Repent all you sinners!

[zvinki]

Read and be saved!

http://www.geocities.com/evilprogressive/index.html

[Bob Lentil]

"Listeners of progressive rock have often got long and filthy hair, old, colorful and shabby clothes. They smell like marijuana, which is because they smoke it very often! They are usually communists or left-wing liberals, which means they are the enemy of Democracy! They are satanists or new-age -believers. Not many of them are Christians."

I must be an atypical progressive rock listener. I've got short and clean hair (although it used to be really long and clean). My clothes are relatively new and not very colorful, whether they're shabby or not is debatable. I don't smell like marijuana and don't smoke it either. I'm also a right-wing conservative and a Christian.

Man what a JERK!!!!!!!

I guess he dresses in black and Yellow spandex and grooves to Stryper all day long. PRATT!!!!!

[progdirjim(Admin)]

No, he's not a jerk. He really believes what he wrote, typos and all. He is SAD. We should PITY him.

[Yesspaz]

Hey AMers. Yesspaz here. Well, what can I say? By now most of you are aware of the ignorant soul who is the subject of this thread. Now, I won't call him an idiot, I'll just say he's ignorant.

As is fairly well known here, I'm an evangelical Christian. I also host a prog show. So I am the epitome of contradiction to the gentleman in question. So, I wrote him a response on his webpage. I have copied it and posted it here.

I would like to point out that I haven't used AM as an evangelistic platform to try and convert everyone to Christianity. I'm open about my faith, but not pushy. I enjoy the fellowship of other Christians here such as Podakayne, Bob Lentil, and Moses. However, this is a progressive rock site, not a site for the propogation of Christianity. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." AM is neither the time nor the place for me to evangelize. Therefore I'd like to put a "disclaimer" on this post. I wrote this quoted post not as a prog fan first, but as a Christian first. After all, it was written from one Christian to another, and is being pasted here for others to "eavesdrop on" because of its subject matter. Therefore, if you read some political statement or otherwise that you disagree with me on, remember that I'm not here to start up a political debate, but to be the voice of reason to this guy. If I offend anyone, I apologize. I don't apologize for what I stand for, but I apologize in general. Anyway, here's what I wrote to the guy:






"I'm a seminary student at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL. I am also the producer of a progressive rock radio show called BrainRock. I've been an Evangelical Protestant (SBC) Christian since I was 9, and an avid prog fan since I was 13. Your article is so full of fallacies I don't know where to begin.

1. The name Pink Floyd is a reference to two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. It is not a drug reference, and definitely not "obviously" one.

2. You wrote, "Complex and psychedelic music makes the listener dizzy. A full experience with this music can be only achieved in a drug trip." This is very much your opinion. I love complex and psychedelic music, and it doesn't make me dizzy, nor have I ever used drugs, smoked a cigarette, or even tasted alcohol in my 25 years. This is an ignorant statement.

3. While I agree with you that Amon Dull II's "Pallus Dei" is a disgusting title, this is a rarity amoungst prog. I noticed that the first page description of progressive rock you cut and pasted from www.allmusic.com. In that descprition it states that the lyrics tend to be more literary and based in poetry than the regular rock and roll ideaology of boy-meets-girl, sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Trust me, blasphemy like "Phallus Dei" is the exception to the rule (unless the title refers to Jesus' penis - he did have one). Of course, the lyrics of the song would be suspect to inspection. When you mentioned "Hymn 43," "My God," and "Jesus He Knows Me," you picked out exceptions. You didn't mention the thousands that don't fit your criterion. Besides, these non-Christian songs (not UN-Christian) should be looked at as a healthy outside critique of some of the Church's errors. "Jesus He Knows Me" is about the abuses and scandals of TV Evangelists. "My God" states, "He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sunday morn" - which is correct! However, Ian Anderson was stating no one should go to church. He's wrong. But he's right to say that there are a lot of hypocrites who think they can go to church for "fire-insurance" instead of actually living the Christian life.

4. "In the Court of the Crimson King" is about an encounter with Satan, but that doesn't mean it is satanic. The Bible is full of Satanic encounters, but it's not satanic. The lyricist, Pete Sinfeld, may have had a dream in which he encountered Satan and the wrote about it to get it out of his system. Doesn't mean he's a satanist...

5. Nothing wrong with heavy metal, inherently. There are evil heavy metal groups out there, and there are Christian heavy metal groups, such as Guardian, P.O.D., and Stavesacre.

