Breath Of Heaven

[koganbot]

Jonathan Bogart tosses off 11,000 words on the Christian pop he grew up with. I guess he never got the memo about the Internet being all about the quick and the now.

"Amy Grant - Lead Me On" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

knapp

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

speaking of this, what do you make of knapp coming out?

Re: knapp

[koganbot]

I don't think I'd ever heard of Jennifer Knapp until two minutes ago when I read this and ran an Internet search. Am listening to "Undo Me" right now, and I like it.

The story I read online didn't say anything about her current religious views, if she still considers herself an evangelical Christian, some other kind of Christian, or what. My guess is that there are a growing number of evangelicals who are uncomfortable with anti-gay stances (such stances don't seem very loving) and with cultural wars in general, though that's just based on a few people I know so I may be all wrong. This is hardly a subject I'm an expert on.

Re: knapp

[koganbot]

In Christianity Today:

During my college years, I received some admonishment about some relationships I'd had with women. Some people said, "You might want to renegotiate that," even though those relationships weren't sexual. Hindsight being 20/20, I guess it makes sense. But if you remove the social problem that homosexuality brings to the church — and the debate as to whether or not it should be called a "struggle," because there are proponents on both sides — you remove the notion that I am living my life with a great deal of joy. It never occurred to me that I was in something that should be labeled as a "struggle." The struggle I've had has been with the church, acknowledging me as a human being, trying to live the spiritual life that I've been called to, in whatever ramshackled, broken, frustrated way that I've always approached my faith. I still consider my hope to be a whole human being, to be a person of love and grace. So it's difficult for me to say that I've struggled within myself, because I haven't. I've struggled with other people. I've struggled with what that means in my own faith. I have struggled with how that perception of me will affect the way I feel about myself.

And

I've always struggled as a Christian with various forms of external evidence that we are obligated to show that we are Christians. I've found no law that commands me in any way other than to love my neighbor as myself, and that love is the greatest commandment. At a certain point I find myself so handcuffed in my own faith by trying to get it right — to try and look like a Christian, to try to do the things that Christians should do, to be all of these things externally — to fake it until I get myself all handcuffed and tied up in knots as to what I was supposed to be doing there in the first place.

Re: knapp

[koganbot]

Here's the link:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/interviews/2010/jenniferknapp-apr10.html