Monday, July 31, 2006

Response to a comment

I don't know how long ago this comment was posted, or by whom, but I really want to respond to it... if it was you, please feel free to email me to continue the discussion (nrbaughman@gmail.com) the comment is in reference to my top 10 albums of last year and here it is in full:

Anonymous said...

I totally disagree with some of the choices on your list. The main one would have to be Switchfoot. They are such a bunch of sell outs. They say that "we are meant to live for so much more" but on that album they sold out. They went on Non-christian tours, Left the name of "God" and "Jesus" out of many of their songs, and put in you and he, refering to God in the 3rd person. Not only did they play at non-christian concerts, but they used the extra money for what? Better instruments, better effects on music videos and more stuff. That stuff is the same stuff Christ says will rot away. They need to use their money on the eternal, THE CHURCH. Helping their local chuch or giving more to help THE CHURCH would be a better use of their money. I'm not saying I am always following God, but when you are in a Well-Known band for Christ you are put on a ladder where everyone sees you. And by not proclaiming your faith directly you dirty the name of Christ.

First of all, what is a Non-Christian tour? Tons of Christian bands go/have been on tours with non-Christian bands - MxPx, Showbread, Five Iron Frenzy, Mae, Number One Gun... Hell, Underoath even headlined the Vans Warped tour this year! Does that make them any less Christian because they are broadening their fan base and are willing to play shows outside of a church or a youth group's building? I sure hope not.
Second, what exactly is a sell-out? Is it because they moved to a larger label that was able to get them better shows in order to accompany their growing popularity, and allow their cds to be sold in more places giving them a much easier accesibility to those who are craving their message.
Third, YES, Switchfoot still holds a message. I don't know where you got that they left out "God" or "Jesus" from their songs, but none of the Switchfoot albums (even when they were on a Christian label) explicitly mention God or Jesus. Does that make them less Christian? No, because they are more than willing to put up their faith and all the struggles that accompany it within their lyrics. Just because they don't say the name of God doesn't mean that they aren't talking about God. For instance, one of the songs I mentioned in that old blog, "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine," says within its title and throughout the song that everything we do, whether wrong or right continues to prove that there is a God behind it all, hence the Shadow proves the Sunshine. Also, there are a bunch of praise choruses that say he or you instead of mentioning the name of God specifically, and I hope that those are still Christian songs.
Finally, you don't get mad at a Christian home-builder for buying better equipment for building homes, do you? Then why would you be upset because they are buying better instruments in order to improve the quality of their shows?! It makes no sense. Not only that, but Switchfoot has put up a bunch of money starting up their own charity type thing called lowercasepeople, which you can check out on lowercasepeople.com, wherein the entirety of the cause is for social justice, just like some guy was all about two centuries ago... I think his name was... ummmm Jesus?

I need to wrap up because I have company coming, but if anyone thinks my points are wrong or they want to add anything, the comments are now open. So please, if you really think Switchfoot is not Christian, just because they are on a larger label, I'd hate to say it, but I think you are wrong.

Godspeed.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Two days till the Age of Reptiles

This past week has been, on the whole, pretty uneventful. Katie and I went to a wedding shower yesterday, and we did our normal babysitting on wednesday, but aside from that, nothing huge happened.
At church today, after listening to Alvin's sermon, I decided that its time for someone to make a movie/book about the David and Bethsheba story from Uriah's point of view, where his wife was taken (pretty much against her will) and then he was murdered just because of David's mistake. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it is in 2 Samuel chapter 11 in the Bible and it makes for a sad (or as Alvin said "dark") part of David's life in which he seems to have no redeeming qualities. In fact, if you only read this part of David's story, you would find him to be a pretty evil king.
Aside from this little idea, the only thing I've been thinking about is that since I've been watching a bunch of Naruto lately (an anime series), I just wish I had more time in the day so that I could catch up on episodes.
As the title of this blog suggests, also, this tuesday is the release of the second Showbread album "The Age of Reptiles," and every song I've heard from it has been amazing. I've already preordered my album (autographed) and I can't wait for it to come in. For those of you who need a taste, just pop over to www.purevolume.com/showbread.
I think that's all I've got to say for now. Until next week.
Godspeed

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Starting Again

Well, It has been a long while since I've written anything of meaning, and I feel that I owe it to ya'll to come back and get back to this site instead of leaving it by the wayside. Anyhoo, this summer has pretty much blown by. I've been working all the time, we moved into a new apartment (twice, but still on campus). I've seen some great movies - Pirates 2, Clerks 2, Nacho Libre, Superman. I've been listening to some great music - Underoath, Sufjan, Family Force 5, Bedlight for Blueeyes. And, I've even been on vacation to Wisconsin to visit all of Katie's extended family. However, none of these reasons are why I haven't been on to update my blog... let me tell you the one and only reason that I don't update (and rarely even spend time online anymore) - World of Warcraft.

I'm gonna sound like a complete nerd, but I'm completely into this MMORPG, it's amazing fun, and I can play with friends in the middle of the night without ever having to leave my computer room. The only downside is that it does eat up time. Since I have to pay for this game every month, I feel that I must play as much as I can to make up for what I spend.

Anyway, I'm gonna do my best to at least start updating this thing bi-weekly, and if I don't I'll make up a good excuse why not, but for now this is what you get, and I'm trying not to say too much about the above said music and movies in case I have no idea for a topic on a later post. Until then.

Godspeed,
Nate