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That God song “Put Your Hand in the Hand” was embraced by a large number of people. This popularity really served to deliver God’s message to a secular audience. There was however unforeseen blow-back from fellow Christians. Due to what was perceived to be the “rock star” lifestyle they tried to stop this newly founded Christian music movement. The resistance could not overpower the will of the people. Christian music started to gain momentum.

The poser effect started to take hold in Christian music. There were Christian songs being produced by bands who were lacking in the talent department. The record companies saw this new market and the possibilities; unfortunately there was a lack of talented artists in the genre. In a move of desperation the record companies chose to release music that was not of the greatest quality. The motivation behind these bands choosing to perform Christian music is something I personally am not sure of. That is between the artists themselves and God.

With time Christian music started to see an influx of real talent. Performers who formerly hid their beliefs began to deliver the message. Christian songs of greater quality started being released. In the early seventies a band called Petra was formed. Petra changed the face of Christian music, they were and still are an influence on many Christian artists. Petra saw a great rise in popularity in the eighties.

Petra was still a very popular band well into the 90’s and beyond. Other styles of Christian music began to emerge. For just about every style of music there was a counterpart in Christian music. Finally the genre had become fully fledged. It was overflowing with talented musicians.

The expansion of Christian music as genre was probably greatest in the nineties. These artists were able to adapt and grow with mainstream trends. With the popularity of gangsta rap Christian rappers like T-Bone offered Christian alternatives.

These days Christian music is a well established music genre. The music was once years behind secular music. That is not the case anymore. There are some Christian musicians who are even setting the trends themselves.

I never would have thought that I would see a day when Christian albums debut on the Billboard secular charts. You will find these Christian songs in feature films and television. The detractors will always be there. I just hope that people will ignore them and not miss out on this great music.

Are you ready to explore God songs? http://godsongsblog.com/ is a resource for all kinds of Christian songs articles.

The first question some may ask, does modern Christian music have a place in worship? This music is a staple at most of the modern mega chuches. Unfortunately at the older churches there is a resistance to the newer Christian music. Hymns are supposed to be songs that praise and worship the Lord. I feel that modern Christian music does indeed do that.

It is my opinion that newer Christian music such as “Awesome God” does indeed have a place in worship services. I believe the problem is one of human nature. People naturally resist things that are new.

Regrettably this is not just a one sided issue. The old standard hymns are far from standard at todays mega churches. In a move that is geared towards the youth, these churches tend not to feature the old classic God songs. It is great to bring the youth to god. Is it really necessary to overlook the older crowd completely though? I’ve got a feeling that adding some traditional God songs will not chase the younger crowd away.

I feel that I should clarify I am just an observer that has an opinion. I am afraid that there is a barrier being created between Christians that unfortunately eliminates interactions. These interactions should prove rewarding for both sides. The solution to this problem is really quite simple. Find the right combination of modern and traditional Christian songs, this will create a wonderful worship experience for all.

As far as I’m concerned the perfect service would include newer God songs like “Awesome God” and also traditionals like “How Great Thou Art.” If your favorite church tends to go one way or the other why not make a suggestion to your pastor? Bringing the new and old together in a manner that glorifies Gods name can create a win win situation for all.

This is admittedly a generalization but I think the problem is generational. Newer music has been frowned upon by the older generation for many years. This is not just in the case of Christian songs. Which type of Christian music do you prefer? Who’s to say that you can’t like both? If you do not feel that the newer Christian music is acceptable I think you might be missing out. It may be beneficial to you to listen to some of these new Christian songs. There are some very talented artists involved in Christian music these days.

Find out more about God songs at http://godsongsblog.com/. Also check out the history of Christian music.

Microsoft previously stated that the policy was there to protect users from discrimination or harassment, while it actually did quite the opposite. Users were not allowed to be themselves. But Microsoft has finally fixed its error and the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct has been update to be a bit more friendly.

