lol christin black metal

[MetalAges]

The greys: Sounds to me (my opinion mind you) like you are mixing up religion with those fanatical war mongers that claim to do things in the name of "God". And remember...for every 10,000 people making people suffer in the name of "religion" (i assume you refer to the Middle East stuff mostly?) there are a hundred times (or whatever multiplier you want to give it) more out there treating people the same and with respect because they see themselves as no better than anyone else. You don't hear from them because, well, they aren't causing issues in this good 'ol world which means you won't hear about it on the news.

 

[Kenneth R.]

The greys: Sounds to me (my opinion mind you) like you are mixing up religion with those fanatical war mongers that claim to do things in the name of "God". And remember...for every 10,000 people making people suffer in the name of "religion" (i assume you refer to the Middle East stuff mostly?) there are a hundred times (or whatever multiplier you want to give it) more out there treating people the same and with respect because they see themselves as no better than anyone else. You don't hear from them because, well, they aren't causing issues in this good 'ol world which means you won't hear about it on the news.

ABSOLUTELY. these people take no credit for their actions, no fame and no profit. you only hear about the twisted ones who try to force the world to follow them.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Christians like Deron and Kenneth R., whether you guys like it or not, are in the minority (at least in the U.S.). America is dominated by ignorant, bigoted, and paranoid fundamentalist Christian evangelists. If you don't believe me, take a drive around any town in the states: multi-million dollar "stadium" churches preaching an evangelist message are everywhere, not to mention you'll see far more chapels dedicated to doctrinaire beliefs like Sevenths Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormons. I am an atheist myself, but was raised Catholic, and I actually pity those in my family (especially my mother) who still practice, because Catholics are viewed with just as much hatred and fear as any Satanist in this country. And the truth of the matter is, that as far as Christians go, they are far more tolerant and forward thinking than most evangelists.

 

[Kenneth R.]

that is a large portion of why I want to drop citizenship and move permanently to Europe. America is messed.

 

[CF87]

Speaking of big churches being set up not being taxed. People live in poverty & shitholes but land is taking up just to be used on sunday while a bunch of people who only care about themselves unite in the name of god. What a waste of space.... and ontop the priest/paster is buying boats & houses with all these worthless humans money.

Imagine how much money someone could have saved for their own boat 10,20 years later if they did not give a church 2 to 5 dollars ever sunday.

I'm not a rocket scientics but people are just mindblowingly retarded. It just seems like a scam to me.

You could have apartments set up for many people to live in instead of a big church for sunday mass use only, some wothless preist to sit in their hoping god forgives him because his homosexual tendecies every single day.

 

[Kenneth R.]

to be fair Greys, not everyone is one of those "sheep". There are those who understand that being Christian has nothing to do with donating money or going to a certain building on a certain day. It has everything to do with following a certain life philosophy *every* day as best you can, and trying to improve the world.

Were it me, I'd agree that money spent making fancy churches should instead go to building shelter for the homeless (and disaster victims of recent years).

[offtopic]& that Sentenced album in your sig rocks.[/offtopic]

 

[Susperia]

I think we've come such a long way in the past 200 or so years. If you think about it, the church used to be the center of EVERYTHING. The church was what towns and cities revolved around. The church was the town hall, the meeting place, the entertainment, the law enforcement, the shelter, so on and so forth.

We're moving away from that at a rapid pace. And I think in another 200 years churches will be extremely sparse. I agree with Kenneth and what he's saying about Christians not being all bad. My mother for example, is an extremely good person, but she's also religious. For her there's a comfort in going to the same church she did her entire life and remembering her past and her parents and being surrounded by good, kind people. I don't think she believes she's any better than people who don't go to church. (Though she does get pretty frustrated that I don't hold any religious beliefs anymore, heh).

Churches are also still a place where one can just go and just meditate. Everyone's welcome in churches, and it's quiet in there. It's also incredibly beautiful (at least most are, especially Russian ones) and it's just one of the places in our society that are still beautiful and antique and have a history to them.

I think it's important to have beautiful buildings/ architecture. There's so little of it today...

I guess that's all I have to say right now, about churches.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I think it's important to have beautiful buildings/ architecture. There's so little of it today...

I guess that's all I have to say right now, about churches.

in regards to this:

I wrote this about the same phenomenon i noticed.
Walking the streets of many modern cities today, I find steel and glass panels juxtaposed with relics of previous eras. One style is clearly intended to emphasize function and simplicity of construction, with seemingly floating beams and polished steel surfaces reflected in recessed floor spotlights. The other evokes a sense of form beyond function, ornamented with religious and idealistic symbolism and icons.

