An Essay To Write...

As I sit here in the library at Moorlands my head is swimming with information and jobs to do: 

• I need to get this essay done
• No-one has emailed back regarding my dissertation research
• I've got to do some reading for block placement
• I need to run through the Bloodwork songs before Saturday's practice
• Oh dear, I need to do some Christmas shopping!
• My house isn't finished on Minecraft... I'll find time for that later

I have this really naff habit of placing my personal wellbeing far and beyond below everything else, I know that the more time I spend in quiet meditation and reflection the more focussed my mind, the more still my spirit and the greater the revelation. As it has been said, 'Be still and know that I am God', how often as busy Christians with busy lives do we forget that? How often as Bible college students do we forget to do that?

I have often fallen into the trap of assuming that studying the Reformers, writing an essay, because it is, in general terms, worship that it counts... It doesn't if it isn't done with the right heart. Our heart position on these sorts of things is absolutely crucial, this is something I picked up when I was at Nexus, something I was convinced I would remain true to. I am ashamed to admit that I've been found lacking recently. 

I have started praying more though, this has resulted in conviction, in a hunger and a thirst for scripture. I am reminded of this verse, 'I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.' (Galatians 2.20). Oft cited by many folk it pretty much sums up where I'm at right now and how I am approaching these next few months (with, of course, a view to carry on!!). When I am in Chesterfield on block placement a significant part of what I do will be interacting with and spending time with strangers, people like myself who feel ostracised and who are hurting and broken. If you know me at all you will know that I suck at things like that, however as I reflect on and pray over this Galatians passage there is a simple yet radical truth which comes to me:

I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Simple I know right? There is so much in there though, so many implications. I am not for one second saying that I am ashamed of what Christ has done in me or that I am unwilling to speak His name. I am saying that through all my fears and failures, through all my insecurities it should be this truth that is manifested, not the bold faced lies that I am inadequate to carry out the task which is laid before me by God. I have no idea what that is, and to be perfectly honest with you I'm terrified. 

I don't see comfort, I don't see acceptance, I see challenge and I see struggle. I see conviction, I see joy, I see GLORY being brought to the KING OF KINGS, I see knees bowed before Him in adoration, I see hearts open to the LORD OF LORDS, I see weeping with joy, I see broken lives MADE NEW, I see men and women who were once stuck in a lukewarm hovel being SET ON FIRE, I see new leaders being raised up, I see bold and prophetic declarations over each other, I see people FORSAKING SIN for the sake of the Gospel, I see people loving EVERYONE, I hear the screams and the cries of the justified rising up, I see a SPIRITUAL ARMY of the living, holy God, I see relationships, I see people stepping forward into new and exciting places, I SEE DISCIPLES WHO ARE LIVING THEIR LIVES TRANSPARENTALLY, IN FULL VIEW OF THOSE AROUND THEM, I SEE CHRIST BEING GLORIFIED THROUGH THE SIMPLE SERVICE AND WORDS OF THOSE DISCIPLES, NOT BEING SOLD THROUGH THE COMMERCIALISATION OF THE CHURCH.

For now I leave you with love,

The Rambler

What A Curious Term...

I was sat playing my bass earlier today and I suddenly remembered I hadn't posted a blog for a good few months, to be honest I felt pretty awful. I had promised myself that I would post regularly and it just didn't happen, primarily because I have been fairly busy. I've got a few thoughts that will be spread across a few posts in the coming days but for now I want to discuss the last few days just briefly...

We are finished for the term here at Moorlands (I still have an essay to write, but that is a subject for another post!) and it went out with quite a bang: the Moorlands Variety Show! Involving Bhangra dancing, a rather disturbing video created by myself and a very good friend of mine Chris, some great music and to top it all off a marriage proposal (congratulations to James and J!!). However, the following morning I cleared off, skipping out on the final chapel of the year and the end of term breakfast, to Chesterfield to meet Mark Broomhead and his wife Sarah, founders of The Order of the Black Sheep (OBS). I will be on a placement with them for five weeks from early January  and I am very much looking forward to getting involved up there with the amazing work they're doing.

One of my greatest 'smile moments' this term must have been the first meeting of the Moorlands Metal Cell. We are a small group of people, all from different backgrounds but all of us have a love for various kinds of metal. After I got back home from Nordicfest I found myself with a huge burden for the folk in college who had been alone for most of their church lives in their love for the extreme end of music. I have struggled in the past, perhaps under the radar, with opening up and being honest with people about how much I love extreme music. There seems to be a culture of almost apologising for liking it, I suppose I need to get over it but it is rather difficult.