Gamers can now be any race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation they choose. This applies to Gamertags and profiles, but there’s probably still a some moderators looking out for truly offensive violations. Surely a few clean tags will be flagged even after this update, although the announcement indicates that a stronger enforcement policy has been implemented as well to prevent misuse.

At least Microsoft is trying even if this update comes way too late in the game. Gamers have dealt with this issue for years.

It finally happened. A Muslim woman in Manchester refused to submit to a full-body airport body scanner and was thus barred from boarding her flight. She cited her Muslim faith, which might have been expected, as to why she refused to submit to the scan. I don’t trust the Internet to react to this news with any aplomb whatsoever.

The woman, who was to fly to Pakistan, was randomly selected at the Manchester airport to be scanned. Another woman, her travel buddy, also refused to submit to the body scan, but because of medical reasons.

In the UK, passengers who refuse to submit to body scans once they’ve been selected for one are barred from boarding said flight. There’s no Plan B—you can’t say, “I don’t want to be scanned, but I’ll let you pad me down or whatever.” Scan or go home.

What are you more comfortable with, people refusing to be scanned because of religious reasons or because of health reasons?

What’s also worth mentioning is that the two women were barred from boarding a flight two weeks ago over security concerns. That probably means that they’re being “randomly selected” for scans is total bunk.

The illusion of security continues, I suppose.

$39.95. That’s all you have to spend to protect your home from the comfort of your bed. Buy two! One for each side of the bed! Buy three for the bottom of your bed when you and the missus are doing the “strangle dangle thing.” Buy one for the couch! Buy one for the pool-side lounger! We’re living in crazy times, people. This is the only way you’ll survive.

If a shotgun is in the corner of a room or under the bed, one must turn their back on a perpetrator to access it
The BackUp allows for 2 second accessibility when in need
The Back-Up provides this from a lying position in bed. Just reach 8 inches along the side of the mattress, feel your gun as it is racked parallel to the floor. Simply raise the gun from the rack for use.

I for one am clinging to to my guns, religion, and pillow.

We were raised to be quiet, well-mannered Lutherans. But for Erik, there was nothing quiet about the gospel. In church, he sang as loud as he could. He didn’t care what anyone else thought – he was reaching out to the Lord and it was our problem if it made our ears ring.

One Sunday, the rumbling bass and baritone voices in the choir sang, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and Erik felt God’s presence. That rattle and boom was God’s voice literally vibrating his heart. We were still young but it decided everything: he would do the Lord’s work and it would be loud.

He enrolled in seminary as soon as he could, spent some time in the Holy Land and discovered that a low-end 25 watt sub could not adequately convey the genius of either John Paul Jones bass work on Led Zeppelin IV or the sermons of that other John Paul. Both required an upgrade to a 125 watt Miller & Kreisel MK II sub.

God understood.

My brother must not have mentioned his acoustic theory of divinity when he was ordained because the Bishop assigned him to an elderly congregation in rural Washington State. The greeting committee could hear Pastor Erik coming from miles away – the sound of a booming bass floated across the raspberry fields and through the apple orchards. Things didn’t quiet down after he parked his car in the church’s gravel parking lot. Erik rejects silences with a roaringly good-natured laugh and a voice that would feel at home in the Super Dome. The senior citizens responded by permanently notching down their hearing aids.

Pastor Erik didn’t mind – he just spoke louder and pointed out some immediate problems with the pretty, white steepled church. First, the 20 year old sound system was not up to the task of conveying God’s word.

“This is the Word of God we’re talking about,” he said. “It needs dignity and a high power 12-inch subwoofer with a neodymium magnet and a vented enclosure.”

The Church Elders blinked. Pastor Erik was not like their other ministers.

This young whippersnapper wanted to take this flock in a new direction. It didn’t matter if they needed walkers, dialysis or a hip replacement to get there– they were going to hear and feel God’s word.

