"Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth."
-Psalm 96:1
As you all already know, I love music. Music is one of those things that everyone can appreciate, regardless of who you are. Music is everywhere; it's in theater, movies, tv, grocery stores, elevators, and many other places as well. I already written extensively about music before, but today I want to focus on a particular style- acapella. For those of you who don't know what acapella is, it is a style of music where there are no instruments, just voices. Acapella music can be one melody, multiple harmonies, or when the voice replicates the sound of an instrument. In this post, I want to talk about acapella music where there are multiple harmonies.
Why am I talking about acapella music? Recently our church has created an "official" vocal team, where a group of people sing acapella songs every now and then. As you may have guessed, I am a part of this team. Last Sunday we sang our first song together as this new group. If you have not heard acapella music before, I would highly recommend that you take a listen, because it is really special. After we sang that song on Sunday, I got a lot compliments regarding our song. The absence of instruments really emphasizes the harmony between voices, and it's something really special.
Despite what it may seem, I am not writing this post just to praise how amazing acapella music is. I want to talk about harmony. What is harmony? In musical terms, it means a combination of notes that creates a specific arrangement called a chord. I could go on and on about the various kinds of harmonies, but that is not the point of this post. I want to talk about the other kind of harmony. Harmony's non-musical definition means agreement or concord.
You may have noticed that the two definitions of harmony are actually similar in some regards. The way harmony is created in music, especially acapella music, is when two or more people work together to create a chord. A chord has a very pleasing sound, especially when it is sung well and together. The way harmony is created outside of music is when two or more people work together to create agreement between each other. In both cases, people must work together in order to create something that could not be created alone. They work together to create something greater than what they can do themselves.
Many things in life are easier to accomplish if you work with someone else. The reason many people struggle with working with others is because they lack harmony. The just assume that harmony should be created, but they forget that it takes work. Everyone has to work together in order to create harmony. In music, if even one person sings the wrong note, the harmony is broken. I realized that the hardest thing to overcome when trying to achieve musical harmony is to do your part. If you do not practice your part, you will not be able to achieve harmony in the group. Many times, if you do not do your part, you will end up following someone else's part. However, everyone has to learn their own part, and contribute to the group's harmony.
The same is true outside of music. Everyone has certain talents that God has given them, and they differ from each other. If people start following other people, they will waste their own talent. Everyone should contribute to the group in the way that God enables them. Creating something greater than yourself requires you to work together with others. The Bible speaks often of the importance of working together. This is because if everyone contributes in their own way, greater things can be accomplished. We are not called to live on our own, but to work together and create harmony.
-Smart
The Claims of Christ
"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me."
-John 14:6
I know that it's been a while since I have posted on this blog, but that's because I've been a bit busy with school and I haven't really had anything to write about. However, I want to keep this blog going, so I thought I would take some time out of my schedule and write. Recently I have been reading the book "Basic Christianity" by John Stott, and I have continued listening to Ravi Zacharias' podcast, "Let my People Think". One interesting thing was brought up in both of these- the claims of Christ. What does that mean? Let's think about it.
We can assume that Jesus said a lot of things when He was on this earth, because we know that in the gospels Jesus spoke many times, and that was only three years of His life. Obviously we can only see what Jesus said during the three year period described in the gospel, and what He said in other books of the Bible as well. If you have read the gospels and are familiar with them, you will know that Jesus was often teaching. Most of what Jesus said (at least what is recorded) was to teach others, whether it be the disciples, the crowd, or the teachers of the law.
What I find interesting about Jesus' teachings is that most people would agree with them. As a matter of fact, even people who are not Christians sometimes say that Jesus was simply a good teacher. They admit that what Jesus teaches has value in life. Mark chapter one describes when Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. Verse 22 tells us that "the people were amazed at His teaching". When Jesus taught, people listened because they realized that His teachings were good. Even people today would agree that His teachings are good. For example, no one would argue with the idea that we should love one another and we should do unto others as we would have them do to us.
Another thing Jesus talked about was Himself. He made claims about who He was and what He came to do. His claims included, but are not limited to: "I am the Messiah", "Destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days", and "I am the way, the truth and the life". Not all of these are direct quotes from the gospels, but you get the idea. The main thing we can see from Jesus' claims about Himself is that He is not an ordinary man. No ordinary person would say the things that Jesus said about Himself. No one would claim that they are the Messiah, or that they will die and then be raised to life. Jesus was claiming that He is God.
