Post 177--Millennials and Political Correctness

Again, someone else's article with my comments attached. It seems that Scott Masson of Toronto does not wish to accord the transgender population their full recognition.  I feel very sorry for that group and do not think their condition was part of what God intended when He created humanity. At the same time, they are here and not be their own decision or choice. By birth, would be my opinion. As such, they do not have a lot of choice in the matter. I know a couple of them and know they suffer because of their condition.  It is my firm opinion that they must be given their full human rights same as I do, even though I do not think their condition is desirable and should not be considered standard.  So, it seems I disagree with Masson on this aspect.  

What interests and concerns me in Masson article below is that millennials seem to have lost the traditional freedoms and rights that families have enjoyed for centuries in our Western civilization. They are, in fact, quite prepared to trample on them and force their opinion on everyone else, even to the extent of disregarding the rights of families and of breaking them up when they hold opinions contrary to those of millennials. The sense of social justice, according to Masson, has gone completely topsy-turvey. That to me is a serious issue and does not bode well for the future of freedom and democracy. So, have a listen and see where you find yourself.

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A new survey was released in the US last month, and it showed just how far society has moved on the issue of gender confusion. The poll focussed on “millennials” – generally people under 30 – and it found almost half of them would be OK with the notion that the government should take children away from parents if those parents refuse to affirm those children’s gender identities. Scott Masson is an Associate Professor of English at Tyndale University College in Toronto. He says the survey shows that traditional views of family are starting to change, especially in a certain segment of society. “It says that those that are most animated by issues that we would call ‘social justice’ are in favour of breaking into the family and its historic freedoms in order to justify the ends of what they would call ‘social justice’.”

He says the survey shows that respondents don’t have “any notion of what we would call ‘sphere sovereignty’.” Masson says the poll’s focus on millenials shows the impact that political correctness has had in the education system over the past 30 years. “I’ve been living with that in the university system ever since the 1980’s, and certainly it’s the case that millennials (have) experienced nothing but that. They’re not used to freedom of expression. If they find a view that they don’t like, they’re gonna have no tolerance for it.” He says that demographic is not bothered by the loss of liberty that we’ve seen in recent legislation in Canada, because “they never really thought those liberties really ought to exist as long as social injustice was being done.”

Post 176--Hymns, Hymnbooks and a bit of Nostalgia

Hymns--you remember singing them?  And those thick books in the pew racks in your church, whatever may have been their colour.  Remember any of that?  If you're attending one of these independent churches that spring up a dime a dozen, especially in the cities, you may not even know what this article is talking about. You may not like them, but you know about them. You may consider them old fashioned used to cater to the older generation. Most of the songs you sing will be pop-up songs sung only from the screen with music so loud, you can't hear your own singing, let alone that of the congregation.If you're older, you may tolerate the latter and even sing along, but there's nothing that makes you happier than when a song is sung from that old hymnbook, harmony and all. As a member of the older folks, I tolerate that pop-up stuff, enjoy some of it even, but when singing one of these 19th century songs or even older, my heart races with joy and I sing it out, mostly in tenor, full blast. Just ask my wife sitting next to me or the neighbour on the other side or people in front of me. They will know I'm there!

Well, I will not argue that those old hymns and their books are the only valid style for a church. They are of a bygone age and culture and don't resonate with the younger folks as much as the loud  ad hoc songs. Some churches, like the Christian Reformed Church, a middle of the road type of church, and the United Church of Canada, a blatantly liberal and modern church, have recently published and are using new books that combine the two styles. As far as I am concerned, that's the best of both worlds.  

Below I treat you to an article that reminds or tells you, depending on your age, what has gone along with the hymn books, what we have lost. It's something you younger folks don't even know. You simply don't know what you've lost, but it's real and it's serious. So, have a listen.

What We Lost When We Lost Our Hymnals

Few memories are as synonymous with church in my mind, as the sight of my mother holding up a raggety old red hymnal and singing to the top of her lungs the songs of Zion.

Sadly, the number of children who are privileged to such memories in today’s world is dwindling with each passing hour; partly because church is becoming an afterthought to so many and partly because many religious establishments are “moving past” the golden era of hymnals.

The following is an article written by Tim Challies, in which he seeks to remind church folk what they lose when they give up their hymnals:

If we were to go back in time twenty or thirty years, we would find that most churches had hymnals. They had hymnals because it was the best way of providing each member of the congregation with a copy of the songs. You’d hear it in every church: “Take out your hymnal and turn to hymn 154…” And then hymnals went the way of the dodo and we began to look instead to words projected on a screen. Here is some of what we lost along the way.

We lost an established body of songs.Hymnals communicated that a church had an established collection of songs. This, in turn, communicated that its songs were vetted carefully and added to its repertoire only after careful consideration. After all, great songs are not written every day and their worth is proven only over time. Therefore, new hymns would be chosen carefully and added to new editions of the hymnal only occasionally. Churches would update their hymnals, and, therefore, their established body of songs, only once every ten or fifteen years.