'So what sort of music are you into?'

'Well, um, I like heavy music... But I also like lots of other things like Justin Timberlake!!!!'

Why not just say, 'I like extreme metal.' then have the other person pull a weird face, question your sanity and edge slowly away? I think like many Christian metallers I have this inherent desire to be accepted by the church and don't get me wrong it is better than it was 10 or 20 years ago, but there still seems to be a shying away from this 'black sheep' culture. We seem to be the ones who are just too far gone, we are the ones who will laugh off the jokes about our 'Satan music' or the 'Satan worshipping festivals' and who totally find them hilarious. How would a standard, evangelical Bible College Christian feel if I started knocking 'worship music'? I've tried it, it does not go down well.

 

Sometimes I wish people could listen to and acknowledge the power that comes with metal, you have this strange sort of dichotomy now: wishy washy, ambiguous 'worship music' which is as dull as dull can be VS powerful, declarative, unashamed metal of all genres which sounds like it speaks. I used to think it was my calling to turn every Christian into a metalhead but it just will never work, people are too safe within the confines of their bubble and if anything tries to burst it, well, decry it as 'noise'. I've talked about this before, I don't care if someone dislikes it just don't try to tell me I should also dislike it.

Metallers seem to be one of the most misaligned groups in the Church today, they are often left to their own devices, it is assumed that they will just band together and be a little clique. Now, while it is important to encourage each other with mutual passions, it is just as important to accept them into the body. I've experienced this to some degree with my current church (more about them in a later post!!) but there is still this weird sort of, 'leave him to his own devices, he'll work himself out!' vibe. When metal is such a part of me that I find it hard to have a conversation without working it in (heck, whenever I preach I end up quoting a song!) why can that not be accepted just as much as musicals, Switchfoot, sports, dancing or film? Why should it always be questioned/mocked/joked about?

Why is it that metallers tend to be the quiet ones who sit at the back of church? I'll tell you, it's often because they simply don't feel welcome. No matter whether or not you would accept them or not experience has often shown that they just cannot broach the subject of metal, it has shown them that people will judge them based on what they see (it still happens), not what they experience.

Anyway, this post has become a fairly lengthy ramble about something it wasn't meant to be about so I will go to sleep now. I will be posting probably daily for the next couple of weeks with thoughts, poems etc.

Goodnight friends, and don't take this as a pity post, take it as a truth post.

For now, I leave you with love (and one of my favourite songs at the moment!),

The_Rambler

Oh Sleeper - The New Breed

Nordicfest 2011 Introduction

This year's annual European celebration of all things extreme in in the world of Christian music is nearly upon us. Yes that is right friends, the final Nordicfest kicks off in less than a month and already it looks to be a quality lineup:

Living Sacrifice
Becoming The Archetype
Whitecross
War of Ages
HB
Crimson Moonlight
Leviticus
Lengsel
Golden Resurrection
Reinxeed
In The Midst Of Lions
A Hill To Die Upon
Enshrouding
Dyst

 As you can see, it is not only a varied line up but a pretty good one so far (and there are more bands TBA!) which promises to provide some fantastic music, great showmanship and 3 nights of sheer, utter, unadulterated brutality. There are some special shows in there, I believe this is the first time Lengsel have ever performed live so whether or not they play their newer weird alt stuff (the album grew on me actually!) it will certainly go down in the history of Christian metal as a night to be remembered. It is the first time in something like 13 years that LS have played in Europe, so again it will be an incredibly exciting show from a band that will be at the top of their game and who will almost certainly be excited about being back in Europe after so long. A personal touch, I have wanted to see Crimson Moonlight for a long time and have always missed out so I am very excited to see them.

My thoughts on confirmed bands:

HB

HB should be good fun and while their music is nowhere near as extreme as a lot of the other bands (they lean towards the symphonic rock/metal thing) I think I'll enjoy it quite a lot, let me tell you why. All the live videos of HB I have seen they are performing in fairly large venues, I am not sure if this is commonplace for them but based on my YouTube experience it should be good to see them in a small, intimate environment which often invokes more energy from the performers.

