The Christian Music Thread Genre • Page 54

A lot of my friends & peers are into that John Cooper post, & I haven't brought myself to share my issues w/ it yet to them. But, man, I really don't like that post. Some good points sprinkled throughout, but mostly it's just super dismissive of the people who go through these painful deconstructions of what they believe.

The one part I really agree w/ is that we shouldn't put young worship leaders & artists on these unreasonable teaching pedestals.

 

Yeah, it popped up in my newsfeed and as someone who has lived with a lot of pain from church experiences and has had to process that, I thought it was dismissive too. It's so painful to have to question what you believe and to be rejected by close friends and leaders just because you've got questions and God doesn't fit into those neat theological boxes you grew up with.

I thought it was worth sharing as it was a musician and I'm always interested in what others think in this thread which tends to be respectful. As you say, there are sometimes good points sprinkled in these things (and often not!) I know you're not always in this thread these days but I always appreciate your perspectives Tim.

 

Some of the best discussion I've seen on Christianity has been on this secular music forum. Would anyone be interested in a Christianity thread over in General that isn't based on music? Just more for general conversation? I think for the most part people are pretty respectful here.

 

I would be down if one was allowed to be made. I haven’t seen any religious threads on this site other than this music thread. I’m also down with people bringing up more than just music in this thread if they have something they need/want to say.

 

Yeah, that's why I've been on the fence about making a thread in General. Different vibes there maybe, and I don't want to weird anyone out. I'd be happy to keep the discussion in this thread if that's the better option.

 

I think we've been fairly open to talking about anything Christianity related here because there's an obvious crossover. People like @Lucas27 have been a real encouragement to me.

Having said that, you're not as likely to get people wandering in here to talk because they might think 'I don't listen to Christian music'. Whereas a 'Christianity' thread might appeal to a wider audience of people who consider themselves Christians and people who do not. Hopefully there would be healthy discussion.

So yeah, whatever everyone else thinks, haha!

 

I know the Christianity threads over on AP.net often spiraled downward and ended up focused on debate. Which is not something I’m interested at this point in my life.

Has anyone listened to the Deconstruct podcast? It’s on hiatus right now, but I really appreciated their points of view.

 

Yeah, I've listened to quite a lot of their episodes - not all, but ones that interested me. I definitely have found them to be articulate and thoughtful.

 

Never heard of the Deconstruct podcast? Any good episodes worth checking out?

 

Yeah, there used to be one in the AP.net politics forum that wasn't great, lol. Forum debates over religion/theology/spirituality traditionally suck.

 

Agreed. It's nice having a place to discuss topics within Christianity without it turning into an antagonistic debate every time.

 

I do highly encourage anyone with questions, doubts or just general curiosity to not feel like they can’t make a post concerning it without it being music related. Sometimes this thread can go a while without music posts. This site is also safe for any sort of expression and this thread should hopefully be seen the same way in regards to faith or those without faith that are curious or have questions.

 

On that note, what's the deal with Enneagrams? It just seems like a variation of Meyers-Briggs, but for some reason it's really popular with certain groups of Christians. How did that become a thing?

 

Thankful to know I can be an encouragement brother. You are to me too. We’re lying if we say this stuff is all easy to navigate so we need to keep holding on to each other.

 

I feel like this thread is suitable enough for further talk on Christianity in general. It has a really good track record of everyone being reasonable so the idea of shifting to the general forum seems risky. But I see the benefits of opening it up too.

 

Some people at my church are really into it. But from what I’ve read about it, I’m not sure what makes it particularly “Christian”.

 

It’s by Dan Koch- he has a bunch of podcast. Deconstruct is very topical so it’s probably best to just look through the topics and go from there. Dan is definitely progressive and his cohost is right of center. So it makes for some good discussions.

 

Some claim it has links with very early monastic Christianity in some ways, as well as other religions. Whatever, it's an ancient tool rather than Myers-Briggs which builds on Jungian theory I believe. However, I think it's appeal is because rather than Myers-Briggs which kind of just says "this is who you are", the Enneagram (when not used in the hipster trendy fashion) starts with your main area of weakness (which some Christians would call sin) and gives you permission to confront that directly. I've personally found it quite helpful in understanding myself. When used as intended it's actually humbling to begin with, like shining a light into your darkness. I've noticed its become a typecasting thing like Myers-Briggs but it's not meant to be like that and when you don't use it like that, it reveals, humbles but then empowers and heals.

This is really basic and probably incorrect. I'd recommend The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher L Heurtz for more insight. Richard Rohr co-wrote a book way back which was my introduction (he's a Franciscan monk) but that is a lot older. If you want to skip those, Ryan O'Neal from Sleeping at Last has done a podcast about each Enneagram type and the corresponding song he wrote for them and in each podcast he has a discussion with Heurtz - if listening is your thing more than reading and you do want to find out about that I'd check that out.

 

I have no idea why it’s popular but a lot of my friends that go to the same church have been posting their results. I think it’s just a fun thing that youth groups are doing.

Edit: the reply above mine is better lol

 

This is a good overview, I think. I was unaware of its original intention of finding weakness rather than focusing on strengths. I've only seen it used in the context of those trendy personality quizzes. I'm a big Richard Rohr fan, but haven't read his work on Enneagrams. Might have to look into that.

 

I'm a fan of personality test, but I was really impressed with the Enneagram. It really broke down my thought process and how that looks like when it's unhealthy. Honestly it blew my mind haha, it was great. And like you said they have one that points you to what your core "sin" is. I'm a 2 and my sin is pride. At first I was like pride? No way, but after thinking about it, it made a lot of sense.

 

I really enjoyed a few episodes of it, then I fell off. Same with the Bible for Normal People podcast. I enjoy the perspective and the challenges it offers.

 

Those trendy personality quizzes really do the Enneagram a disservice. It's just not meant to be used like that at all, ha!

There's actually a good Richard Rohr overview about it here. His co-written book is quite old but looks like he's created fresher resources.

 

Our very own @Chase Tremaine and @Lucas27 have songs featured in the latest JFH compilation. They're both too humble to brag, but I think they're great so throwing out this information here!

 

Hahaha thank you very much my friend. Stoked you like it!