'That's not approval; that's deception"

 Morgan Guyton:

a pillar of popular penal substitution theology is that God cannot tolerate the presence of sin. I think it's more accurate to say that sin cannot tolerate the presence of God. The consequence of understanding things the first way is that the cross becomes God's inoculation for His sin allergy. Ironically, one of the main points of Jesus' incarnation was to prove that God is not distant and untouchably pure, but rather someone who "eats and drinks with sinners." Now this doesn't mean that sin is not allergic to God. People reacted to Jesus' perfect love and holiness either by repenting of their sin like Zacchaeus did or by lashing out defensively and crucifying Him like the Pharisees did.

...[In a sermon, Furtick]  said that the reason God gives us His "approval" is because He doesn't see us when He looks at us but sees Jesus instead. That's not approval; that's deception. I can't understand how anyone could possibly be encouraged by that. God doesn't need our true selves to be hidden from His view to love us infinitely. His rage against the sin that oppresses us is part of that love. It's true that Paul tells us to "put on Christ" and says that "in Christ we become the righteousness of God," but Jesus isn't a mask that we wear to cover ourselves up; He's a body in which we become ourselves.  

..I cannot find anywhere in scripture that makes the Father the primary agent behind the crucifixion of His Son. The closest is the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 52-53 in which we read that "it was the Lord's will to crush him with pain" (53:10). First, I would contend that the Suffering Servant passage is primarily about Israel's exile and only secondarily about Christ in His role as the recapitulation of His people's destiny. The description of the Suffering Servant cannot be mapped completely onto Christ without compromising Christ's divinity and the full unity of the divine will. Secondly, in no place does Isaiah 52-53 describe the fulfillment of God's wrath as the purpose of the Servant's suffering. Isaiah 53:5 says, "Upon him was the punishment that made us whole; by his bruises we are healed." In other words, the purpose of the Servant's punishment is our wholeness and healing . It neither serves to fulfill God's ego needs nor some primordial cosmic free market principle of retribution that God is obligated to follow.  -Morgan Guyton

 See also:

was Jesus forsaken by God?

and other posts labeled "death of Jesus" below

Pete Townsend on anthems, grace and Bono: "I'm not ashamed of praying onstage"

Pete Townshend:

I'm not ashamed of praying onstage. 

 In a sense, we discovered the rock anthem through that.

At the end of Tommy, there's a prayer to a higher power--"Listening to You, I get the music" and "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me."  Rock audiences of the late Sixties would always stand up.  They would suddenly feel, "Ah! I see, we're gathered here in order to lose ourselves in this plea for grace." And that's what the rock anthem is.  Bono might think he's rallying the troops or something, but he's aware of the power of the congregation. -PETE TOWNSEND, Q &A: Pete Townshend, Rolling Stone, 11/8/12, p.22

-

Terry, Bono, T Bone and Bruce: the power of introduction

Terry Mattingly one tipped Bono off  a young singer named Bono to  a (necessarily) short list of recording artists who were Christians (not Christian  recording artists) whose music was not Christianese or cheesy;

artists of honest and thoughtful faith and art that journalist Mattingly was pretty sure Bono would appreciate.

To say he was right is an understatement.

T-Bone Burnett and Bruce Cockburn were of course on the list (if not the whole list).

It is well-known that Bono not only soon after searched out Burnett's music,  but Burnett himself.
Who knows the depth of the stories  behind the  note of thanks Bono once included in U2 liner notes, thanking Burnett "for the truth in the dark."  The two  even wrote together, including a purplehearted song with some of Bono's best lyrics... and non-lyrics/wordless prayerwails. The  relationship survives to this day.


But how much Bono and  Cockburn have connected over the years is  not as well-known.

Most readers will remember that Cockburn is namechecked...well, without the name; as 'the singer on the radio'... in  the lyric of U2's "God Part II."