In The Midst Of Lions

I'm gonna put it out there, ITMOL sound a lot like Whitechapel (though I do think ITMOL are better, but that is pure subjectivity, no flaming please!) and I'm not a huge fan of Whitechapel... However, I frakking love this stuff live so while I'm not a fan of the studio stuff I'm looking forward to seeing these guys live. They seem to exude a lot of energy which is a good thing and I think they will thrive with the NF crowd.

Becoming The Archetype

I've been waiting to see this band live since I first heard Terminate Damnation and have missed every gig they've done in the UK. Seriously looking forward to seeing these guys and won't be surprised if they're headlining or on just before the headliner.

Whitecross

Well these guys are classic metal so I need say nothing more, should be a great show with some great musicians.

War of Ages

These guys seem to have consistently put out some great metal and I have heard from reputable sources that their live performances are quality affairs. It'll be good to see them, even though I'm not an avid fan I do like them and as I say, they are unlikely to put on a bad show. 

Living Sacrifice

I hear a bunch of people on two sides the camp here, some say they are boring and others just love them. Personally I side with the latter group, I think they put out some great death metal (mixed with a couple of other things...) and I rated 'The Infinite Order' pretty highly, it was in my top 20 albums of 2010. Because this is their first show in Europe for 13 years it wouldn't surprise me if it is something of a 'best of...' gig, but either way I am very excited about this.

Crimson Moonlight

If you are anywhere near the Christian extreme metal scene you will know that these guys are good. They really are one of the best black metal bands around, whether or not you are a Christian and most people who say they suck do so on the basis of ideology, not musicality and sheer awesomeness. As with a lot of bands on the bill this year I have been waiting a while to see them and this will be an epic gig (won't be surprised if they headline the Saturday night...)

Leviticus

It'll be really nice to see these guys, a bit of classic rock in the middle of Nordicfest will make me smile and Leviticus are a good band to do it! I will probably be stood near the back with a huge smile on my face wishing my dad was there to enjoy it with me. 

Lengsel

Boy has this booking got people in a stir! Lengsel are pretty legendary, existing for about 16 years they have released two albums and never performed live. These two albums differed HUGELY! 'Solace' is a simply incredible piece of progressive black metal and was very influential (and still is). 'The Kiss, The Hope' was a very different affair and had a sludge metal feel to it. I heard 'Solace' first and so on the initial listen of 'TKTH' was confused, I didn't like what I heard. Over time the album has grown on me, but there are a whole bunch of people who are really hoping they don't focus on the TKTH material. Considering this is their first live performance and assuming the band know and understand the legendary status of their debut album I am hoping they focus on it. Either way, this will be a show of epic proportions and one I am privileged to be attending.

Golden Resurrection

To my shame I hadn't heard of GR before they were announced but as any good festival goer should do, I instantly youtubed them. Holy Power Metal Batman! This will be a good one and a fun one. I love power metal and GR seem to do a good show and their music is just pure... well, power metal. Yeah. POWER METAL!!!! Looking forward to this one too!

ReinXeed

More Power Metal! I had discovered ReinXeed a few weeks before they were announced and again I loved what I heard. This will be another quality show. I can't be getting enough of the power metal at the moment...

A Hill To Die Upon

I haven't even seen this band live and I have a t-shirt of a tour they headlined in the US... A great black/death metal band who again I have wanted to see since Infinite Titanic Immortal came out.

Enshrouding

Great band, brutal wall of noise, will be a great show. If you don't know who they are then listen to them NOW. 'Nuff said.

Dyst

Again, hadn't heard of Dyst till they were billed and what I heard was pretty good though not what I'm really into at the moment. With so many mature bands on the list it should be interesting to see some fresh faced youngsters take the stage! Can't really say much more as I haven't heard enough of their music to judge.

Well that's all the announced bands so far. This is going to be a very good Nordicfest and if all goes to plan I will have a new and dedicated blog up the week running up to the festival. My hope is that the current blog will be a personal, reflective one and a new one will be dedicated to serving the Christian metal community with quality reviews, interviews and more. 

For now I leave you with love,

The Rambler
Follow @BenMartinBass

Beginning of the End

It is the Friday before the new students turn up to Moorlands Bible College, I have started a fresh blog, we have new housemates, I am back to playing bass and on top of all that I am now a third year student. This is the beginning of the end! 