6. You state, "Listeners of progressive rock have often got long and filthy hair, old, colorful and shabby clothes. They smell like marijuana, which is because they smoke it very often!
They are usually communists or left-wing liberals, which means they are the enemy of Democracy!
They are satanists or new-age -believers. Not many of them are Christians. They have no other life than their music." I'm sorry to come off so strong, put this is pure ignorance. Aren't you thinking of the people who follow around The Dead and Phish? I am clean-cut, wear normal clothes, have never even smelled weed, am an extremely right-wing conservative Republican, am not a satanist or new-ager, am a devout Christian, and yes, I do have a life other than music. I'm in school, have a lot of friends in a very active single's ministry at Shades Mountain Baptist Church. In fact, here's link for you to check out: http://www.auralmoon.com/html/module...view_album.php It is the Rogues Gallery at Auralmoon.com, a progressive rock radio station ( I'm the guy with the broken foot). While not all of my fellow Auralmoon listeners are Christians, right-wing, or otherwise, you will notice that the vast majority of folks look like "regular folk." And the rest, well, always get to know someone before passing judgement. Some of the best Christians I know would scare little old church ladies just passing them on the sidewalk.

Now, yes, like the woman who had to find a new band every week, prog fans probably buy more music than most people. There are two reasons for this. #1 You don't get to hear it on the radio. #2 By virtue of the seriousness of the style, it tends to attract serious people, who therefore take their music seriously. But this is not to say that we make ourselves broke buying music. This woman who spent 90% of her money on prog had a classic addiction cycle. It just happened to be prog. If she hadn't have been rescued from her addictions by God, it would have become something else. (Basic Psychology 101) If someone is addicted to say, food, and they overeat, they may think that they can cure this addiction. But what happens if they stop eating? Usually, they take up smoking. If someone is a chain-smoker and they stop smoking, maybe they begin to drink more. See, the addiction is not caused by the thing itself, but by the root. People who quit one vice only to pick up another are jumping from one branch to another on the addiction "tree" if you will. The key is to kill the root of the "tree." The root of addiction always has been and always will be "fear of rejection." People feel rejected, they turn to something that makes them feel good; that won't reject them: sex, drugs, alcohol, chocolate, or progressive rock. The problem is that this doesn't reach the cause. Once this woman's sense of rejection was elimated when she accepted Christ's love for her, BOOM, problem solved. Often men addicted to pornography will never tell their wives because of the fear of rejection, but if they ever do, and the wife works through it and forgives him and accepts him, guess what? He doesn't need porn anymore. All that to say, this woman's problem wasn't prog, it was lack of intimacy.

--And finally, my advice to the author of this page, from one evangelical to another:

You are obviously a passionate person for the purity of the gospel and for social awareness, i.e. helping people to stay out of destructive lifestyles. So please consider "looking for bigger fish to fry." There are all kinds of places, much more legitamte, for you to channel this energy. Work on the pro-life cause. Volunteer at Betty Ford clinics. Take some training and learn how to host AA meetings. As the Bible says, "Rescue the perishing; care for the dying." But please, see where the dying are (drugs, alcoholics, people addicted to porn), rather than attacking a generally positive musical form.

God bless, Ben from BrainRock."

[podakayne]

i could not believe his narrowmindedness...my God i shutter...people such as he scare the Hell out of me...i did respond in his guest book. and i know i don't meet the criteria for "prog folk" acording to him.

and being a former clean-haired, big-afroed hippie i could resent him greatly...but i don't...i pity is tiny little mind.

[podakayne]

if only the guest page could encompass your well spoken reply. and no appologies needed in my book. i am very proud to be aquainted with you. your rebuttal was very tactful w/attacking, showing restraint for a fellow believer...great work brother...great work.

[VAXman(Admin)]

"Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion –- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven."

(Mark Twain / 1835 - 1910)



"Listeners of progressive rock have often got long and filthy hair, old, colorful and shabby clothes." Hey, did Jesus listen to prog rock?


"communists or left-wing liberals, which means they are the enemy of Democracy!"

[MrMagoo]

Literally: "Oh My God"! I'm stunned at such bigotry. Here's my response:

Have you accepted Jesus Christ to your life? : yes, plus Buddha, Buri, Danu, Gaea, and The Great Spirit
Comments : There are so many mis-guided, mis-informed, mis-taken beliefs here I dont know where to start. I feel sorry for your judgemental righteous narrow views. I pray you can expand your mind & soul to love & honor all peoples & ways, not just yours.