He met any resistance with an out-pouring of Lutheran wisdom. Why spend thousands of dollars upgrading the sound system for a congregation of only 80 people? Because in 1541, Martin Luther himself said, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” Pastor Erik watched his congregants closely and asked if they were willing to run the world’s greatest treasure through a dusty old sound board that muddled the low range? Would Martin Luther want that?

The Elders decided to approve a budget of $9000 and Pastor Erik set to work.

His first move: bring in Jim Hall, an acoustician who has spent 42 years installing commercial audio systems in the Northwest. Hall and the Pastor huddled near the altar and laid out a battle plan. Hall wanted to deploy a four speaker TOA HX-5 variable dispersion system above the altar to ensure speech clarity. It’s what he typically recommended for small churches.

“But it won’t rock, will it?” the Pastor asked.

Hall was a little surprised – most churches were content with the HX-5 system. But this minister was sharp. He knew the HX-5 couldn’t deliver the low end. The Pastor was asking Hall to push himself, to dig deep and that could mean only one thing: the FB-120B.

The 120B is a crunk-ready 600 watt sub guaranteed to strip the paint off the steeple of any church silly enough to order it. It’s exactly what Pastor Erik was looking for.

The system took eight hours to install. They added a 16 channel Mackie 1604 VLZ3 mixing board, an EAW CAZ 1400 dual-amp for the HX-5 and an additional CAZ 800 amp interlaced with an Ashly cross-over for the sub. The final touch: two 1 inch tweeters over the choir.

“It’s got to be the best system for a church its size in the Northwest ,” Jim Hall says.

To test it, Pastor Erik grabbed the nearest CD he could find: a copy of Veggie Tales left behind by a pre-schooler. He pressed play and the voice of Larry the Cucumber boomed across rural Washington as if Abraham himself had just come down from the mountain to tell the world that he had a new hat and it was made of lettuce.

Pastor Erik heard the music and it was good. It didn’t matter what the Cucumber was babbling about. The tune sent its shock waves through his bones and brushed across his soul like a divine wind.

Now and truly, God was in da house.

Joshua Davis is a Contributing Editor for Wired Magazine who wrote about deep sea cowboys and the world’s largest diamond heist. (Both of which are being adapted for film.) He’s also the lightest man to ever compete in the US Sumo Open.

We were raised to be quiet, well-mannered Lutherans. But for Erik, there was nothing quiet about the gospel. In church, he sang as loud as he could. He didn’t care what anyone else thought – he was reaching out to the Lord and it was our problem if it made our ears ring.

One Sunday, the rumbling bass and baritone voices in the choir sang, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and Erik felt God’s presence. That rattle and boom was God’s voice literally vibrating his heart. We were still young but it decided everything: he would do the Lord’s work and it would be loud.

He enrolled in seminary as soon as he could, spent some time in the Holy Land and discovered that a low-end 25 watt sub could not adequately convey the genius of either John Paul Jones bass work on Led Zeppelin IV or the sermons of that other John Paul. Both required an upgrade to a 125 watt Miller & Kreisel MK II sub.

God understood.

My brother must not have mentioned his acoustic theory of divinity when he was ordained because the Bishop assigned him to an elderly congregation in rural Washington State. The greeting committee could hear Pastor Erik coming from miles away – the sound of a booming bass floated across the raspberry fields and through the apple orchards. Things didn’t quiet down after he parked his car in the church’s gravel parking lot. Erik rejects silences with a roaringly good-natured laugh and a voice that would feel at home in the Super Dome. The senior citizens responded by permanently notching down their hearing aids.

Pastor Erik didn’t mind – he just spoke louder and pointed out some immediate problems with the pretty, white steepled church. First, the 20 year old sound system was not up to the task of conveying God’s word.

“This is the Word of God we’re talking about,” he said. “It needs dignity and a high power 12-inch subwoofer with a neodymium magnet and a vented enclosure.”