As I sit here in my cupboard room listening to the dulcet tones of Mayhem's 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' I am reminded of the day when I first arrived to the campus. At that time I was living in halls, had only visited the college once for my interview in August and really did not know what I was going in to. To be totally honest I didn't particularly know what the course I would be studying involved and wasn't nearly 100% on why I was there. 


I remember walking through the corridors with my meagre belongings thinking to myself, 'I'm really not going to find anyone here who likes metal, comic books and the bass am I. This is going to be a lonely three years...'. It turns out I found someone who liked one of the three, a couple of people are/were kind of into bass (maybe not as obsessively as I can be but you have to take what you can get in these situations) and semi-found someone who was into metal of some form. 


To be honest though, there is little that can knock your confidence in who you are more than being in a place where the individual aspect of your personality can't really thrive. Now don't get me wrong, that isn't to say that people don't want to let it thrive, just that when people are simply unable to passively (or, dare I say it, actively!) nurture a part of someone's identity the rest of the psyche can begin to question its validity. Curiously, it seems that the most important part of my identity, that which is rooted in Jesus Christ, is the one which should be thriving the most in this environment. It is, however, a constant struggle to feed that into the dying parts of who I am because the feeding line is a complex one. When something is so deeply rooted (metal for example) and it is unable to be nurtured effectively within the context of the deeper core (Christ) everything begins to suffer. 


We are a relational people, this is not a post encouraging people to attempt the nurture of personalities which they cannot effectively relate to but rather to suggest a new approach. 


When you recognise something within a person which you perhaps perceive as lonely, rather than either ignoring it or *shock horror* mocking it in a jovial manner think about the impact your words or lack thereof are having on that person. If you feel able, maybe ask them something about it, appear interested in something that they are rarely able to talk about or that you know they might be desperately wanting to talk to someone about (be it a gig, a new computer game, a new album, book, date, whatever). You don't need to be over-sensitive, most people can take a jibe or a stereotype, but don't let it overstay it's welcome. There is always a line to these things.


On the note of nurturing, metal and being relational there is always a chance that someone is going to show up in the new intake of first years who I can invite round to listen to metal with me. It's unlikely but you never know! It's going to be interesting next week, I think I'll post tomorrow discussing 'Moorlands Orientation Week Protocol' which could prove controversial!


For now I leave you with love,


The Rambler
Follow @BenMartinBass

(Obscura - The Anticosmic Overload)

The Witness of Ink...

I’ll start this post as I mean to go on, I have tattoos. I am getting more tattoos. I do not consider this a contradiction to my faith. Right, now for the meat…

I have come up against some opposition with my tattoos, some say they don’t like the aesthetic nature of them (perfectly okay, everyone has their tastes) but they are willing to concede that it is my body and that there is nothing inherently wrong or sinful about a Christian getting tattooed. Others will claim that there is indeed something sinful about getting tattooed, either citing proof texts or invoking the importance of image. I hope to address some of these arguments in this post and I am more than happy for people to comment and either agree or disagree, let’s get healthy discussion going =]

Proof Text 1:

‘You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.’ Leviticus 19.28 (ESV)

Well… At first this seems like a pretty clear cut issue, but let us remember the first rule of giving a proof text; make sure you understand the context! If your agenda still makes sense with the surrounding verses included and the context recognised, your proof text is legit. So let’s try that shall we, just the two verses leading up to it:

‘You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.’ Leviticus 19.26 – 28 (ESV)

‘You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it.’

Hmm, we still kinda do that… oh, and doesn’t Paul say something about everything being permissible, not everything being beneficial and not causing your brother to stumble?

‘You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.’

Occult stuff is covered heavily in the NT and elsewhere in the OT, seems like an obvious one really and most certainly not confined to Levitical law.

‘You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.’

When did you last shave?

‘You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves.’
Wait… I find no references outside Levitical law to this… Um… Well, I guess I should stop shaving!

It is important as well to remember the context, the Israelites had just escaped from Egypt and were trying to remove themselves from the pagan practices of the Egyptians. One of these was to cut themselves on behalf of a dead relative to release the lifeblood. The restriction was to prevent pagan practice, the concept of tattooing as a witness wasn’t there (more on this later).

So it seems the argument from the Old Testament ends in either accepting it as an invalid argument or never shaving… Let’s move on.

