Quality has a quality all its own. Or, I hear God in the strangest places.

I have a faux-confession to make: I liked all five seasons of “The Wire”. I liked AMC’s recent show “The Killing”. Two of my favorite movies are “Shaun of the Dead” and “Oh Brother, Where art thou?” (I like everything Cohen Brothers) I have a Pandora station that has nothing to to with Christianity – in fact I find most contemporary Christian music insipid. I regularly devour non-Christian fiction novels – in fact I find most Christian fiction insipid. ( I do read the Bible every day and my apologetics/theology library is well over two hundred books, all of which I’ve read at least once.) I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with television, the internet, or science/technology/progress in general. It’s what you do with it that makes the difference. Grain makes bread. Or booze.

I blame Katherine Coble’s latest post for shoving me over the edge here. (Click Here to read it. The above picture is a handful of raw, uncut diamonds. You see, it’s all about the substance of the thing.

It’s a bizarre logic that implies non-christians are incapable of noble, creative or compassionate expression or that to recognize such things implies carnality or compromise. It’s flaccid thinking indeed to insist anything labeled “christian” is somehow intrinsically wholesome or sound.

I’m not talking about willful disobedience or casting stumbling blocks among the weak. Millstones aren’t good fashion accessories. Jesus had mercy on my wretched little soul, but what’s kept me over the last 25+ years is the fact that the God of the universe isn’t some ignorant cracker in a wife-beater showing off his flabby, faded campaign tats. Neither is He some constipated Inquisitor who’s idea of spirituality is self-flagellation and starvation in a cold cell. He is also not some jolly Santa-bearded Care Bear inducing hyperglycemia in anyone who gets within Hug range.

I am drawn to God by many things; one of them is His sheer mind-blowing excellence. I see and hear God in Jesus. In the Scripture. In the rhema and the pneuma. I hear Him at I am Second

But I also hear him here.

and here:

And that’s the way it is for me. There -I’ve confessed.

4 Replies to “Quality has a quality all its own. Or, I hear God in the strangest places.”

There are times when I don’t understand most Christian music, or fiction. So I turn to secular stations or books. But it’s funny, when I’m feeling really down in the dumps, I turn back to the Christian stuff. It just feels much more healing. “Edgy” sucks during those times. It’s just not what the doctor ordered. So, I’m still for the argument that it takes all kinds.

Seasons and moods I get, but I’m still very selective about my Christian music, or I find myself listening to classical and contemporary instrumental like jazz and soundtracks.

I also search out novels by established authors in genres I like: Steven Pressfield, Joe Abercrombie, Bernard Cornwell… And again, there are weeks I only read non-fiction. Must be getting picky in my old age.

Thanks for posting.

I love Cristian music…..but I also love some the classics of my youth.. Rush,Bob Seger, Stevie Ray Vaughn. In addition I listen to a modern German Band called Wir Sind Helden (we are heroes)

I played Dungeons & Dragons for 25 years. But it never left the table top.

Like you said-its all what you do with it. 🙂

I love Christian music too, just not all of it. Then again that can be said about lots of things. I’m really noting that it being “Christian” isn’t an automatic home run. Its about seeing past the package and discerning the content.