Blessing or Blasphemy

So, I was looking for something on this wonderful internet of ours, and I came across this page. Now, this guy, whoever he is, believes very strongly in his subject matter. He's written a lot of things. But the sad thing is, he's way off the mark. If you can't be bothered to go through the whole thing (and I wouldn't blame you), I'll sum it up. Our man tells us that Christian Rock is inspired by the occult. The bad news, it seems, is that I'm not Saved. According to this guy, if you listen to rock, be it Christian or otherwise, neither are you Here's what he says:

Only backslidden, carnal Christians, who refuse to yield to the Holy Spirit, could ever think rock music was the will of God.

Hmmm.. I could go on and on with this stuff, but I think you get the idea. Read the whole thing if you want. It seems to me that it's really just rather sad that he's spent so much time trying to defame these people who are using the gifts that God has given them, and openly proclaiming the Gospel, whether that's apparent in their lyrics, or just in the interviews that they give.

His argument is riddled with holes, and is clearly one-sided, giving no thought to the counter-argument. He quotes only part of song lyrics, and takes them out of context. He calls Christian artists 'Blasphemers' repeatedly, and even refers to Keith Greene(among others) as an Occultist (without proof to back up this claim).

But the saddest thing is he often uses events in these artists' lives, where they have openly acknowledged their own sin, as proof that they cannot be Christians. Our expert, who seems to use the Bible to back up his points so well, seems to have missed out the most important, central truth in the Gospel. If you ask God for forgiveness, and you proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God, and accept him as your Saviour, NONE OF IT MATTERS ANYMORE. We're all sinners, NO EXCEPTIONS. Thank God that Jesus died on the cross and took my sins, because I'd be screwed if he hadn't...

Famous Friends...

I was just perusing the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club website, and I found this page. The guy right in the middle of the picture is Brett Shelton, my sister's boyfriend. I know that it's not particularly spectacular, but it was still a bit of a surprise...

Hooray...

For successful gigs! Thanks to everyone that made tonight's Salvator Darlings gig so much fun. There's more info about this on our website, but to cut a long story short, the gig at the Vine in town was cancelled, so we organised a last minute affair at the Cardigan Arms in Kirkstall. Despite the late notice and lack of proper organisation that goes with such an occurrence, we got both us and Band Club down there, and even managaed to get another band to play with 1 hour's warning! Not only that, but more than 100 people came down to watch us all, which is amazing at that short notice. Thanks to everyone involved, it was a great night...

Plagiarism...

So, I'm going to write word for word what I read in Rachel O'Dywer's blog today, because I couldn't put it any better myself...

False Economy

It's somewhat depressing that a McDonalds meal costs less now than it did when I was born in 1981.

I too find that slightly depressing. Hmmm. Check out her blog, by the way, she has a lot of fairly amusing things to say.

Also, I'm going to steal Jeremy Wright's subject matter from his blog of Friday, because I found this rather amusing. I took this test, to find out what kind of American English I speak. To be fair, like Jeremy, I have to admit that I couldn't always answer accurately, because I use Anglicised phrases for some things. Still, it's pretty funny, and you should have a go yourself:

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Dixie

5% Midwestern

5% Upper Midwestern

20% Yankee, eh?

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Sick and bored...

Sometimes it doesn't seem fair. I've just been off work for week after week. I finally get to go back, and a week and a half later I get sent home sick. That's just annoying. Plus, there's no one else at home at the moment, so I'm here on my own. None of this is really relevant, it's just meant that I've been trying to find fun things to do the last couple of days. Well, I say 'fun'. Mainly, I've been sleeping, and watching films when I've been awake.

I have discovered something which interested me, however. I was reading the classic graphic novel 'Watchmen', which Simon Davy, the lead guitarist from The Salvator Darlings lent to me along with 'The Dark Knight Returns'. I noticed an interesting parallel to be drawn between one of the storylines, and a certain 2003 film starring Johnny Depp as the swashbuckling Captain Jack Sparrow. Does anyone else think it slightly strange that both films feature a ship with a crew from Hell, one named The Black Pearl, the other The Black Freighter. I also believe that anyone who has seen the film will not miss the link between it and this exerpt taken from the end of chapter 5 in Watchmen:

'The closing images, with a multitude of dead and drowned men walking across the ocean bed towards the anchor rope of the Black Freighter which they climb to take their rightful positions on board the ship, remain some of Orlando's most haunting work on the series.' (Moore/Gibbons,DC,1986)

Hmmm...

In other, more interesting news, The Salvator Darlings finally return to the Leeds circuit on Tuesday, after a four month break. Now with a new bassist, Tim Higgins, we'll be headlining at the Vine on the Headrow in Leeds, supported by Band Club and two other bands. Check out our website for more details...

Trade Justice

So, it's about time that we got this one sorted. We're screwing over the poorest countries in the world to benefit ourselves, and I don't like it. You might notice the white band on the right hand side of this blog. You WILL notice it, you can't really miss it. Click on it, follow the link. I guess this doesn't really apply to you that much if you don't live in England, but have a shufti anyway - it's worth seeing what we can all do to help. Let's make poverty history...