Proof Text 2:

‘Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit!!!!’ 1 Corinthians 6.19 (ESV)

This is the only part of the verse that is ever quoted, the whole verse looks like this:

‘Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.’ 1 Corinthians 6.19 – 20

Wait, so what was he talking about that goes contrary to this?

‘Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.’

Critique

Although the context is sexual immorality, it does not mean that it isn’t true for other things and the prohibition of tattoos is for this reason.

Well, look at what Paul said, ‘EVERY OTHER SIN a person commits is outside the body’, so even if you consider tattoos a sin (which you won’t unless you also consider shaving a sin), the prohibition is not supported by this defense with the context being sexual immorality.

So it seems to me that Paul was not thinking of tattoos when he wrote this, if he did consider them a sin against the body he surely would have included it.

Non-Biblical Argument 1:
 

Getting tattoos is a form of self harm.

Well first of all people tend not to tattoo themselves… but let’s put that to one side. All I will say to this is ‘do you have piercings or do you consider them sinful?’.

The other question to ask is the difference in the nature of self-harm to the nature of tattoos, self-harm is often carried out in order to distract the harmer from some greater problem or difficulty. Tattoos are, from a Christian perspective, a form of witness and not a distraction from seeking help elsewhere or addressing personal problems. A poor link to make.

Non-Biblical Argument 2:

They don’t look very nice.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many people don’t like long hair on men nowadays (many didn’t like it on me!) but hey, Jesus had long hair! (Poor argument I know, but go with it.)

Segway time… Who looks on the outside? Man. Who looks at the heart? God. What do you want someone who looks at the outside to see? Christ. Who is to say that tattoos cannot be an effective witness? The question someone with tattoos often gets is, ‘can I see your tattoos?’, then ‘Cool, what do they mean\what are they?’ – if I have a cross and ‘consummatum est’ in plain view I can’t really avoid the gospel message can I now!

This is not to say that tattoos are not for everyone, they are certainly still more effective as a witness in certain sub-cultures, but it is also not to say that if you have tattoos you must wave them around at every opportunity. The world is still coming around to accepting people with tattoos and not making character judgements. This does mean it can be harder to get jobs if you don’t dress appropriately (why I will not get tattoos I can never cover up), however if you’re sensible, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Tattoos are not a sin, you may not like the aesthetics but then some may not like the aesthetics of glasses and would rather wear contacts. I would ask two things of those who oppose Christians getting tattoos if you have been convinced by my arguments:

1) Please don’t make judgement calls about people with tattoos if you don’t know them, treat them the same as any other individual you might meet.
2) Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that the ink in our skin is not only a form of permanent worship but a permanent witness to what Christ has done in us.

If you have not been convinced of my argument, feel free to comment and state your position but let us be respectful =]

Finally some advice for Christians with tattoos:

Although it seems like a good idea to show them off, it can hinder relationships. Remember that you have to recognise where you are and be appropriate for the situation. If you know that flashing tattoos in a certain context will cause offense, don’t do it. Just like you might dress appropriately for an occasion, cover up appropriately.

So to conclude, if you’re one of the priest’s from the line of Aaron and you’re thinking of marking your skin in any way which identifies you with a pagan religion/practice then I wouldn’t recommend it. Otherwise, it’s up to you.

For now I leave you with love,

The Rambler

Why I Listen to Noise (originally posted on 15/02/11)

I receive much criticism, both tongue-in-cheek and serious, for the music I listen to. I seem to have reached a stage of notoriety in some circles of peers for the extremity of certain bands and artists I choose to enjoy. I decided to dedicate this post to defending and explaining why I listen to certain types of music and, more importantly, why music is wholly subjective.

New Site, Regular Updates and New and Improved Content!!

Welcome to my brand new blog! Well, technically it is the same blog but I have shifted it to a new host in order to improve content and to give greater access to new ideas for posts. 
On that note, I have plans to post regular reviews of albums and gigs. The first of these should be up towards the end of this weekend with a series of album reviews leading up to this years NordicFest which I shall review with unrelenting honesty and fervour, just remember that a review is semi-objective and semi-subjective.
I will repost all my previous content onto this site but under new headers so that you can control the content you want to see and choose to read various categories and blog post themes. So, if you were subscribed to my previous blog you can feel free to unsubscribe from that as there will be no new posts and please subscribe to this one! If you weren't previously subscribed then please subscribe if you are interested in what I have to say. 

Well, I'm now off to re-upload my content... Don't forget to subscribe!

The_Rambler