Understandably, we do not build our fortresses of stone and wood anymore, but what of the ornamentation? Our society has, in general, adopted a fondness for the neo-futurism that never quite materialized as seen in early 20th century fiction.

When I attend a musical event for example, I find myself admiring the engineering savvy of minimalist modern "box" designs, but crave, aesthetically, for the red velvet and chandeliers of old. Will these, in time, vanish as relics of a bygone era? I see more and more skyscrapers casting shadows on gothic cathedrals and colonial courthouses.

In addition, I consider the plainness of modern design as a clear indication of the social status of the modern world. Unadorned, non-committed, devoid of any statement besides excellence of function and minimal design. This echoes to me, of the way popular society has largely decided to be detached from all things spiritual or superstitious, non-committed to any belief or ideal. We hide in our perfectly balanced analytical uniformity, afraid to put stock in anything publicly. We are as that polished and unadorned pane of steel or glass, existing for function alone, with no higher purpose or desire. We seek to blend in, to be as generic as possible to appeal to as many situations and demographics as possible, to be adaptable to the absolute. This contrasts largely with the architectures of the past, and I wonder what the future will hold. Are we headed for global nihilism?

Will we destroy, with a bitter hand, the beliefs and iconography of those who came before us, and replace their dedications with those to our own god of superior craftsmanship and cost? Or, will these opposing forces somehow unite to form a new architectural format?

I, personally, rue the day when all I see around me is the geometry of a calculative, soul-less society of perfect square edges and void, polished hearts.

 

[CF87]

Why cant we have a nice beautiful buildings/ architecture welcoming people to sit in that's not a church. Why does it have to be a church more directed at followers of a religion. When you're not a christian you are not just going to go into a church. I would just feel funny nor would want to go in it because it's a "church". I don't want to be blessed by god or whatever.. i don't want to the presence of god on me thinking I went into the church because i've lost my way or whatever. I don't even know how real any of this 'religioun' is so in my mind I think god is dead or alive. What if he's real and i'm in his church.. that's weird. Sitting in a church with jesus on the wall on a cross,etc.. is weird especially when you don't like christianity.

 

[Susperia]

Hhaha, you sound confused The Greys.

I know it's very difficult to decide whether there is a supernatural world or not. I pretty much believe there isn't----

But if you don't believe in God, there's nothing to be afraid of to sit in a building, even if it is one dedicated to him and his world. It doesn't exist.

Kenneth, you put that so amazingly well. You're great with words... Hahha, i'm just like 'Damn Modernism."

 

[VampyrRose]

I'm an athiest and I'm not a 'spiritual' person. Quite simply, I believe in nothing!

 

[Susperia]

Big deal, so am I and a lot of people on this board.

 

[VampyrRose]

Big deal, so am I and a lot of people on this board.

Who said it was a big deal?

 

[MetalAges]

I still think in many ways a lot of the posts in this thread are driven by the media skewed "church" image. There's a whole contemporary movement out there of Christians that are not in the line of that traditional finger pointing style of Christian.

Greys I wished you lived near me so I could invite you to rock out on Sunday at my Church - it would totally change your view on "church" at least in a somewhat small way. We have a multimillion dollar facility (not the superchurch thing but it's huge), I attend/play with the band in our contemporary service. I have a killer solo this week on one of our tunes and we're downright heavy on a couple songs, one of which we are doing this week. We have bikers, mohawks at times, concert T-shirt wearing dudes/gals, you name it we have and welcome them at this church. It's absolutely awesome and I have never been part of a church that is true to (what I think is) the Bible definition of a Christian.

I respect your beliefs and thoughts and won't say much more on this, but I hope one day you give the other side of the Christian coin a chance to show you what WE think things are about, and it ain't boring or finger pointingly suckage. \m/

 

[MasterOLightning]

Christians like Deron and Kenneth R., whether you guys like it or not, are in the minority (at least in the U.S.). America is dominated by ignorant, bigoted, and paranoid fundamentalist Christian evangelists. If you don't believe me, take a drive around any town in the states: multi-million dollar "stadium" churches preaching an evangelist message are everywhere, not to mention you'll see far more chapels dedicated to doctrinaire beliefs like Sevenths Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormons. I am an atheist myself, but was raised Catholic, and I actually pity those in my family (especially my mother) who still practice, because Catholics are viewed with just as much hatred and fear as any Satanist in this country. And the truth of the matter is, that as far as Christians go, they are far more tolerant and forward thinking than most evangelists.

