Comments on Ambassador Watch: From thy precepts I learn

I think my all time favorite may be the "blessed a...

2007-09-01T13:25:00.000+12:00

I think my all time favorite may be the "blessed and happy is the man" dirge. The problem folks is that Dwight was not a very talented musician (did any of you ever hear him play his violin? Aaaaaargh!). He no idea of theory and was a terrible lyricist also. As a minister's wife who had the misfortune of playing a piano, I had to play these heavy, clunky things for services. You'd have to be a musician to realize how dull and unimaginative they were. I remember getting the church choir in Eugene to sing "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens. Fun to accompany, gorgeous melody and beautiful lyrics. I doubt that the Armstrong would have approved but I was beyond caring by then.

Chaim,I believe that's more correct. Most of the W...

2007-08-11T12:53:00.000+12:00

Chaim,
I believe that's more correct. Most of the WCG hymns were directly taken from the Psalms or variations of traditional hymns. Some make more of things than was there at times.

Being a Jew the apostle Paul sung these exact psal...

2007-08-11T12:06:00.000+12:00

Being a Jew the apostle Paul sung these exact psalms himself. They are and were the songs around which Jewish worship revolved, then and now.

While this all seems droll, in fact the music used...

2007-08-11T02:30:00.000+12:00

While this all seems droll, in fact the music used by Armstrongites is intended to indoctrinate (brain-wash). The lyrics of this song speak about how someone is wiser and more insightful than other people because they are preoccupied with The Law.

Right, it is based on a Psalm that is Holy in its context, but I believe the Apostle Paul would be stunned at how this and other parts of the Old Testament are appropriated and misapplied by Armstrongites -- right down to the music sung by worshippers.

The more that one examines and analyzes Armstrongism, the more one sees that it was not a mixture of good and bad but was, rather, total corruption - both the tree and its fruit.

Even those things that seemed good inherited corruption. After I exited Armstrongism, I still used to think that the warm family spirit at the Feast of Tabernacles was, per se, a good thing. Now I see it as a superficially attractive element in an system of total heresy and personal debasement.

So I have trouble joking about things like this. I used to like war movies when I was a kid. Now they are repugnant. The small counterpoints of good humor and rascally conduct added by Hollywood directors to these movies for comic relief just makes them all the more obscene.

-- Neo

SeamusYour library is blocking You-Tube. It'd be i...

2007-08-10T19:35:00.000+12:00

Seamus

Your library is blocking You-Tube. It'd be interesting to hear how they justify that.

Why are you sorry? They are psalms put to music. N...

2007-08-10T16:23:00.000+12:00

Why are you sorry? They are psalms put to music. Nothing wrong with them. Some dont like the music but for others they are comforting.
The guy who made/put them up also has vids tearing the WWCG and HWA down.

They hymns are hardly stolen when they are in every bible on earth.

Come on guys lighten up a little

Dennis, As I hear it, the song says>“Oh how I love...

2007-08-10T14:47:00.000+12:00

Dennis,

As I hear it, the song says>
“Oh how I love my log (penis) it is ever with me
It is my meditation, all the day in my thoughts...

Justing thinking of Master Herbster

Kscribe.

Gavin,You needn't have worried about the Link you ...

2007-08-10T10:11:00.000+12:00

Gavin,

You needn't have worried about the Link you established.The Web Marshall at our library has blocked access.

By the Waters of Babylon..I preferred the Boney M version.

Seamus

"Sometimes there is nothing left to do in life but...

2007-08-10T07:48:00.000+12:00

"Sometimes there is nothing left to do in life but to have a good laugh."
Buddhist saying.

What fun to laugh at these. I loved, "Little Loos...

2007-08-10T07:39:00.000+12:00

What fun to laugh at these. I loved, "Little Loose Tooth". Its better than the actual words.

I thought, 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' was 'Shake Marilyn Monroe' - thought that for a long time too.

..but that's ok because when I was a kid I thought...

2007-08-10T06:57:00.000+12:00

..but that's ok because when I was a kid I thought the song "Little Deuce Coupe" was "Little Loose Tooth" you don't know what I mean.

But then I also thought "don't know much about history, don't know biology, don't know much about no science books...don't know much about the French eyed cook..." :)

And whoa baby..don't even ask about "Louie, Louie whoa baby....

But then again, I used to think Amazing Grace was a hooker...doh

So what chance did I have to get

Jared said: I thought the song was saying, if you...

2007-08-10T06:51:00.000+12:00

Jared said: I thought the song was saying, if you want to hate, there are true ways to hate and there are false ways to hate, and thy precepts teach me all of the false methods one can use when hating things and people.

No, you got it right :)

When I was a kid, I was kind of confused by the ly...

2007-08-10T06:10:00.000+12:00

When I was a kid, I was kind of confused by the lyric, "From thy precepts I learn every false way to hate." I thought the song was saying, if you want to hate, there are true ways to hate and there are false ways to hate, and thy precepts teach me all of the false methods one can use when hating things and people.

With no little fear and trepidationI clicked on th...

2007-08-10T05:13:00.000+12:00

With no little fear and trepidation
I clicked on the link only to be
thrilled beyond measure.

How precious!

Let the nations know they are butt men...

2007-08-10T04:59:00.000+12:00

Let the nations know they are butt men...

authenticityHow authentic is a set of stolen hymns...

2007-08-10T02:40:00.000+12:00

authenticity

How authentic is a set of stolen hymns whose music was plagiarized and the "author" claiming credit from the people working feverishly in a back room to put the hymnal together?

It had better be public domain.

How Great Thou ArtCanaan's LandWayfaring StrangerG...

2007-08-10T02:19:00.000+12:00

How Great Thou Art
Canaan's Land
Wayfaring Stranger
Great Speckled Bird
Will The Circle Be Unbroken?
Uncloudy Day

. . . keep the old purple hymnal, I like blue grass and country.

To which I respond:Urgent! Immediate! Danger! Emer...

2007-08-10T00:56:00.000+12:00

To which I respond:

Urgent! Immediate! Danger! Emergency!

The idealism of obedience mostly does not "work" f...

2007-08-09T23:49:00.000+12:00

The idealism of obedience mostly does not "work" for humans no matter how sincere they are. After the endless debates about "which laws" and "which God" one tends towards duplicity trying to stay in the good graces of the tribe one has joined and an authentic self that doesn't see many things in such black and white terms.

WCG had no corner on the market in this area even though that is our experience. Millions, every week, sing hymns of ideals they can't or won't rise to and many have come to doubt if it is even necessary.

I meet many conflicted Christians, including pastor types, who no longer see the Bible or their Church as being correct or something they have to take so seriously as to dismiss their own thoughts on many matters as just as valid. Of course, they are careful who they share these feelings with around here.

I get calls and email from current and former COG people who want to talk about just such feelings they have had for years and how to go about being authentic and survive. Experience and what John Shelby Spong told me once seems to be the rule...you won't survive both your fundamentalist church AND your authenticity, you will have to choose and few will go with you on that journey.

Awww, I realize that what will no doubt follow wil...

2007-08-09T23:26:00.000+12:00

Awww, I realize that what will no doubt follow will be snarkiness on how the people may have loved the law but broke it etc....but I always liked the hymn and the flow of it's melody.

Many of the hymns were very nice and some were the ones you giggled over like "Praise ye the Lordo" and the world's most encouraging hymn on the planet, "Death shall them seize, and to the tomb, alive they shall go down...smile brethren."

But then I still get weepy with "How Great Thou Art" many other hymns from my Presbyterian past.