November 22, 2011
"I'd Rather Live By The Side Of The Road."
This morning at Meadhouse, Meade turns on Lulu Belle & Scotty. What led you there? I wanted to know. Were you reading about Occupy Wall Street and contemplating alternatives?
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22 comments:
He's making an honest woman of you, virtuous, God fearing, and Conservative.
Turning yo away from all that Godless materialism of the Left.
It was that conversation we had this morning: Was Jesus a political activist, getting up in the grills of the Pharisees, et al? Or did He mostly ramble round the Holy Land, feeding the poor and comforting the sick?
I remembered that song "I'd Rather Live..." that I learned way back when I lived in the Carolina Piedmont but then half forgot. Yay for YouGube!
The Christians who landed in 1620 on Cape Cod believed they were only Pilgrims on a road to Heaven for three score and ten (or twenty-five today).
That seems objectively true. Watching Turner classic Movies you have to notice that the great persons of the 1930 and 1940s have all gone somewhere down that long road.
And helping other travelers along life's road is the best part of the journey.
Why can't you be a millionaire and help a pilgrim along life's way? The two aren't mutually exclusive you know. Plus, if you're a millionaire you can be set back from the road a ways. Less dust on your clothesline dried clothes thataway.
Jesus was The Lamb of God, which gave him a special role in death, burial and resurrection.
But along the way he spent equal time for 2 and a half years healing the sick (including raising the dead and forming eyes in men born blind), teaching about The Kingdom of God that had come , and ordering out really tough demons.
These three activities attested that He was who he claimed to be. And boy could he draw crowds using them.
"Jesus was The Lamb of God, which gave him a special role in death, burial and resurrection."
Hey gang, use ricpic's Amazon portal to purchase this, [for a song] and help keep the dust off the garments on his clothesline!
Until reading Meade's comment, the tags "religion" and "religion substitute" didn't make much sense for this post. Even if you find some home-y charge in Lulu Belle et al., there's no much religion there. Even less in OWS.
As for the discussion about whether Jesus was a political activist, that must have been a short conversation. It's the sort of discussion about Jesus that appeals to people having no interest in religion generally or the New Testament specifically -- exactly the sort of "religion substitute" that caused the mainline Protestant denominations to lose their way (and most of their congregations).
LB&S contributed a hell of a lot more to civilization than any of the 'Occupy' clusterforks. All they lacked was the combined firepower of today's MSM in full-fawning mode.
The "religion substitute" tag refers to Occupy Wall Street.
But if you don't think that song is religious... I don't know what to say. Lyrics:
There are people who would rather live in splendor
And brag about their silver and their gold,
And people who would trade God's promise
For its glory to hold;
There are people who would rather live in mansions,
There are people who would rather live abroad,
But I'd rather have a little log cabin
By the side of the road.
Refrain:
I'd rather live by the side of the road
And try to point souls to the blest abode
Than to be a king or a millionaire
And live in mansions in bright array.
I'd rather do a neighborly deed
For a traveler here or a friend in need,
I'd rather live by the side of the road
And help some pilgrim along life's way.
Ev'ry day I want to be a friendly neighbor
And try to help somebody on the way;
I want my life to tell for Jesus
Ev'ry hour of the day;
Take away my ev'ry thought of fame and fortune,
Take away my ev'ry thought of rich abode
And leave me just a little log cabin
By the side of the road.
Refrain:
I would rather have a cabin by the roadside
Where the pilgrimage of man is passing by
Help to point some soul to Jesus
And that city on high;
Ev'ry day I want to help to scatter roses,
Ev'ry night I want my lamp to shine abroad
With a welcome from my little bay window
By the side of the road.
"As for the discussion about whether Jesus was a political activist, that must have been a short conversation. It's the sort of discussion about Jesus that appeals to people having no interest in religion generally or the New Testament specifically -- exactly the sort of "religion substitute" that caused the mainline Protestant denominations to lose their way (and most of their congregations)."
The conversation was about how the Westboro Church people could have read the words of Jesus to justify going where they aren't wanted and speaking very bluntly about heaven and hell.
It was about Jesus being a "political activist," in the sense of saying shocking, jarring things to people that they didn't want to hear, challenging them to radically change their lives, such as by giving away all their money.
I read Matthew 23 out loud. That's the reading for the day on the Althouse blog. Check it out. Report back.
I had missed the bits about Jesus in the song (wandering attention when playing the clip, not being especially enamored of this kind of music). My bad.
RCA Victor contract artist, Bach.
Well, it's an odd notion of 'political activism' that begins like this: "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 'The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.'" (Matt 23:1-3, NIV edition).
There is much in Matt 23's denunciation of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (and also 'teachers of the law') that tells His disciples to live what they preach, but very little in terms of a call to political action. Being "careful to do everything they tell you," where the "they" refers to the corrupt powers-that-be, is not exactly a call to revolution. Here as elsewhere Jesus insists on respecting the established authorities.
"[S]aying shocking, jarring things to people that they didn't want to hear, challenging them to radically change their lives" is the essence of the Bible's prophetic books (Jeremiah and Isaiah are full of it), and in the OT it was connected to a call for the restoration of Israel that could only come about by a renewed faithfulness to the Mosaic law and covenant. But whatever aspect of political activism that prophetic call to reformation and renewal may have had in the OT, it is gone in Jesus' rendition.
The Westboro Church strikes me as self-fashioned much more in that OT idiom, as is their anti-gay focus. In contrast, the Jesus of the NT avoids political activism, and is remarkably accepting of prostitutes and the like. Nothing in His teaching singles out gays even though he also never disputed the OT law on the subject. His 'cast the first stone' denunciation is pretty much the opposite of the Westboro Church approach.
There aren't many folks like that anymore that sing such sweet songs, pity...
"In contrast, the Jesus of the NT avoids political activism, and is remarkably accepting of prostitutes and the like."
Political activism of today should not be mistaken for Christ's teachings. This is a meme of the left. It should be dismissed as their cynical attempt to co-opt for political purposes what many claim as their precious faith.
Selflessness is not the same as selfishness.
rhhardin
Good grief! Is that from one of the Kevorkian suites???
I remember a tape of Matthew 23 in KJV read by Alexander Scourby. Jesus was mad at the "Teachers of the law", whom he shouted at as a Brood of Vipers
But that meant the theologians who kept the guilt and atonement Laws going strong at over the Temple, not the trial lawyers whom they called proconsuls.
I bet LuluBelle and Scotty had a terrific marriage. There were lots of sexual positions that they were not even aware of, and they never invited friends over for a threesome. Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore think they're so special and pleasure drenched, but they never had such a happy marriage as LuluBelle and Scotty.
Why can't you be a millionaire and help a pilgrim along life's way? The two aren't mutually exclusive you know. Plus, if you're a millionaire you can be set back from the road a ways. Less dust on your clothesline dried clothes thataway.
See also, Melvin and Howard
No love for Ryan Braun
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