I grew up Catholic and I sympathize greatly with what they've had to go through lately. By and large they are much less crazy than the fundamental Southern Christians. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years, and got a good education because my teachers actually cared there. Catholics and the obese are the last groups you can still make fun of in our uber-PC society. You know, it used to be that the KKK hated Catholics as much as blacks, but most of the Catholics were in large cities and not in the rural south.

Christianity and metal aren't contradictory in the sense that there must be thousands of metal musicians who take a neutral approach towards religion in their lyrics and no one would ever know.

 

[CF87]

Hhaha, you sound confused The Greys.

I know it's very difficult to decide whether there is a supernatural world or not. I pretty much believe there isn't----

But if you don't believe in God, there's nothing to be afraid of to sit in a building, even if it is one dedicated to him and his world. It doesn't exist.

You're probably right. It's just another building on some grass/dirt/rocks like everything else. At the sametime you have that what if factor. I'm going to be 19 and this is one of the first times in my life i'm greatly confused about everything. I think 'what if', think about the past,future... what if/past/future/what if/past/future.

Majority of the time I just think we all rot in a casket in the ground because there is nothing inbetween being born and having a machine lower you into the ground. We walk on the ground which is right above where we are buried... how can something be inbetween seperating something so close. I guess we just have to believe in fantasy so we don't completly drown in our own shit in the meantime.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Kenneth, you put that so amazingly well. You're great with words... Hahha, i'm just like 'Damn Modernism."

thanks. my short version is: Why do buildings look like legos? Bring back the trees and symbolism, dammit.

edit:

Greys, yes, obviously you can't "find" Heaven as a physical location, or even picture it as a fluffly cloudly place where everyone has a golden harp. Those images are just as inventive as the ones of Satan and his pitchfork of flames. Society tries to visually represent that which cannot be comprehended in our dimensonal reality.
My charge to you is to end your confusion. Seek out the answers to your questions, and commit yourself to the truth of whatever you happen to find.

As for churches, a lot of services are really boring in my opinion. They just stand and sit when told, and repeat the same words week after week. I liked the service in Easter in Hawaii, where the priest busted out a Ukelele and everyone got up and danced. I am more in favor of an animated, really-there-for-real type crowd, and I've found a group I can say represents that. I play electric guitar in the band, headbanging and all. Metal for Christ

 

[Post_Scriptum]

I totally didn't read this thread

 

[circus_brimstone]

I'll toss my opinion in here, though it won't make much of a difference. If you enjoy the music, then listen to it. For me, ideologies and religious persuasions don't factor into my enjoyment of the music. I listen to Christian BM as well as other kinds, but am I a Christian? No. There's good Xtian BM and there's bad, just like every other sect.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

I still think in many ways a lot of the posts in this thread are driven by the media skewed "church" image. There's a whole contemporary movement out there of Christians that are not in the line of that traditional finger pointing style of Christian.

Greys I wished you lived near me so I could invite you to rock out on Sunday at my Church - it would totally change your view on "church" at least in a somewhat small way. We have a multimillion dollar facility (not the superchurch thing but it's huge), I attend/play with the band in our contemporary service. I have a killer solo this week on one of our tunes and we're downright heavy on a couple songs, one of which we are doing this week. We have bikers, mohawks at times, concert T-shirt wearing dudes/gals, you name it we have and welcome them at this church. It's absolutely awesome and I have never been part of a church that is true to (what I think is) the Bible definition of a Christian.

I respect your beliefs and thoughts and won't say much more on this, but I hope one day you give the other side of the Christian coin a chance to show you what WE think things are about, and it ain't boring or finger pointingly suckage. \m/

I could be wrong, but that sounds exactly like the evangelist form of Christianity I was bitching about. A non-denominational intellectual void which concerns itself only with making money and furthering its quasi-political agenda. It seems to me that "churches" with rock music, lighting effects, and a preacher/stand up comic use all those slick, trendy gimmicks to bring in the spiritually confused. Once the worshipers are inside, they are told what to think and what to hate - which is individualism and creative thought. Maybe your congregation isn't like that Deron, but it sounds an awful lot like the kind of service Pat Robertson and those of his ilk run.