Idolatry

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Prince Rogers Nelson: 1958-2016.

Prince ...was able to negotiate God and sex in his subject matter in a way that we had never seen before. Every song was either a prayer or foreplay.  
         - Prince's former hairdresser, Michaela Angela Davis

So far this year, our wicked world has witnessed the death of two of its androgynous gods. First it was Bowie, now Prince.

Here's Prince playing lead on the occasion of his 2004 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The song is "While My Guitar Gently Weeps":

More recently, Prince claimed conversion to the Seventh Day Adventist faith (but note correction in comment below). Other than that, he and Bowie were birds of a pair sharing a debauched affect, debauched music, debauched coupling...

The world will keen for Prince as it did for Bowie. Religious language will describe their loss. Decadent societies' artists are their gods.

A couple days after future Hall of Fame pitcher, Curt Schilling, was fired by ESPN for his FB post saying men playing dressup as women and demanding entry to the Ladies Room is "pathetic," Prince joins Bowie in the grave...


Three styles, one prophecy: the fall of Rome...

Three women are making names for themselves as prophetesses for the idols of sodomy and lesbianism. Their names are Rachel Held Evans, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Eve Tushnet.

First, Bolz-Weber and Held Evans. Both claim to be Protestant Christians and both aim their smashmouths at the church. If they were to speak to the world they'd have no market, but sadly, the church is listening. Both women's market niche is other women who get a kick from brash and defiant, but want to experience their thrills vicariously. Beyond that, the two are different.

Held Evans markets herself to women who attend Bible-believing churches but have not yet mustered the courage to tell their elders and pastors of their rebellion. So, from the secrecy of their computers, they take glee in watching Held Evans attack the Bible and the God Who wrote it—which is really all she ever does. Held Evans spent a year publicly mocking God's ceremonial laws and now she's busy shrieking that if God ever commanded her to sacrifice her son as He commanded Abraham, she'd refuse. Of course her real focus isn't Abraham and Isaac, but God the Father and God the Son. It's been trendy for children of Evangelicals to ridicule the substitutionary atonement the past ten or twenty years. They call the Father sending His Son to the cross "divine child abuse." Held Evans attacking Abraham's faith is simply an attack upon God the Father's love that sent His Son to the cross. It's an attack upon the Substitutionary Atonement. It's an attack upon the Gospel.

Bolz-Weber's smashmouth is also brash and defiant, but she sells herself to liberals. She is mainline Lutheran but she could as well be mainline Episcopalian, Anglican, Methodist, or Presbyterian. Like all liberals, Bolz-Weber doesn't bother attacking Scripture or Scripture's God; she just lies about Him, but with no fear of contradiction because the people who listen to her don't read the Bible. Bolz-Weber is a religious freak show. Mark Twain said he once had the misfortune of taking a train ride seated next to a woman who had not one unuttered thought on her brain. Picture Twain's seatmate wearing a wife-beater without a bra, a man's haircut, tattoos large enough to make a biker proud, and braided armpits, You begin to get the idea.

The third prophetess for lesbianism and sodomy is Eve Tushnet. She is a Roman Catholic and a week from now Richard John Neuhaus's First Things will host a lecture and book-signing upon the occasion of the release of her book, Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith. Along with Peter Leithart...


A magic leap forward...

This week, Magic Leap is the beneficiary of a $542,000,000 infusion of capital led by Google. So what is Magic Leap—a technological recapitulation of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution?

More. Much more.

On its website, the startup sells its Magic Leap as "an idea based in the belief that people should not have to choose between ...the virtual world or the real world." VB Reports Magic Leaps website "is full of surreal images of submarines and...


It looks like Jesus...

We've pointed out before that most "pictures of Jesus" make Him look effeminate, but if you grew up with those pictures it might be hard to figure out what the problem is. After all, that's just what Jesus looks like in your mind. But I just saw a picture that I thought looked like "Jesus," and maybe it will help you realize what the problem is exactly.

Jesus was not a man who decided to become a woman, but kept his beard, which is what this picture is of.


My intimate friendship with C. S. Lewis...

Well done, Andrew (Lazo). It is encouraging to see collaborative and respectful engagement between scholars, especially in the field of Lewis studies. You and McGrath have quietly set a high bar for better behaviour among researchers and writers. Hat tip to you and McGrath both. - Lancia E. Smith, First Things comments

Recently, there has been some discussion online about the precise date for the conversion (to theism) of C.S. Lewis. The consensus seems to be that Lewis himself misreported the date in his book, Surprised by Joy, and in his new biography of Lewis, Alister McGrath has set the record straight.

Of course McGrath's correction pleases me immensely. What a man! What a scholar! How utterly punctilious of him! I must say Alice (as McGrath's friends call him) has inspired me to make bold and bring forth my own more modest contribution to this scintillating discussion. The talk has centered on the quality of Lewis’ memory, which many consider prodigious. Well, was it?

Readers of this blog likely are unaware that I knew Jack (as friends of Lewis called him) in the early sixties and late fifties when I was a student at Cambridge...