The Church Elders blinked. Pastor Erik was not like their other ministers.

This young whippersnapper wanted to take this flock in a new direction. It didn’t matter if they needed walkers, dialysis or a hip replacement to get there– they were going to hear and feel God’s word.

He met any resistance with an out-pouring of Lutheran wisdom. Why spend thousands of dollars upgrading the sound system for a congregation of only 80 people? Because in 1541, Martin Luther himself said, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” Pastor Erik watched his congregants closely and asked if they were willing to run the world’s greatest treasure through a dusty old sound board that muddled the low range? Would Martin Luther want that?

The Elders decided to approve a budget of $9000 and Pastor Erik set to work.

His first move: bring in Jim Hall, an acoustician who has spent 42 years installing commercial audio systems in the Northwest. Hall and the Pastor huddled near the altar and laid out a battle plan. Hall wanted to deploy a four speaker TOA HX-5 variable dispersion system above the altar to ensure speech clarity. It’s what he typically recommended for small churches.

“But it won’t rock, will it?” the Pastor asked.

Hall was a little surprised – most churches were content with the HX-5 system. But this minister was sharp. He knew the HX-5 couldn’t deliver the low end. The Pastor was asking Hall to push himself, to dig deep and that could mean only one thing: the FB-120B.

The 120B is a crunk-ready 600 watt sub guaranteed to strip the paint off the steeple of any church silly enough to order it. It’s exactly what Pastor Erik was looking for.

The system took eight hours to install. They added a 16 channel Mackie 1604 VLZ3 mixing board, an EAW CAZ 1400 dual-amp for the HX-5 and an additional CAZ 800 amp interlaced with an Ashly cross-over for the sub. The final touch: two 1 inch tweeters over the choir.

“It’s got to be the best system for a church its size in the Northwest ,” Jim Hall says.

To test it, Pastor Erik grabbed the nearest CD he could find: a copy of Veggie Tales left behind by a pre-schooler. He pressed play and the voice of Larry the Cucumber boomed across rural Washington as if Abraham himself had just come down from the mountain to tell the world that he had a new hat and it was made of lettuce.

Pastor Erik heard the music and it was good. It didn’t matter what the Cucumber was babbling about. The tune sent its shock waves through his bones and brushed across his soul like a divine wind.

Now and truly, God was in da house.

Joshua Davis is a Contributing Editor for Wired Magazine who wrote about deep sea cowboys and the world’s largest diamond heist. (Both of which are being adapted for film.) He’s also the lightest man to ever compete in the US Sumo Open.

Yup, you can now tweet God, as it were. There’s a Twitter account, @thekotel, that takes your tweets, prints them out, then takes ‘em to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The account was started by one Alon Nir, who’s from Tel Aviv. He told Reuters that he hopes the account would be “beneficial to people all over the world.” A little high minded, sure, but there’s no harm in that, I don’t think. (Unless there’s some rule in Judaism that prevents talking to God via Twitter.)

I’m looking at the account right now, and it has some 3,200 followers.

Of course, all prayers are private. Then again, I seem to remember a situation when supposedly private tweets were accidentally made public. So pray at your own risk, I guess.

Koogle, the kosher web search engine for the ultra-orthodox Jew, has been launched. The search engine only works six days a week (no surfing on the Sabbath) and omits material that may be deemed unsuitable for the religion. Shopping results will exclude links to butchers who stock non-kosher foods, as well as blocking retailers who sell products such as televisions – banned in the households of orthodox Jews. The word Koogle is an amalgamation of the Hebrew word kugel, a traditional Jewish baked dish, and Google, the world’s most popular search engine. I just had a look at Koogle, and I’ve got to say it’s not for me. I don’t speak Hebrew for a start. And I’m not Jewish. But if you are an orthodox Jew then give it a whirl. Mind you, if you were an orthodox Jew then you probably shouldn’t be reading Tech Digest. Koogle bans us after all. (via BCS)