| Rap... Sort of... |
| Well, just a little over 24 hours and I'm going to be in an airplane flying to Atlanta.
From there, I catch a shuttle (no, NOT a space shuttle) to Auburn, where I'm going to spend a week immersed in the Austrian school of Economics. Should be a fun time, I think. I'll just have to remember not to give them too hard a time... Well, "the other day" (whenever that is...) I was going to write an entry about "the rap phenomenon". You know what? I think I'm going to write it now. The old one got erased (stupid IE decided that backspace meant "back" rather than "delete previous keystroke", so...). So, with no further ado: The Rap Phenomenon Before I start, I want to say that I don't like rap. I find it to be harsh and annoying and nonmusical. Feel free to add other negative adjectives, if you like. But, I feel like I should write about it tonight. See, I can understand why ghetto-dwellers would like rap. After all, it is generally about their lives. Gangs, drugs, poverty, etc. etc. Yeah, I can see where it would be popular in urban areas. Misery does love company, doesn't it? BUT, why then does my supervisor's 14 year old son like it? They live in a $200,000 house (I know, in CA that IS the ghetto. Well, in OH, it's a very nice house.), he has a stable family, he's a good kid. So, why then does he like to listen to people talk about things like they do in rap? Some would say "rebellion" or "it's something exotic". Well, those may be true to a degree, without a doubt. But, I have another theory. I think that suburban white boys CAN relate to the themes of rap. No, not on a material level. Rather, on a spiritual level. See, when our material lives are poor (AKA ghetto), we, as humans, tend to ignore other concerns. But, when physical needs are met, other needs come to the forefront. And suburban white boys realize, deep down, that their SPIRITUAL lives are poor. Our culture has been attacking Christian spirituality for a very long time. Often, it has been the Church itself that has led the attack. But, it has come from many other areas as well. So, a brief overview of various threats to the True Christian Spirituality. 1. Science - While I do not believe that science is inherently anti-Christian, the material determinism that underlies the scientific method does much to undermine our ability or tendency to believe in that which is supernatural. How can there be good and evil when action is the result of pre-determined electrical synapses that are the result of external stimuli. Chaos theory may tell us that things are basically unpredictable, but it also tells us that they are predetermined by physical circumstances and scientific laws. 2. Philosophical relativism - "That may be true for you, but it is not true for me." This is quite different from materialistic determinism. To the relativist, nothing really matters except a person's own perceptions. Whatever those may be cannot be contested by others. Not by other people, and certainly not by God, who may or may not exist. 3. Competing Spiritualities - There are alternative spiritualities to Christianity, of course. Eastern Spirituality is becoming far more common in the United States, and older Western Spiritualities are being reborn in different segments of the New Age movement (actually, "repopularized" is a better term). Horoscopes, tarot card reading, etc. have become quite popular again, as has the Wiccan philosophy. 4. The Church itself (as previously mentioned) - Many Christians, to be perfectly honest, are afraid of Spirituality. They have replaced it with other things. On the one hand, many have replaced the vagueness of Spirituality with the clarity of "pure Scripture" as I'll call it. The basis of this belief is that ALL of God's Truth is contained in Scripture, and therefore we need rely on nothing other than Scripture. The Holy Spirit need not be dealt with because it has become unnecessary. I do believe that the Scriptures are true. HOWEVER, they are not sufficient to do anything except teach ABOUT God. Anothing group replaces the somewhat intuitive nature of Spirituality with the very logical "systematic theology". Rather than accept the mysteriousness of God, and pursue a relationship with Him regardless, many spend a great deal of time getting to know ABOUT God. I admit, I enjoy systematic theology. It is an interesting exercise, and can be useful in defining and explaining faith. HOWEVER, it can never replace the relationship that Spirituality provides. Finally, another group replaces the inwardness of Spirituality with the outwardness of beautiful symbols and rituals. These rites can be useful. They are a stable reminder of inward realities. BUT, much of the time they are seen as a sufficient replacement for those realities. In short, they are NOT. That's what I love about the Friends, especially the founders thereof. They accepted Scripture as a SECONDARY rule (second to the Spirit, but a still a test of the alleged leadings thereof). They rejected systematic theology as necessary or even useful (still, there is only really ONE work of systematic theology by a Friend. And it was written in the late 1600s.) And they rejected all ritual as dangerous. Now, things have changed to some degree. Amongst Evangelical Friends, the Scripture has been lifted somewhat higher than it was in years past. We have also adopted a pastoral service with an order of worship, and such. (Though some Friends haven't.) Yet, it is still understood that it is the Spirit who must take the lead if anything useful is to be done. We cannot do it on our own. This, my readers, is the true essence of Christian Spirituality. We cannot do it on our own. Our understanding is too slight, our logic too flawed, our rituals too imperfect. We need the Spirit. For it is the Spirit that will guide us into all truth, and through that we may have sight to see the Light that we may follow it. God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all. |
| Home Philosophy Theology Economics and Finance Politics The Arts Costa Rica 2004 Fun Stuff Links My Blog E-mail Me |
 |