This is where people have a problem with Jesus. Remember that earlier I said that people like Jesus' teachings. They agree with the things that He taught the people. However, people take issue with Jesus' claims about Himself. There are a couple reasons I can think of why this is. One reason is that people simply don't believe in Jesus. They think that there is no way He could possibly be God. Another reason is that people think Jesus was a liar. I think that the biggest issue people have with Jesus' claims is that it requires a response from them. People can agree with Jesus' teachings because they are just nice principles and ideals to strive for. However, people can't accept His claims about Himself because it requires them to believe in Him as God and Savior.
To fully understand what implications Jesus' claims have, we would have to talk about who Jesus is and who God is. However, that could take a very long time. If you are interested in learning more about who Jesus/God is, I suggest reading more of my blog, or more importantly, reading the Bible. For now, let's just discuss a bit about Jesus' claims and their implications. Jesus claimed that He was the promised Messiah, and that He is God. This means that He holds all authority to judge, but He also is powerful enough to save. Jesus claimed that He is the way, the truth and the life. If we want to find the way, know the truth, and experience eternal life, we have to believe in Jesus. Jesus' claims demand a response from us. Either we accept Him as God, and we believe in Him, or we reject Him. This is no small matter. If Jesus' claims about Himself are true, then our response to Him has massive consequences.
-Smart
-John 14:6
I know that it's been a while since I have posted on this blog, but that's because I've been a bit busy with school and I haven't really had anything to write about. However, I want to keep this blog going, so I thought I would take some time out of my schedule and write. Recently I have been reading the book "Basic Christianity" by John Stott, and I have continued listening to Ravi Zacharias' podcast, "Let my People Think". One interesting thing was brought up in both of these- the claims of Christ. What does that mean? Let's think about it.
We can assume that Jesus said a lot of things when He was on this earth, because we know that in the gospels Jesus spoke many times, and that was only three years of His life. Obviously we can only see what Jesus said during the three year period described in the gospel, and what He said in other books of the Bible as well. If you have read the gospels and are familiar with them, you will know that Jesus was often teaching. Most of what Jesus said (at least what is recorded) was to teach others, whether it be the disciples, the crowd, or the teachers of the law.
What I find interesting about Jesus' teachings is that most people would agree with them. As a matter of fact, even people who are not Christians sometimes say that Jesus was simply a good teacher. They admit that what Jesus teaches has value in life. Mark chapter one describes when Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. Verse 22 tells us that "the people were amazed at His teaching". When Jesus taught, people listened because they realized that His teachings were good. Even people today would agree that His teachings are good. For example, no one would argue with the idea that we should love one another and we should do unto others as we would have them do to us.
Another thing Jesus talked about was Himself. He made claims about who He was and what He came to do. His claims included, but are not limited to: "I am the Messiah", "Destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days", and "I am the way, the truth and the life". Not all of these are direct quotes from the gospels, but you get the idea. The main thing we can see from Jesus' claims about Himself is that He is not an ordinary man. No ordinary person would say the things that Jesus said about Himself. No one would claim that they are the Messiah, or that they will die and then be raised to life. Jesus was claiming that He is God.
This is where people have a problem with Jesus. Remember that earlier I said that people like Jesus' teachings. They agree with the things that He taught the people. However, people take issue with Jesus' claims about Himself. There are a couple reasons I can think of why this is. One reason is that people simply don't believe in Jesus. They think that there is no way He could possibly be God. Another reason is that people think Jesus was a liar. I think that the biggest issue people have with Jesus' claims is that it requires a response from them. People can agree with Jesus' teachings because they are just nice principles and ideals to strive for. However, people can't accept His claims about Himself because it requires them to believe in Him as God and Savior.
To fully understand what implications Jesus' claims have, we would have to talk about who Jesus is and who God is. However, that could take a very long time. If you are interested in learning more about who Jesus/God is, I suggest reading more of my blog, or more importantly, reading the Bible. For now, let's just discuss a bit about Jesus' claims and their implications. Jesus claimed that He was the promised Messiah, and that He is God. This means that He holds all authority to judge, but He also is powerful enough to save. Jesus claimed that He is the way, the truth and the life. If we want to find the way, know the truth, and experience eternal life, we have to believe in Jesus. Jesus' claims demand a response from us. Either we accept Him as God, and we believe in Him, or we reject Him. This is no small matter. If Jesus' claims about Himself are true, then our response to Him has massive consequences.
-Smart
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