And yes, I'm honored to be amongst such reasoned peeplz...

[progdirjim(Admin)]

Originally posted by podakayne

and being a former clean-haired, big-afroed hippie

I know this is off topic but I'd LOVE to see a picture of Poda with a big afro...

[Eating Lemur]

I don't know, man...I mean, I did have long hair once, and my clothes are kind of worn. Hell, I'm even a communist and a critic of popular christianity. Does that mean I'm evil?

[progdirjim(Admin)]

Originally posted by Eating Lemur
I don't know, man...I mean, I did have long hair once, and my clothes are kind of worn. Hell, I'm even a communist and a critic of popular christianity. Does that mean I'm evil?

aren't lemurs endangered? and you're eating them??

[Wojtek]

And because of such guys this faith is 'summed up' by the ironic smile by many people. I
diotic selectiveness, sick intepretations. I think this guy is a fanatic and fanatism doesn't fit to religion the is subsribed to, religion exhorting to love, forgiveness and seeing good in other person. This Christian 'offers' damnation and hate, moreover basing on false and selective arguments.
Big disgust here.

Catholic Woj

[Yesspaz]

Originally posted by progdirjim
aren't lemurs endangered? and you're eating them??

Well, what do you expect from a communist spy?

[Rick and Roll]

so thank you all for giving me the Cliff notes!

And finally a thread by Zvinki that people post to!

[Eating Lemur]

Actually, "eating" is an adjective--not a verb.

Anyway, Wojtek's comment about "fanaticism" reminded me of some things I read from Swami Vivekananda, a man whose opinion I respect very much. Courtesy of vivekananda.org, here is what he had to say about fanatacism:

"My experience comes to this, that it is rather wise to avoid all sorts of fanatical reforms. This world is slowly going on; let it go slowly. Why are you in a hurry? Sleep well and keep your nerves in good order; eat right food, and have sympathy with the world. Fanatics only make hatred. Do you mean to say that the temperance fanatic loves these poor people who become drunkards? Fanatics are fanatics simply because they expect to get something for themselves in return. As soon as the battle is over, they go for the spoil. "

I would have just provided a link, but the website is setup so that I couldn't do a direct link to the specific reading, though you are welcome to find it on his site; it is under "readings" (you must click on the flie cabinet thingy) and "notes from classes." I read it again, and that paragraph was one of the most singularly meaningful; the rest is hard to quote because it would sound out of place without the whole article.

Anyway, I just thought I would share some of my evil, so-called "non-christian" views.

[zvinki]

I would take offence at that if I wasn't so high.

Great replies from everyone especially Spaz who remains an AM paradox. It's interesting that this guy takes a swipe at such a small group as prog-rock lovers instead of larger and more deserving groups like gangsta rap lovers for example. So he's offended the half-dozen of us. Big deal!!! I showed this guyswebsite and rantings to my kids because I have always warned them about the dangers of fanatics hiding in religion and stereotyping. At least it served my purpose well.

[kevishev]

Originally posted by zvinki

I would take offence at that if I wasn't so high.

Zvinki,

That's the greatest comment I've ever heard.

But anyway, I'm a bit taken aback by the credence being given to this hapless evangelical wannabe by this forum. I'm not surprised that such people exist and purport views and opinions such as those on his website. What surprises me most is that some people here would take the time and effort to be offended by this. Then, to respond to him and defend who they are and the type of music they like to listen to. No offense but, who really gives a shit?

Prog Rock is in no need of defense.

Kev

Let he among you that is without sin, turn down the volume.

[Yesspaz]

Originally posted by kevishev
Prog Rock is in no need of defense.

Neither is Christianity.


So, why did I take the time to reply?

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes."

-Proverbs 26:4-5

[Rick and Roll]

Originally posted by kevishev
Zvinki,

That's the greatest comment I've ever heard.

But anyway, I'm a bit taken aback by the credence being given to this hapless evangelical wannabe by this forum. I'm not surprised that such people exist and purport views and opinions such as those on his website. What surprises me most is that some people here would take the time and effort to be offended by this. Then, to respond to him and defend who they are and the type of music they like to listen to. No offense but, who really gives a shit?

Prog Rock is in no need of defense.

Kev

Let he among you that is without sin, turn down the volume.

Kev, that's why I didn't read it....................

Zvinki, I was commenting on your two threads that only you and I posted to (the Saga and the FM). Don't you remember? I was making a joke.


Anyway, you're still one behind me on unresponded threads (I had three that were never responded to