyrical content of the music is pretty much my manifesto--my creedbook. I write about what I think, feel, and beleive, and I think that if my kids can hear these songs, and internalize the messages, I will have done a good thing. . it will all have been worthwhile. So far it seems to be a good thing.

Thirdly, I use the music as outreach. . .I think that I have a good outlook on life, and the lessons that I have learned are good things to share. . .I am not perfect, or always right, but I think I am pretty smart. . .and whatever wisdom has been given to me by God is coming thru in these songs. . .if I reach one or two people, or more, thru these songs, and it helps THEM on their journey, I am doing a good thing. ..I am making a difference.

Fourthly, as I said, I enjoy the creative process. . .I like being able to look at a finished album and realize that i CREATED it, out of NOTHING. . .there was NO song there, and i MADE it. ..whether that is from my own ingenuity , or because I am channeling some divine muse, I am not sure, but it is still an exciting, enjoyable thing.

Now, one would ask the question, "well, if you were trying to take this to the next level, wouldn't that just enhance everything?" Well, yes and no. . .working with record companies is OUT--they are interested in making money, not music, and to be involved with that caliber of people does not interest me at all. Yes, it would increase the revenue, but it would also take away the creative freedom, add a whole lot of stress that i DON'T need, and take me away from this home and this family. No thank you.

I could still work on polishing the albums just a little bit more, get them professionally mastered and pressed as CD's (with Jewel cases, etc), play local gigs, festivals, etc., but that is a whole lot of work, for very little return, either financially or from a satisfaction POV. If I had a wealthy benefactor who wanted to pay for all of that, press CD's, buy equipment, arrange gigs, set up amps, help find fellow musicians (or fly them in from out of town), and give me artistic freedom int he meantime, I am not sure that I would turn them down, but that is unlikely to happen.

So, here I am. . .a committed, non-professional, stay at home, musician/philosopher/dad. I make music because it is what i DO. . .pretty much what I have ALWAYS done. . fortunately my circumstance have enabled me to pretty much do it on my own terms with relative ease.

I have to be the luckiest guy in the world.