We lost a deep knowledge of our songs. When we removed the hymnal, we gained the ability to add new songs to our repertoire whenever we encounter one we deem worthy. And we do—we add new songs all the time. As we add new songs with greater regularity, we sing old songs with less frequency. This reduces our familiarity with our songs so that today we have far fewer of them fixed in our minds and hearts. Few congregations could sing even the greatest hymns without that PowerPoint screen.

We lost the ability to do harmonies. Hymnody grew up at a time when instrumentation took a back seat to the voice. Hymns were most often written so they could be sung a cappella or with minimal instrumentation. For that reason, hymnals almost invariably included the music for both melody and harmonies and congregations learned to sing the parts. The loss of the hymnal and the associated rise of the worship band has reduced our ability to harmonize and, in that way, to sing to the fullest of our abilities.

It often seems like all we want from the congregation is their enthusiasm. We lost the ability to sing skillfully. As congregations have lost their knowledge of their songs, they have lost the ability to sing them well. We tend to compensate for our poorly-sung songs by cranking up the volume of the musical accompaniment. The loss of the voice has given rise to the gain of the amplifier. This leads to our music being dominated by a few instrumentalists and perhaps a pair of miced-up vocalists while the larger congregation plays only a meager role. In fact, it often seems like all we want from the congregation is their enthusiasm.

We lost the ability to have the songs in our homes. Hymnals usually lived at the church, resting from Monday to Saturday in the little pockets on the back of the pews. But people also bought their own and took them home so the family could have that established body of songs there as well. Families would often sing together as part of their family worship. It is easy to imagine a family singing “It Is Well With My Soul” after eating dinner together, but almost impossible to imagine them singing, “Oceans.”

It is probably too late to go back to the hymnal. I am not at all convinced we ought to. But it is still worth considering what we lost along the way and how congregational singing has been utterly transformed by what may appear to have been a simple and practical switch in the media. That little change from book to screen changed nearly everything.

Post 175--Introduction: ChristianRoots Canada

Although the celebrations of Canada 150 are not over, the climax of the July 1 weekend is history by now. I just took the button from my hat. Things are somewhat returning to "normal," whatever your normal is.  Now that the excitement is over, we can give ourselves the luxury of doing some reflection on our nation. Hence, I introduce you to a new website--  < www.christianrootscanada.org  >.  I just came across it and still wonder just where it will lead.  However, the issue it raises is significant enough for us to pause and consider the question: What happened to Christian Canada?  I invite you to read what appears to be a new effort, though built on an earlier one. If this initial one intrigues you, you may want to get yourself subscribed and follow through on it. I think I will do so. But do please remember: I do not know these people or their orientation. I'm just going to log in and see for myself. You might do the same. So, as so often in this blog: go to it and see....

Do you love Canada? Of course you do! How much do you know about its Christian foundations? A little? A lot? Do you want to know more? Visit www.christianrootscanada.org to get the right tools for learning more. First, you need to understand that Canada was NEVER a Christian nation. However, it was founded by people with a strong Biblical worldview, and others who were greatly influenced by that worldview through their upbringing in a Christian home. That was responsible for a Christian cultural outlook which pervaded the collective thought and actions of our early forebears well into the early 1980's. The Biblical virtues of truth, fidelity, diligence, perseverance, a strong work ethic, knowledge and respect for the guiding hand of God, all contributed to a culture that practiced (among other ideals) liberty without license, justice without coercion and equality before the law. These laws were rooted and grounded in British Common Law, most of which were derived from the Ten Commandments in the Bible. ChristianRoots Canada will help you to understand where we came from as a nation, to chart how our national culture got where it is today, and to figure out what we can do to lift up God's standard of justice, righteousness and truth. We plan to equip you by giving you the tools you need to educate and inform your family, friends and neighbours about our Biblical Christian heritage. Once you have those tools, we hope you will take the next step of impacting the culture, one home, one village, one Township, one Province or Territory at a time, until the Biblical Christian standard, God's standard, becomes the culture of Canada once more. Many Christians express the despair that David did in Psalm 10, (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+10) when they look at our current political climate and our leaders. If that describes you, then there is hope. YOU can do something about it. You can arm yourselves with information at: www.christianrootscanada.org.   Our journey first started as ChristianGovernance, seven or eight years ago, with Teaching Canadian History from a Biblical perspective. We have  hit the RESUME button as ChristianRoots Canada. There will be bumps and hiccups along the way. We hope that you will be patient with us. Our mission is to Educate, Equip and Empower our readers to take action. We hope you will be inspired by the stories of the Christian heroes that have gone before us and that you would boldly stand on their shoulders. If you think someone you know should be getting this information, then please share and forward. Arm Yourselves. Rebuild the foundations.  Remember Psalm 11:3 - If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?