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MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 92: LINKIN PARK

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Life is fragile. One minute it’s there and the next, it’s not. You could be healthy one day and dead the next, and the day before, you’d be none the wiser. Gee, that sounds morbid, doesn’t it? That sounds like a super way to start a blog post, don’t you think? But bear with me, everyone; there’s a point to this introspection and this depressive start. You see, if death can come knocking at a moment’s notice, and you can’t really prepare for it…then what is the point of striving so hard, to acquire money and possessions and the like, if you’re not going to take it beyond the grave? Death is so certain, and it’s something that affects all of us; and the fact that it’s not just the old and sick that die, is pretty scary and overwhelming. As cases of COVID-19 keep rising around NSW and in Australia and also around the world, and as people keep on dying, I often of late have thought about the lives cut short by the pandemic, especially people who are young. I wonder about their hopes and dreams and how they can’t ever accomplish everything that they would want to- because they’re dead. Dreams cut short and potential not realised- because you’re dead. I know that if you’re dying not because of old age, but because of any other means; then that is an incredibly sad way to go. And though I’m being reminded about death a lot, I know it’s not something that you can change. You can’t cheat death, no matter how you try. When it’s your time, then there’s no two ways around it. Death is something that we all, like it or not, eventually will have to accept. Death happens to ALL of us. Not some. Not just the old or the babies who are unfortunately aborted. But to all of us. And though I’ve seen death and been to funerals before (for my uncle and also for a friend from church), the thought that death can happen tomorrow…actually sunk in for me about a week ago.

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Articles, Features, Video

MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 89: PINK

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I don’t know if you all know this, but mainstream music hasn’t really been my thing. I don’t think that’s it’s been a secret, for those of you who religiously follow this site, but it really, really hasn’t. You see, since as early as 2018, I was still listening to Christian music. Not that there’s anything bad with that. But the fact of the matter was that I was still listening to Delirious? and Carman, and since 2006, other bands and artists like Natalie Grant, Newsboys, Casting Crowns, Third Day, MercyMe, for KING & COUNTRY, Tenth Avenue North, Britt Nicole, Kari Jobe, Meredith Andrews, Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Lincoln Brewster, Phil Wickham, Francesca Battistelli, and Jeremy Camp to name a few. Some of these artists were indeed pop in musical nature, but to me were Christian first and foremost. So I didn’t consider them as pop- I instead considered them all as ‘Christian’ music. Not that ‘Christian’ should be a music genre, but the facts are the facts. CCM (or contemporary Christian music) is in fact a genre, and it is very isolated from the rest of the music industry. And I guess I might have been naïve, but I thought Christian music was so big, and that everything outside of Christian music was bad. Because songs weren’t talking about Jesus. To be fair though, in hindsight and looking back, songs that do not talk about Jesus but do speak about relevant, prevalent and confronting issues such as identity, self-worth, love, death, relationships, God, faith, doubt, other kinds of spirituality, sex, hurt, pain, betrayal, the wonder of the cosmos… songs about all of that without the explicit mention of God; they’re all not all bad songs. If the message of said song doesn’t point you directly to Jesus, but speaks about living a better life and improving upon your previous efforts as a person; do you think God used that song or that artist or that album, to maybe subtly draw listeners back to Him or at least to more focused conversations about religion and spirituality? I know, I know, I might be speaking blasphemy or heresy depending on who you talk to, whether you are a Catholic or a Protestant, or Conservative or a Progressive… but keep in mind that 3 years ago I was of a similar viewpoint. That Christian music is good and everything else is bad. I think I might feel like a broken record by the end of this blog series… but the truth of the matter is this: that it was virtually since Jon and I started this blog series, that I have had an appreciation for music that isn’t decidedly ‘Christian’ in nature. I’ve understood more about how God can move, and I’ve actually liked a few mainstream artists more than their Christian counterparts. I’ve realised that all music can be used to better our society, and to inspire ourselves and to further God’s kingdom; and I’ve also realised that the timeless artists and the iconic artists and the influential artists- predominately aren’t in the Christian music industry.

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