And U2 has made no secret of being profoundly influenced by Cockburn's "Rocket Launcher,"
a video of which I recorded in Fresno appears below:

The  Canadian documentary about their native son, Bruce Cockburn, Pacing the Cage opens with the following  scene
(Does anyone have video link to this?):

Bono facing the camera and quietly [quoting "Rocket Launcher'],  

    “Here comes the helicopter - second time today  

   Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away. 

    How many kids they've murdered, only God can say.

     If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay."

Closing his sequence, Bono adds jealously,

“If I had a rocket launcher, he wouldn’t have written those songs!”  (link)

Tony Campolo, who has several  stories on Bono, and once told me a salty one,

recounts that while at Greenbelt (the UK alternative Christian festival), and in disguise , Bono even volunteered to direct traffic!

More of the story of Bono at Greenbelt  told on a new article by Darrel Walker
And why was Bono smuggled into Greenbelt?

Walker reveals that: To see, on Mattingly's recommendation, an amazing Godhaunted singer named:

 Bruce Cockburn.

Walker prods Cockburn to find just how much "Rocket Launcher" influened U2' "Bullet the Blue Sky".
The answer/non answer is cryptiic and intriguing.

But all this (a brief encounter when an American  journalist offered an Irish singer a mixtape that included a bit of a Candadian artist; a discussion between two performers...one in disguise..backstage about rockets and El Salvador and other everyday stuff ) stirs up six degrees of separation, and changes life direction.

Who told you about

• U2?
• Cockburn?
• Burnett?
• 
  
• Jesus?

AND if you are just learning about one of the above for the first time:

You are welcome.



--
Related:
Other posts on Cockburn

I

"Cloud Atlas"

Well, with the "progressively transgendered" Larry Wachoswski now going by Lana (see Lana Wachowski Reveals Suicide Plan, Painful Past in Emotional Speech Exclusive Video),
 they are  officially no longer The Wachoswski Brothers (They actually now go by The Wachowskis or Wachowski Starship).  But the madgenius creators of The Matrix trilogy have now teamed with a third director to film "the unmakeable fim":

Cloud Atlas (wiki)

Cloud Atlas | Christianity Today

Žižek, metaphor, golfbags atonement fetish

link

ekklesia without church

See Pasha Siberia's post:

Jesus original intention for his followers

Alex Ross: "Listen to This"

 Summary and video here; 
          reviews here:
                music samples from a  helpful chapter. click here: "Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues".

Below, from the book's website , lots of audio files for the audiophiles.  Enjoy:


NOTE: If you are using an iPad, an iPhone, or another device that doesn't use flash, use these pages instead.
1. LISTEN TO THIS: Crossing the Border from Classical to Pop
2. CHACONA, LAMENTO, WALKING BLUES: Bass Lines of Music History
3. INFERNAL MACHINES: How Recordings Changed Music
4. STORM OF STYLE: Mozart's Golden Mean
5. ORBITING: Radiohead's Grand Tour
6. THE ANTI-MAESTRO: Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Los Angeles Philharmonic
7. GREAT SOUL: Searching for Schubert
8. EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPES: Björk's Saga
9. SYMPHONY OF MILLIONS: Classical Music in China
10. SONG OF THE EARTH: The Arctic Sound of John Luther Adams
11. VERDI'S GRIP: Opera as Popular Art
12. ALMOST FAMOUS: On the Road with the St. Lawrence Quartet
13. EDGES OF POP: Kiki and Herb, Cecil Taylor and Sonic Youth, Sinatra, Kurt Cobain
14. LEARNING THE SCORE: The Crisis in Music Education
15. VOICE OF THE CENTURY: Marian Anderson
16. THE MUSIC MOUNTAIN: Inside the Marlboro Retreat
17. THE END OF SILENCE: John Cage
     [chapter added for paperback and European editions]
18. I SAW THE LIGHT: Following Bob Dylan
19. FERVOR: Remembering Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
20. BLESSED ARE THE SAD: Late Brahms