Sometimes you take a look at the garbage that famous people get into and wonder how and why they follow that. I suppose that the reason so many go after something like "kabblah" is because it is a consumer religion. They have the money and resources to buy something that will bring good to them instead of actually placing faith in God. The money doesn't actually cost them anything and they can go about living their lives uninterrupted. I thank God for his truth that he has revealed to us that we may not be trapped by something as supperficial as this.

I think Kabblah is a fitting word for this religion, it reminds me of the sound of something that flops...

Do you think I could get one of those yarn bracelets?  I want to recieve 'envious stares and looks of ill will.'  I wonder if I make one from my own red yarn, will it have the same effect?  I think Madonna sums it up well, "To think about something bigger than yourself is so cool, to get out of your own ego and stuff."  I agree with her, sad she doesn't know exactly what that bigger thing is.

Point taken.  My comments about Secretary Blackwell were his words not mine. I should have made that clear.

God bless!

"you know something is a cult if you have a special physical identification."

Holy crap.  I'd better throw away my cross necklace then.  And did you see the guy with the WWJD bracelet the other day in Chucks?  I KNEW this campus was trouble...  (crosses himself)

Wait...oh no...

I love that knightdriver guy :) haha!

It is so strange, this transcendentalist movement. It's also strage when we look at how old it is, where it came from, and what it's become. Really upsetting, too, when your favorite entertainers turn out to be so senseless.

I find it sad that so many people in this world are searching for the truth.  They say they want answers to why the world is the way it is, but when presented with the truth of Christ won't listen.  What they are really looking for is answers to their questions while keeping their lifestyles.  I think that's why so many people jump head first into the more mystical religions.  Religions that don't say that sin is sin. 

I pray that God has someone in Madonna's life to show her real truth.  Wouldn't it be awesome if she got saved?

If you're looking for a band that has a nihilistic outlook, check out Hoobastank...

Especially songs like "Same Directioin," "Out of Control," "Never There." 

Hope that helps!

~Heather

PS:  Do you ever check out our blogs?

I agree with Jamie.  That was kinda the point I was trying to make last post about depression vs. nihilism.  It's too easy to throw around accusations like nihilism.  You can make them, sure, but you need to pay close attention to what it is that you're tagging.  As I believe was Jamie's point, the Hoobastank song that was posted up there (Crawling in the Dark) isn't nihilisitic.  In fact, the song "same direction" isn't either.  Both of them assume perpose.  In the one the singer is searching, and in the other he's taking on more of a relativistic approach.

Here's an interesting point:  The song up there could easily be on a Christian album without being changed in the least.  Two reasons: one, it's honest.  Two, it could be a perfect piece of a larger narative.

Let me throw this lyric by you:

We're cool, we're cold We're stiff, we're tagged We're slabbed, we're croaked We're whacked, we're cracked We're smoked and cured and slammed and slurred and sliced and diced and put on ice Cooked and stewed and badly brewed And splattered once or twice

What do you think? Christian song or not? No I'm not tricking you by ripping the lyric out of context, because the whole song is like the above. What do you think? Actually it's a song by Alice Cooper: "Bad Place Alone". Can you guess the worldview?

Whoops, sorry, trick question. It's Christian and from a Christian album. Still Alice Cooper though. Point? Eh, take a guess at it.

~Knightdriver

I try to minister to a lot of Wiccans, Satanists, and those of alternative religions.  Not a whole lot of focus is put on reaching these people.  I also find an extreme closed-mindedness on the part of many of these adherents, while at the same time, the call for me to "open my mind."  From my personal experiences, the difference between fundamentalist theists and transcendentalist alt's is an issue of absolute/relativism.

Most neopagans see Christianity as extremely closed-minded, because the Protestant Evangelical subculture has become so thickly defined by clothing styles (GAP/AE), music styles (soft praise songs), and just lots of personal taste issues.  We evangelicals are so shrouded by this pressure to conform to the neat-pressed conservative 50's ideology about appearance and lifestyle that many alt's feel they'd have to give up everything that defines who they are as an individual to become a Christian.  They often see Christianity as a big clone machine that eats up individuals and spews out carbon copies.

If I could make a suggestion about your worldview series or just the way you view ministering to alt's in general (which I know nothing about the way you minister to these types of people), you could attempt to show that Christianity doesn't require the changing of individual tastes in clothing styles, music styles, etc.  You can remain who you are, while still living a holy and passionate life.  While we conservative Christians believe in absolute truth, we don't necessary believe in an absolute "Christian" culture where everyone acts and appears the same way.

On the level of spiritual and philosophical beliefs, I would recommend reading "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist" by Norman Geisler & Frank Turek.  It devotes a really good section to addressing the postmodern, relativistic view of truth.  For instance, one of his tactics is called the Road Runner Effect, which goes something like this:

Relativist: "There is no absolute truth."
Christian: "Isn't that in itself an absolute truth by saying that all truth is relative and no truth is absolute?"

Relativism at base is faulty logic, which would be good to point out.

This is the end of my random ramblingness.

I often get into IM conversations with unbelievers (many that I've never met), and before too long, these conversations take a spiritual turn and allow for some great witnessing opportunities.  I would say that I probably talk with transcendentalists more than I talk with people of any other worldview or belief system.  It's become so popular among young people, not only because of the influence of popular culture and the media, but because of its "freedom"--its unrestrictiveness and lack of any structure or organization.  Many kids are raised in churches (often Catholic) where they're forced to go through years of rituals and ceremonies that they can't make any sense of.  As soon as they have the chance, they get as far from that way of thinking and living as they can, and that often brings them to transcendentalism (or atheism, in many cases).  People that call themselves "Christians" have scared them away, and because of that, they don't have any interest at all in even listening to us, because to them, we're all the same.

Relativism is illogical, and it's frustrating when you're trying to reason with someone who's thrown out logic rather than relativism.  I wish I knew more about transcendentalism and the kinds of people that hold that worldview, so I could better connect and communicate with them.  In the meantime, I hope to represent what Christianity is really about.  God is not church--God is love.  People will go out of their way to avoid "church" and all they've associated with it, but they probably won't go out of their way to avoid love.

Can't wait for the finished DVD series.  God bless!